WineXpert Fining mistake

[hamish]

I'm working on my first kit (Winexpert) in my first foray into wine making. I may have messed up and need a little advice.

After the first ferment I racked it into a carboy. The kit called for adding Kieselsol then 24 hours later adding in Chitosan. When I added the chitosan, I managed to overfill the carboy and probably lost a quarter to half of it.

I don't know what the effect will be. It's my understanding that the Kieselsol and chitosan work together to cause the fines to drop out.

The kit is a Malbec and the wine is so dark I can't see how clear it is.

Do I just let it sit longer and wait?

 

[Brian55]

I'm working on my first kit (Winexpert) in my first foray into wine making. I may have messed up and need a little advice.

After the first ferment I racked it into a carboy. The kit called for adding Kieselsol then 24 hours later adding in Chitosan. When I added the chitosan, I managed to overfill the carboy and probably lost a quarter to half of it.

I don't know what the effect will be. It's my understanding that the Kieselsol and chitosan work together to cause the fines to drop out.

The kit is a Malbec and the wine is so dark I can't see how clear it is.

Do I just let it sit longer and wait?

I wouldn't worry about it. A lot of us skip the finings altogether. Rack it into another carboy every three months (adding So2 each time) until you stop seeing sediment on the bottom of the carboy you're racking out of. When you no longer see sediment, or it's very minimal, it's ready to bottle.

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

I agree with @Brian55 : You will be fine. (No pun intended.)

 

[hamish]

If I'm going to keep it in a carboy for a longer period of time to allow for sedimentation, how important is temperature? Currently I'm using a heater to keep it around 70 degrees as this is in the kit directions.

 

[sour_grapes]

Once you are finished with the fermentation, the temperature is not important. Traditionally, 55F to 60F is considered a good storage temperature, but I wouldn't sweat it if you are outside that range by a bit.

 

[hamish]

Thanks. I'm in Seattle and am working in a lightly heated, non-insulated shed, so the temps although reasonably moderate in the winter can swing a bit. I can also drop my carboy heater thermostat temp down and not strain it as much.

 

[Sailor323]

Some kits say add the chitosan 24 hours after the kieselsol some say an hour. I just add them one after the other with very little time between. I once added chitosan and skipped the kieselsol, things cleared just fine.

 

[cmason1957]

The directions on a packet of DualFine (used to be called SuperKleer, I believe) are pretty clear. That's the combo of Kieselsol and Chitosan commercially available.

Add The Kieselsol, stir, wait a minimum of one hour, add the Chitosan. I don't see any thing that says a maximum amount of time you should wait.

It's probably helpful to know why you are adding two things, Kieselsol has a highly negative charge and thus attracts solids with a positive charge to be pulled to the bottom. Chitosan attracts negatively charged solids.

It makes sense to me to wait a bit between the addition of each.

 

[ratflinger]

I only wait 15 min or so, max. I never have issues with settling. In fact I've tried not using the clearing agents and it's not a lot of difference. Generally in the amount of superfine particles remaining.

 

[winemaker81]

@hamish, kit instructions have stated everything from add both K & C together to add them 24 hours apart. When I use it, I currently stir in the K, wait 5 minutes, then stir in the C.

The loss of some of the C may not have a visible effect. As already said, since you are bulk aging, it's not going to make a difference.

If you haven't added aging oak, bottling at 6 months is fine. If you've added oak, I'd go longer, probably 8 to 12 months.