Should I give it another dose of sparkloid

[olusteebus]

My peach wine in a 5 gallon and 1 gallon has what I assume is pectic haze. I put sparkloid in it and it only did marginally well in clearing. It did make some difference but it has a long way to go.

Can I give it another dose? If not, what.

Should I try bentonite?

 

[robie]

My peach wine in a 5 gallon and 1 gallon has what I assume is pectic haze. I put sparkloid in it and it only did marginally well in clearing. It did make some difference but it has a long way to go.

Can I give it another dose? If not, what.

Should I try bentonite?

More info please. How long has the sparkloid been in the wine? What is the temperature of the room in which the wine is stored?

 

[dangerdave]

Test for pectin haze, which is the most common cause for cloudy wine. To do this, I add one ounce of the wine to 3-4 ounces of "rubbing alcohol" (available everywhere). Look for tiny strings or jelly-like clumps. These indicate the presence of pectin. Great for jellies, but not for wine.

To treat, add 1tsp of pectic enzyme per gallon of wine and stir it really good for several minutes. You'll know in a few days if the diagnosis was correct. You can prevent this from ever happening again by adding the same measure of pectic enzyme to your must 24 hours before pitching the yeast.

If you don't have Jack Keller's article on Wine Problem Solving, you should get it...here: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/problems.asp

Very helpgul information.

 

[olusteebus]

The sparkloid has been in the wine about 2 weeks and the temp is about 72 74 degrees.

I thought you had to have denatured alcohol. Is that the same as rubbing alcohol? If so I will try that tonight.

Thanks to both of you?

 

[dangerdave]

The regular rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol (that most folks have in their medicine cabinet) works just fine. That's what I use. I keep a bottle on the shelf in my Wine Lab. Good luck!

Edit: You won't need to add any more sparkolloid. When you stir in the pectic enzyme, you will resuspend the sparkolloid. Everything should then fall out nicely. Remember, adding pectic enzyme will not affect the wine in the least (except to help it clear). Don't worry!

 

[olusteebus]

I have researched this before asking and did see the remedy of using pectic enzyme. I was thinking pectic enzyme caused the problem - Pectic haze - so it sounded crazy to add pectic enzyme.

I will do this. thanks a lot.

 

[dangerdave]

You are very welcome.

 

[saramc]

If you find that you do in fact have pectin haze, and if you dose with pectic enzyme and it still does not clear you could hit it with SuperKleer--that stuff cleared a stubborn pear wine I had. FWIW, when I researched Sparkolloid it was suggested that I treat with bentonite first, and then if necessary use Sparkolloid--as this would help compact the lees; though I do not see why the reverse would not work.