Fig wine problems

[Cxwgfamily]

Looking for some help on a wine making buddy’s fig batch.

His fermentation went smooth and he racked to secondary as normal. After a week or so in secondary he de-gasee. After de-gassing, the batch stratified into a floating muck of solids, clear wine (which looks and tastes amazing) and a solid layer settling. See pics. He tried de-gassing some more, no effect. He tried filtering through a coarse and fine nylon bag. He tries filtering through a mini jet with the coarsest filter material, filter plugged immediately. Then he tries multiple treatments of Super Clear with no real effect.

Has any one else experienced this with fig wine? What would you recommend?

cxwgfamily

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hope you are able to copy and paste the link, if not let me know.

thanks in advance.

 

[winemaker81]

The photos are not appearing. It may be they are too big -- use a service such as TinyPNG to reduce photo size if that is the problem.

 

[franc1969]

Photos are not appearing, but that seems mighty early for trying to clear that wine. He could pull off the clear wine layer, but it could /should take time for settling the rest, even if degassed. This isn't a kit or concentrate wine with no solids.

 

[VinesnBines]

I've never made fig wine but it would seem to have a lot of solids in the must even after racking. Leave it and let it settle out. Clearing with agents won't work nor will degassing.

This has been said over and over, time is the best solution for every wine making issue.

 

[Cxwgfamily]

Let me try this again with the photos.

 

[Cxwgfamily]

I am going to post each of three pics individually.

 

[Cxwgfamily]

And the last pic.



sorry for three separate posts with three different pics. I did this to mini,I’ve the file size issue and it is within my limited technical capabilities.

 

[Raptor99]

It sounds like this batch is only a few weeks old. Wait for 3-4 months and see how it looks then. I've never made fig wine, but some fruit wines take at least 6 months to clear.

 

[WillM]

Yep. Let is sit. I'm wondering how the figs were added in primary. I have a small 1 gallon batch aging, but I used a fine mesh bag for my figs in primary. I then pulled them out after primary. This photo is after 4 weeks.

 

[Cxwgfamily]

Thanks for the replies! They have been helpful and encouraging. I have communicated the input to the winemaker with the batch.

WillM, your batch looks just like mine. For the problem batch, the guy basically puréed the figs And did not use a bag. I think that is the root of his problems. For my batches, I do not use a bag but I just break the figs enough to provide a pathway into the fruit for the yeast.

 

[BernardSmith]

Looks to me as if the CO2 is creating a cap of fruit. That's not in and of itself a problem unless the cap a) begins to dry out on top and as it does spoilage organisms feast on the damp oxygen laden fruit and/or b) that cap becomes so solid that CO2 cannot escape and if the yeast is still pumping out gas (and HALF the weight of the sugars in a must will become CO2 and half will become ethanol). then you have a carboy bomb on your hands and THAT can be life threatening.
My suggestion to your friend is to ALWAYS use a bucket to ferment fruit. Carboys are wonderful after a first racking but they are not designed or intended for fermenting fruit. A bucket, loosely covered with a towel (or its lid) allows you to punch down the cap that forms and allow the CO2 to escape AND ensures that the cap does not become a feast for mold.