Sediment

[kenk175]

I noticed some sediment in my bottles of blackberry wine. I keep them in a rack on their side and I noticed a thin line of sediment on the side of the bottle. It was clear when I bottled it. Is this something I should be concerned about. What should i do if I serve it to some on other than myself? I've seen pourers that have filters on them should I use one? Help

 

[jamesngalveston]

yes a filter pourer is needed,. even when you think its clear it is not.
If you read post by turock , he all ways expresses how wine should be aged before bottling, so that the wine is 100 percent clear...
ageing will drop all sediment, while fast clearing, are finning does not.
use a wine filter pourer...it will not effect the taste enough to notice the difference

 

[Turock]

If you bulk age long enough, you get more sediment out of the wine. Components that form haze, precipitates and sediment denature over time and fall out of the wine. These sediments are unstabile and not allowing enough time in bulk aging, you still have a wine that is unstable and throwing sediment. Bulk aging is the true way of stabilizing wine.

Now that being said, there is nothing wrong with some sediment--many home winemakers have sediment in their bottles. It's just not real pretty. We almost never have sediment because we bulk age long term. Some people aren't as patient as we are or have the space for lots of long term aging. You should decant the wine into a carafe for guests if the sediment bothers them.

When you make fruit wines with no water, you'll have very dense wines that can throw sediment for a long time--and some of these wines never become totally clear. If that is the issue, then it's time to think about using better pectinases like Lallzyme C-Max which not only rapidly de-pectinizes, but also aids in clarity. And using bentonite in the primary which not only gives you a clearer wine but heat stabilizes the wine so you have better protein stability under storage conditions. We bulk age our blackberry for no less than 1 year--and we even have some in long term storage that is 2 years old.

 

[kenk175]

Thanks for the great info. So just to be clear by bulk ageing, leave the wine in the carboy or jug and keep racking until there is no more sediment. Right now I'm only making one gallon batches. Also I never thought of making fruit wine with no water that sounds like it would be a very good strong wine.

 

[Turock]

Yes--let it sit in the carboy or jug. Don't be in a hurry to bottle. This is why most people have cloudy wine or the wine reclouds in the bottle later on even when the wine LOOKED clear. If you sweeten the wine, don't do this or add sorbate until bottling time. Adding sorbate to cloudy wine is the wrong useage of sorbate. There are too many yeast cells present in a cloudy wine to prevent refermentation. You have to have racked the bulk of the yeast cells off the wine first---then sorbate will work. Bulk aging also allows the flavors to firm up and the wine is so much better. Young wines are low on flavor.

Fruit wines done with no water are really unbelievable good. They taste just like the fruit they're made from. It's the best way to make those wines, altho there are a few fruits that need water dilution--all fruit doesn't bring out the flavor correctly on fruit like cranberry, red raspberry, black raspberry, blueberry. They come out best with a standard recipe.

We recently bottled peach we made last year. Everyone is blown away with the flavor on this wine because they've had peach before that was very dilute and low on flavor. It has huge flavor and is as clear as water. We are extremely happy with that wine. It is all peach--no water.

 

[kenk175]

Recipe

Would it be possible to get your peach recipe if you don't want to share though I would understand.

 

[Turock]

LOL--I'm always will to share.

We don't use recipes so if you have any questions, let me know.

We use 10# of peaches per gallon. Freeze them first so they'll release their juices. Get the pectic enzyme in while they're thawing. Set the PH to 3.3--use no water. Be sure the peaches are really ripe. You can often find "trash" peaches at the orchards for very little money. These are over-ripe peaches or those with bruises or defects that can't be sold. This wine was made with all trash fruit--25 cents a pound.

We used Montrachet culture. Many people like Cote des Blanc for this fruit. Be sure to use good nutrient management, as always.

On the 3rd day of the ferment, add bentonite to the primary. Your wine will be very clear after bulk aging and not suffer from protein haze that can plague this wine if you use bentonite. Allow to bulk age for one year before bottling. This not only gives you a nice stable wine, but the flavor really firms up in that year.

We did not add tannin and I'm glad we didn't as the wine seemed slightly tannic at the end and needed a tad more sugar to tone that down. I can't tell you how good this wine turned out. Has BIG peach flavor. My only regret is that we don't have alot more of it!!

 

[bkisel]

Some kits will instruct you add the included finishing blend or sweetening blend in the stabilizing and clearing phase as opposed to bottling and corking phase. I believe that these kits generally come with two sorbate packets.

 

[Turock]

Kits are a whole 'nother animal. Do not use kit techniques on non-kit wines.