Fining/Filtering of Fruit Wines

[terroirdejeroir]

I am relatively new to fruit wines and am having a bit of difficulty with some of my wines. In spite of bulk aging for 3-6 months and having wine that looks absolutely clear in the carboy with no sediment on the bottom, I am still having some wines drop sediment in the bottle.

I have so far been relying on gravity only for clearing, but I guess I need to learn more about fining and possibly filtering. I have read all the stickies on the site and done some searches as well, but I still don't feel comfortable developing a strategy. My kit wines all use Chitosan and Kieselsol - is that an acceptable combination for fruit wines? If I fine the wine effectively will I still need to filter? How clear does the wine need to be before filtering? I have an allinonewinepump so it would be pretty easy for me to start filtering.

Just don't want to screw up wine that drinks very nicely just for cosmetics.

 

[Pumpkinman]

If you have an Allinone, you will be fine!
Clear the wine with the fining agent that your wine comes with, then rack it over to a clean carboy (you don't need any of the sediment clogging up the filter), then filter. You will have crystal clear wine!
I've cleared and filtered a few batches so far.

 

[terroirdejeroir]

Thanks, but I am making fruit wine from scratch. What I was asking is should I take the same approach as the kit makers do with grape wine and use Chitosan/Kieselsol for fining.

 

[dralarms]

I use super kleer on everything.

 

[ColdClimateWines]

For fresh fruit I use pectin enzyme prior to pitching yeast. A lot of the haze is from the cellulose in the walls of the cell walls of the fruit. The enzyme breaks down the walls, releases some different sugars and some great other chemistry caught in the cells. On a 300 gallon batch I use 1-2 oz of enzyme. It goes a long way.

Bottom line it may help clear your wine.

 

[btom2004]

Chitosan/Kieselsol are the same ingedients used in the two pack Superkleer. I use it thus yes you will be doing the same thing as kits by using it.

@ Also get some bentonite in the primary. This to helps in clearing wine from the start while fermenting.