What order should I do these things in?

[agdodge4x4]

I have a gallon of red wine and a gallon of white wine from frozen concentrate. The red and white have a protein haze. I put some pectic enzyme in the white and its been in the fridge at 34 degrees for a week with no change at all. I havent checked recently, but a month ago they were both at .996.

I need to stabilize and sweeten a little, and somehow get them to clear. I don't need to the carboys, so I could let them sit to see if the protein haze clears on its own, but it hasnt changed at all that I can tell.

I was going to use Sparkolloid to clear it. So, what order should I do these things? Sparkolloid, wait a week or two, rack and stabilize with kmeta and sorbate, wait a week, then sweeten and bottle?

Or, wait for three more months or so to see if it clears on its own then start with the kmeta and sorbate?

 

[Julie]

How do you know it is a protein haze?

 

[robie]

Julie has asked an important question.

Did you degas? How long since fermentation ended?
One usually adds kmeta, any sorbate and degasses before attempting to clear.

 

[agdodge4x4]

I added pectic enzyme to it, and I guess it could be something else. it has been hazy for 3 months though, with no change.

I did not 'degas'. but it was not necessary. There is no carbonation in it. Fermentation ended about 3 months ago.

 

[robie]

Have the carboys been under airlock for this 3 months? If so, you may be right that you don't need to degas your wine. However, if they have been at that low a temperature since coming out of fermentation, is is doubtful you have expelled much of the CO2 that naturally occurs during fermentation. Excess CO2 can affect clearing.

Is there a reason you are storing the wine at such a low temperature? 55 to 70F is a good temperature during the clearing stage.

Some others should chime in here, but I believe pectin haze can be a real bear to clear up. I have never experienced it, myself.

Jack Keller has some (complicated) steps to follow:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/problems.asp

At least his instructions will let you know if it truly is pectin haze.

Typically, one adds kmeta and sorbate right after secondary fermentation is done. At the time of adding them, degassing is done. Once racked off lees, an air lock is added to allow any remaining CO2 to bubble off.

After these steps, optionally, clarifiers are added. Even with clarifiers, it can take 2 weeks to a month or more before the wine is clear. Wait at least 2 weeks and check it for clarity. Just don't try to bottle a wine that is not clear. Once in the bottle, even if it does clear, which it likely won't, it will leave much sediment in the bottom of each bottle.

 

[Julie]

Can you post of your ingredients and what you did? Frozen concentrates don't have a tendency to have a protein haze. I would believe a peptic haze before a protein haze, actually I am really not sure what a protein haze is.

 

[robie]

Can you post of your ingredients and what you did? Frozen concentrates don't have a tendency to have a protein haze. I would believe a peptic haze before a protein haze, actually I am really not sure what a protein haze is.

OOPS! He did say protein haze and not pectin haze, didn't he.
Sorry for the mis-read.

 

[agdodge4x4]

Let me be clear...the wine was stored at 65-70 degrees up until a week or so ago when I put it in the fridge to see if that would aid in clearing. I put pectic enzyme in (again) to see if it would clear, which it did not. So then I put it in the fridge. Based on that, I assume the haziness is related to protein.

 

[Julie]

Well since you have not told us what your ingredients were and what you have done up to this date except add some pectic enzyme, I guess twice? there is not much anyone can tell you. You are giving one piece of a puzzle and expecting us to know what the picture is. Again, please post your recipe and procedures.

 

[agdodge4x4]

I will have to post the link. I don't have it handy right this second but it is the welchs recipe posted on jack Keller site and the one posted on here in several places. On the white I used four cans of concentrate and on the red I only used two. Everything else was followed as normal.

 

[wvbrewer]

You might try taking them out of the fridge allow them to warm up and stablizing them with sorbate. Then give them time to clear on in a cool room. It's worth a try since you would like to sweeten them later anyway. If they don't clear then maybe try the sparkloid.

 

[agdodge4x4]

Ok. Since these are one gallon batches, how can i use Sparkolloid and dilute my wine as little as possible? I really want to use as little water as possible to dissolve the sparkolloid. What proportion is OK?

 

[agdodge4x4]

OK:

sulfite/sorbate
wait
add fining agent
wait
sweeten?

Or do I sweeten before clearing?

 

[GrandpasFootsteps]

Ok. Since these are one gallon batches, how can i use Sparkolloid and dilute my wine as little as possible? I really want to use as little water as possible to dissolve the sparkolloid. What proportion is OK?

I'd like to know the answer to this as well.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

OK:

sulfite/sorbate
wait
add fining agent
wait
sweeten?

Or do I sweeten before clearing?

rack onto 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, and 2/3 teaspoon of sorbate per gallon, mixed and dissolved in a little water. After you do that, wait about 3 days and sweeten to taste. The easiest way to sweeten is to dissolve your sweetener (honey, sugar, etc) into water, or some of the wine, and gently add it back to the carboy and stir gently until mixed. You can use a can of the juice to sweeten, too, if you'd like.

Then, wait another day or two, to make sure the fermentation didn't restart, and then you can bottle it.

I've made this a few times and i've never had an issue with clearing, have you tried racking the batch? run the batch through a coffee filter may help as well...

 

[agdodge4x4]

Its 4 months old now, and had a dose of sparkolloid. Its pretty clear, but there is a little haze. Not sure it will ever clear, but im not entering it in any contests so Im not all that concerned about it. Probably sweeten it and bottle soon.