Jelly in Strawberry Wine while Clearing

[user 30362]

Hi All,
I've enjoyed reading your posts, learned a lot, and have now joined to ask my own question. I be grateful for your help with my strawberry wine.

The wine has been clearing in a carboy for about 6 weeks after fermentation finished. At the time, I also filled several smaller bottles so I could have a taste without disturbing the big bottle.

The small bottles have cleared quite well, but 2 of them have, floating at the top and also at the bottom of the bottle, a jelly-like substance. (see pics). Recently, I siphoned off some of the cleared wine and was pretty happy with the early taste. So, it would seem that the jelly is not harming the wine.

Has anyone had this before? Is there some action I can take or wait patiently?

Cheers,
Stephen
PS: I've noticed that the wine in the carboy does not have floating, or other jelly that I can see.

 

[jamesngalveston]

was it from fresh strawberries, etc
did you add a clearing agent.
it looks like you have not degassed it.

 

[the_rayway]

Can you please post your recipe, all ingredients and steps so far, etc? Then we can better assist. It could be several different things depending on what you have done with it

 

[user 30362]

Hi and thanks for your replies.

The recipe was 10kg (22ibs) fresh strawberry fruit, 3 bananas, 3 vanilla pods, 10lts (2.6gal) of water, 3kg (6.6ibs) sugar, lemon juice and yeast.

Made a mistake of not putting the pulp into a bag, and after fermentation ran the must through folded muslin cloth several times to filter out seeds, etc. Camden tablets added, left for 24 hours and then racked and left to clear.

I've used no clearing agents and sediment is settling in the carboy (about 6 weeks since racking).

Yes, jamesngalveston, I can see bubbles in the floating jelly.

 

[jamesngalveston]

you have to get the co2 out, as is it can not escape....remove that tight cover and get an air lock...rack the wine and degass it....
the jelly will fall as sediment which you can rack off.

 

[the_rayway]

Did you happen to heat your water and pour it on the strawberries hot? It actually looks to me like you have pectin globs floating in there.

I suggest that you degas as James mentioned, and give it a good dose of pectic enzyme, which you can find at your local home brew store (LHBS)

 

[vernsgal]

I believe Raelene hit it bang on. The best is to get the wine to about 72-75 degrees, mix 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme per gal in some cool water and add to wine.( you could probably add more since you already have the haze) You might have to filter it later because you're adding late. In future you should add the pectic enzyme 24 hours before throwing in the yeast, it helps break the fruit down, clearing and aids in bringing out the full fruit flavor

 

[vernsgal]

note also-don't bring the temp up by putting on stove if it's below 72.use a heat belt, towel or move to a warmer location!

 

[Turock]

If you did not use pectic enzyme, do it now. Get an airlock on the carboy. Do not manually degass--just allow the carboy to sit and bulk age for about 9 months. Rack sediment as necessary. The 9 months of bulk aging will degass it naturally, get the wine clear, and firm up flavor and color. Fruit wines should never be manually degassed--allow bulk aging time to do it for you. Plus--you need the bulk aging to get all the sediment off of it if you backsweeten and use sorbate. Most people backsweeten fruit wines, to some degree. Don't be in a big hurry--time works on a wine and perfects it, more than you can do by forcing it.

 

[user 30362]

Thanks!

Have only just seen your comment Turock, and I manually degassed yesterday. The neck of the carboy is beautifully clear, but the pectin has now distributed through the wine and is floating high. (Sorbate noted)

I have ordered pectin enzyme and will add that in a few days.
Thanks for the temp info vernsgal. I live in Australia and we are at peak summer right now; it will be warm enough.

I'm in no hurry and will allow this to clear, in time. I've recently racked a gallon on beet wine and have 5 gallons of mango, which have just finished fermenting. So, lots to keep me occupied .

I note that strawberry is rated 'low' on the pectin content chart and am surprised by the quantity of pectin in this wine.

I'll post some photos as it clears.

Many thanks for all your assistance and have a great New Year!
Stephen

 

[Turock]

stephen---ALWAYS use pectic enzyme when making fruit wines. The best time to use it is on that first day of the must when you are adding metabisulfite and letting it sit for a day before beginning the ferment. Not only does it break down the fruit to get it integrated into the wine, but it aids in clearing, later on. Getting the fruit somewhat broken down ahead of time makes your brix and PH readings pre-ferment a little more accurate because you have some of the fruit and its sugars incorporated into the juice sample.

How experienced are you in winemaking? If you're going to make quite a few fruit wines, as we do, you'll want to get familiar with taking PH readings and understanding how to adjust the PH pre-ferment. Making adjustments pre-ferment is best because must is more forgiving than wine is. Adjustments in the post ferment can be difficult with some acidic fruits. Strawberry is a very fussy wine because it needs to have the BEST fruit used, and acid adjustment is important or else the resulting wine can be somewhat too acidic. It's best to test PH with a PH meter---something you can buy later on if you stay with the hobby. At the least--you can buy narrow range PH strips so you have some idea of PH. Knowing the PH of your wines is also important to know how much free SO2 your wines will need for protection. So even if you do no PH adjustment, knowing the PH is important when dosing with sulfites.

Get OUT of the habit of manual degassing when making scratch wines and those wines that are not intended for early drinking. I have no problem with people degassing skeeter pee--but wines that need bulk aging should not be manually degassed. For one--it's unnecessary, when the bulk aging process does it thru time, and second you risk oxidation with the introduction of oxygen.

Once you get the pectic enzyme in there, that should help alot. If you have issues later on with clearing, ask us and we'll give you further help with it.