flower wine won't clear

[capedread]

I have made 4 flower wines and one with ground ginger, which only after I made it I read that you should use fresh ginger rather than ground ginger because of the clearing problems (no help on how to clear it) but all of them are not clearing. I have wracked them 5x but not luck.
I did phone my wine making supplier who usually has good advice but he knows nothing about flower wines.

the 4 flower wines are:
fresh elderflower, dried elderflower, rose petal with cranberries and a plain rose petal wine and the ginger of course. I assume it's the pollen giving me gyp.

the basic recipe for the flower wines is as follows:

FLOWER: petals, water, citric acid, yeast nutrient, yeast, Camden tabs x2, sugar
pectolase only in the "rose and cranberry" which is also having problems clearing.
GINGER: tinned pears, tinned prunes and ground ginger the same recipe as above but also with pectolase for the fruits.

any advice gladly welcomed

 

[non-grapenut]

5x's and no clearing, huh? I can see why you are stymied! At this point, I would turn to some fining agent, like bentonite. Make sure to follow the directions as much as possible. Bentonite likes HOT water in a blender for minutes to make the slurry you need. If your wine can be chilled and shaken often during the bentonite treatment, you will have better luck in fining your wine. If a 5gallon container is too big to refrigerate, break them down to gallon jugs for your treatment. I was able to clear my white grape/rose petal wine this way.

 

[St Allie]

I've just had a look through my recipes. have made rosepetal, gorseflower, dandelion and ginger wine.

I didn't add pectinase for clearing to any of the wines..of the flower wines the gorseflower ( made with honey) was the fastest to clear and the rosepetal took the longest to clear.

The ginger took forever to clear, I added whiskey to fortify it and magically the sediment all dropped out.

How long have these been sitting and not clearing?.. I usually stick my wines in a cool place to clear.. also out of sight or I watch them all the time!

Try bentonite or kwikclear if you want the carboys free for another wine would be my suggestion. Other than that it's just patience.

Allie

 

[Wade E]

You could use one of many fining agents. Isinglass and Bentonite are the easiest on the wines but SuperKleer will do it fast and good. Ive never noticed any loss of flavor using SuperKleer myself and have had both Bentonite and Isinglass fail me in which I had to use SuoperKleer KC anyway so thats what I use when needed.

 

[capedread]

many thanks

to you all for your help and suggestions! was keen to use a fining agent but because I phoned my "dealer" who dabbles now and then in making wine and even he was unsure.....


the flower wines have been trying to clear for 4 - 5 months and the ginger for 7 months grrrrr am dying to bottle and drink the jolly things and have been tempted to just bottle the ginger and drink a little cloudy lol................ the ginger, as I said, I read only afterwards not to use ground ginger but fresh so was not too worried as I was expecting it to take a while but when every one of my flower wines was cloudy too I was really distressed.


THANKS again to you all for your help and suggestions will order a batch asap........

happy fermenting

 

[capedread]

@ st Allie

I am reluctant to fortify with brandy or other alcohol as, dare I admit, my "wines" are of the rocket fuel caliber..... fun fun fun

 

[Madriver Wines]

Lets light some of it up then.....
Steve

 

[Wade E]

If you want to bottle them fast go with SuperKleer!!!!!!!!

 

[capedread]

thanks I will, it's all a learning curve made easier with friends like you cor! ain't I mushy....

 

[capedread]

B1 tabs

hello all, my supplier has been working hard and found out that you are supposed to add a vit. B1 tablet or two in the beginning of making flower wines which will help with clearing problems............ have bought some finings and will start to clear once they are finished fermenting which is soon.

thanks again for all the help

 

[St Allie]

That's interesting...If it's vit B1 for that .. using some yeast energiser should do the same thing..

I never used any in my flower wines though and they still cleared eventually..

My recipes called for either boiling water over the flowers.( rosepetal which took ages to clear). Or to boil up the flowers ( gorseflower which cleared superfast)

wonder if the method makes the difference?

Allie

 

[Wade E]

I have never heard of B vitamins aiding in clearing but ya never know. I use nutrient and energizer for every batch of wine I make.

 

[Luc]

have bought some finings and will start to clear once they are finished fermenting which is soon.

Eeeehhhhh ????

Still not finished fermenting ???
After several months and rackings ???

If they still ferment they will not clear indeed......

Luc

 

[capedread]

thanks St Allie and friends

I use yeast nutrient no energiser though! I didn't boil the flowers just used boiled water........... some interesting ideas coming through here

I love the flower wines they are really lovely and cheap to make so I will be experimenting with all the suggestions

I have some dried elderflowers that I picked earlier in the season so I will try boiling them and see if that is what it takes as soon as I have a free demijohn lol 10 on the go at the min. if I can clear and bottle at least 2 of the flower wines this weekend then I can experiment on the elderflowers and see which method works best

so strange how every one of my flower wines is being difficult but with your help and suggestions I will combat this problem, am not about to give up on the flower wines ever!!


XXXX to you all
Dee

 

[capedread]

@ Luk

only the ginger wine has been fermented out properly at this point in time the flower wines are at different stages.

I was told to watch out for the plum wines not clearing but have had no problem with that one lol