Topic: Clarity-and-Filtration
Dealing With Haze
MEMBERS ONLYWhile haze can sometimes just be aesthetically off-putting and not a true flaw, it’s something many winemakers like to avoid. Get the scoop on reducing haze and other benefits, as well as drawbacks, that come with the use of fining agents.
Rules Of Fining
MEMBERS ONLYIndeed, after using most fining agents there will be a layer of sediment generated and you’ll need to rack the wine off of it accordingly. Fining agents, by definition, are introduced into a wine to interact with whichever of the wine compounds you are trying to mitigate or reduce. For instance, bentonite is a natural
Fine wine
MEMBERS ONLYThe goal for experienced and new winemakers alike is a product that is both pleasant in taste and appearance. Unfortunately for many new winemakers the result is stubborn cloudiness with sediment, or worse, a product that develops haze once bottled. A wine that is cloudy is considered a seriously flawed wine and thought to be
Get Crystal Clear About Filtration
MEMBERS ONLYIf you want to serve a crystal clear and microbial stable wine, it will require filtration. Explore the “how” and “why” of wine filtration, along with the equipment needed to do it.
Fin(d)ing Clarity in the Five S’s
FREEWhen it comes to clarifying your wine kit, there are five “S’s” that will guide your way: Start, stir, smash, sweep, and suppress.
Fining Red Wines
MEMBERS ONLYRed wines are typically not fined as often as white wines, to which we often add bentonite in order to remove potentially haze-causing proteins. The tannin from the skins of red wines tends to bind with excess protein, the agglomeration of which will precipitate out during the fermentation process. Nor do we usually cold-stabilize red
Natural Fining For White and Rosé Wines
MEMBERS ONLYWell, an old-timer winemaker I used to work with would say, “The most natural fining agent for any wine is time.” What he meant was that with time, solids fall out, proteins eventually coagulate and fall to the bottom of the aging vessel and tartrates reach an equilibrium so they aren’t in excess and big
Mellowing A Big Wine
FREEEven my “purist” winemaking friends usually aren’t opposed to doing a little egg white fining when it comes to smoothing out the rough edges on their big reds. It’s an ancient and
Fun With Wine Filtration
MEMBERS ONLYThe fun of filtration! I’ll deliver the bad news to you and my readers first by telling you that really no matter how tight of a pore size you use to filter your wines, there is always the possibility of sediment developing over time. In fact, with red wines, it’s actually just about guaranteed. You
Fining Your Way to Clear Wine
MEMBERS ONLYFining of wine is the addition of one substance to remove another. It is a diverse subject with several classes of materials involved in its use and lots of different intended outcomes.
Year in a Life of a Wine Part V (Cellar Work)
MEMBERS ONLYIn the fifth installment of our year-long series about how homemade wine is made using home-grown grapes in Upstate New York, the wines are put through malolactic fermentation and cold stabilized.
Understanding Bentonite
MEMBERS ONLYWine, as I’ve often written, is a complex chimerical soup. Wine naturally contains lots of different amino acids and some of those amino acids are in long-chain form and actually are proteins. Because proteins are pretty big molecules (as molecules go), they sometimes are so big they can’t be dissolved in the wine as a
Year in a Life of a Wine Part VI (Bulk Aging and Bottling)
MEMBERS ONLYIn the final installment of our year-long series, the wines are bulk aged, oaked, and bottled.
Using Enzymes in Country Wines
MEMBERS ONLYCountry fruit wines can be quite difficult to achieve the desired color, aroma, and clarity levels. Here is a look at the various enzymes typically used in grape winemaking that can also be used in fruit wines.
Fining for Beginners
FREELearn the ins and outs of fining wine and the options to choose from.
Clearing A 23-Year-Old Concord Wine
MEMBERS ONLYSince 1992 (over 20 years) is quite a long time to store bottled wine. If you go to a supermarket or liquor store, you’ll notice that most red wines currently on the shelf date from 2013, 2012 or at the very oldest 2011. Yes, it’s true that American wine consumers don’t tend to age their
Is the salmonella (commonly associated with eggs) a problem to consider when fining with egg whites?
MEMBERS ONLYEgg whites are an ancient, traditional and natural additive and are sometimes used to pull excessive tannins out of wine in a gentle treatment process known as “fining.” Practiced for centuries all over the winemaking world, a solution of egg whites, water and salt are stirred into the wine and allowed to settle out, pulling
Egg White Fining, Malolactic Levels: Wine Wizard
MEMBERS ONLYIs the salmonella (commonly associated with eggs) a problem to consider when fining with egg whites? Bob McKee Tucker, Georgia Egg whites are an ancient, traditional and natural additive and are sometimes used to pull excessive tannins out of wine in a gentle treatment process known as “fining.” Practiced for centuries all over the winemaking
Using Eggs Whites To Fine White Wine
FREEFor readers who don’t know, adding a solution of egg whites to wine does a nice job of pulling out excess tannins and phenolics that might cause your wine to be overly
I really want to filter my Chardonnay like the big wineries do. Are there small-scale filters for people who only make a barrel of wine?
MEMBERS ONLYWine Wizard replies: Absolutely. There are an increasing number of filters out there for the small-scale producer. From rough filters that’ll just knock out large, visible particles all the way down to membrane filters that will exclude tiny things like yeast and bacteria cells, home winemakers can now filter like the big guys. Check online
Cloudy Fruit Wine, Macerating Whites: Wine Wizard
MEMBERS ONLYClarifying elderflower wine I made some elderflower wine last year and have now decanted it into bottles. It is very cloudy. What would you recommend to make it clear, please? Huw M. Edwards via email Hmmmm. As long as it is not fermenting and is stable other than being cloudy, it sounds like you need
Chitosan, dry climate grapes: Wine Wizard
MEMBERS ONLYShellfish and chitosan We’ve all heard of comments about sulfites or phenolic compounds causing headaches, but I use chitosan and kielsosol for clarifying agents. Chitosan is made from shellfish byproducts — could these cause an allergic reaction (headaches?) to those who are allergic to shrimp or lobster? Ray Ruthenberg Woodbine, Illinois Though I’m no medical
A Clearer Understanding of Fining Agents
MEMBERS ONLYThe first thing you notice when someone hands you a glass of wine is its color and clarity. We all expect wine to look clear and appealing and there are many ways to improve the clarity of a wine, the most straightforward of which is fining. Fining is the act of adding a product to
How do you sterile filter your wine?
FREEThe short answer to your question is: 0.45 micron nominal filter pads are the industry standard for “sterile” filtration. These pads prevent all yeast and bacteria from getting through. So, if you
Is it possible for a plastic fermenter to impact the effectiveness of isinglass as a fining agent?
MEMBERS ONLYDear Wine Wizard, I used isinglass as a clarifier in my Viognier. I have it in a 55-gallon plastic food-grade barrel. It started to settle out some of the particles but never brought the wine to clear. I then transferred five gallons of it to a glass carboy and within one week it was as