More sediment than wine?

[Stopdroprole]

So I have made 3 batches growing in size every time, but by my third batch almost all 3 gallons of my carboy has become sediment and less than a gallon has remained good wine. On my second batch about half of my wine was sediment, and on my first it was normal. What could be causing so much extra sediment?? The only thing I did diffrent on the third was add blueberries.

 

[wineforfun]

Wow.
Did you rack into the carboy with a cane and tube? or just dump the primary in there?

 

[Stopdroprole]

That was my primary, I let the must go for 6 days and squeezed it through t shirts to remove the solids.

 

[Stopdroprole]

Also the grapes that I've used are very acidic, I used wild growing mustang grapes in my area.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Stopdroprole, and welcome.
Squeezing the fruit through cloth may have contributed to the amount of fruit particulates you have collected. Did you add any pectic enzyme before you pitched the yeast? That would help break down the fibers of the fruit.
But how many months has this been fermenting? If we are talking about a few weeks then much of that sediment will still drop out of suspension and will become far more compact with the wine sitting on top of the lees as the wine ages. Again, if the wine is still full of CO2 (and it will very likely be given the fact that there appears to be a bung blocking the mouth of this primary fermenter) then that gas will keep the fruit particles suspended in the wine. As the gas is expelled the particles will flocculate and drop to the bottom. So you might try to degas this wine either by stirring or by pulling the gas out by creating a vacuum (you need about 22 inches of vacuum to remove the CO2 and Steve, known as the Vacuumpumpman, on this forum, builds and sells such vacuums - I have no commercial stake in Steve's vacuums but he is someone to speak with )

One other thing you might consider is to add bentonite or another substance to help encourage the particles to drop.

 

[wineforfun]

Here is what I am talking about, a racking cane. Notice the "tip" on the bottom. This will leave most of the sediment behind.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E66A36/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Like Bernard said, using the shirt, along with no pectic enzyme in the primary is probably what contributed to that much sediment.

The great thing is, it can all be corrected in time.

 

[vernsgal]

Another clearing agent you can use is chitosan/kiesol.
http://www.eckraus.com/kitosol-40.html
I would let it sit a week or 2 first

 

[Stopdroprole]

Well what would be a better way to strain my must with?

 

[montanaWineGuy]

Sediment? Doesn't seem possible. Cloudy yes. I get great results with Bentonite. Clears up the worst.

 

[Arne]

Well what would be a better way to strain my must with?

Easiest way for next time would probably be to use a bucket and put the fruit in a mesh bag. Most of the gunk will stay in the bag and the goodies from the fruit will incorporate into the wine. When it is ready to rack to the secondary, pick the bag out of the wine and most of the solids come with it. At least that is the way I do it and most of the sediment is removed. Arne.

 

[JohnT]

How long ago did fermentation complete? In other words, how long has this wine been settling after fermentation completed?

The layer of sediment does not look solid to me. It could be that the wine is just beginning to settle? Give it more time and I think that the wine will settle a whole lot more.

 

[Stopdroprole]

That batch had been fermenting for about 2 weeks now and there is a bit of co2 trapped within the sediment and if I twist it I can shake the bubbles free.

 

[wineforfun]

Easiest way for next time would probably be to use a bucket and put the fruit in a mesh bag. Most of the gunk will stay in the bag and the goodies from the fruit will incorporate into the wine. When it is ready to rack to the secondary, pick the bag out of the wine and most of the solids come with it. At least that is the way I do it and most of the sediment is removed. Arne.

This is how I do it also, when working with fruit.

 

[TonyR]

Just let the wine sit for at least 1 month without touching anything. At the end of a month you will be able to rack it. I will bet you will not have more than 2 inches of sediment. Time is your friend when making wine. The only thing being in a hurry will get you is bad dodo.

 

[Spikedlemon]

That batch had been fermenting for about 2 weeks now and there is a bit of co2 trapped within the sediment and if I twist it I can shake the bubbles free.

2-weeks in and still in secondary?
You've got lots of time left. Don't worry about it.

Give it another week or two, rack it and stabilize and then:
1. let it sit for a few months
or
2. degas it and fine it (bentonite, Chitosan, etc...) and then let it sit for a few weeks.

 

[wineforfun]

That batch had been fermenting for about 2 weeks now and there is a bit of co2 trapped within the sediment and if I twist it I can shake the bubbles free.

Just read back through this thread as all that sediment just strikes me as odd.

Did I understand correctly that you fermented the initial wine in the glass carboy? And pushed blueberries into the carboy, through a t-shirt? Or am I reading incorrectly?

 

[Noontime]

As others have said, you've got cloudy wine which is normal...especially for a fruit wine. You don't have a few inches of wine and a carboy of sediment, you have almost 6 gallons of wine with sediment mixed in it. There are some fruit wines like mango that do have A LOT of solids, but I don't think you actually have a problem here. I think if you wait you'll start seeing a difference. Degassing and adding a clearing agent afterwards could help, but you have to make that decision as to how much you want to intervene.

In the future use a bucket for primary, and nylon paint bags from home depot work great for fruit wines (the mesh bag Arne was referring to).

 

[Noontime]

And it makes sense the taller and bigger carboy would manifest this more... all that sediment has to compact, so there's a lot more material on top of material holding everything up. It's going to take time for gravity to pull all that down.

 

[Treeman]

If you have an upright washing machine you can use it like a centrifuge to remove a lot of your sediment. Fill 2 plastic bottles (I use 2 qt wide mouth juice) put them on opposite sides of the tub and run the spin cycle. Make sure the top of the bottle is facing in the direction the tub is spinning.

 

[Floandgary]

A little more detail about your process would help to find a solution. That foto is not,,,, NOT a stranger to most of us!!