Has anyone tried Pluxcompact Bentonite?

[ZebraB]

Since I don't like the volume loss with Bentonite, The following newsletter was interesting. In bench trials it showed that Pluxcompact Bentonite created less volume loss than other types of bentonite. Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this? If so did you notice a material difference from other bentoinites?

The studies also show that aromatic intensity was not that much different than other types of Bentonite. However I do know bench studies and real life are sometimes different.


http://www.winemakersresearchexchange.com/november-2019-bentonite-trials
https://shop-usa.enartis.com/pluxcompact-2

 

[ZebraB]

I noticed that enartis has a $50 min purchase. I could not find ether Pluxcompact elsewhere for smaller quantities. However I did find another bentonite (Bentonite KWK) that was studied. Not has compact lees but better non the less. I would be interested if anyone has had experience with this.

https://dwinesupplies.com/products/bentonite-kwk?_pos=1&_sid=a2b1fcb2e&_ss=r

 

[ZebraB]

Just wanted to follow up on this. I purchased Bentonite KWK (AKA speedy bentonite). I mixed it in the kit before pitching the yeast. Fermentation is almost complete and there is a large amount of lees. I will be racking this to a 5 gallon carboy. So even if the journal testing indicate less loss of wine, I really don't think it is much difference than the kit bentonite as far as loss. Perhaps commercial winery will notice a difference with much higher volumes.

I have made 6 white kits. Batch 2- 5 were made without bentonite. Only Batch 2 had a clearing case issue (and bentonite was not included in the cheap mosti kit). After 4 1/2 months, I added 7 TBLS of speedy bentonite to batch 2 and stirred a few days later. It was clearer so I stirred again and added some oak chips (tannins) and it cleared overnight. So lesson for me was, there are ways to clear post fermentation and you don't get the loss.

Batch 3- 5 was higher end kits and cleared within 1- 2 months. Not sure if the structure of the grapes are better with the higher end kits. Too small of a samples to tell, but definitely makes me lean more to the better kits and not use bentonite.