Kwik Clear (Kieselsol / Gelatin) V.S. Gravity

My local winemaking store/winery insists that I should use Kwik Clear (Kieselsol / Gelatin) finings on practically every wine I make as soon as it has completed fermentation. They say it has negligable effect on flavour and colour and allows the wine to get on with the maturation process with much less risk of accumulating off-flavours.

As far as I have been able to gather over the years, the majority who contribute here seem to argue that gravity alone should be used unless there are special circumstances or the wine fails to clear by itself.

Is the difference in flavour/colour so negligible that he has a good point? Or would you argue that fining rather than waiting and racking repeatedly results in a far superior product?

I know this topic has kind of been done before, but I hope that since the question is specific to the finings above (and the group is so quiet) that some of you might care to take the question on.

Thanks and happy days to you,

Jim

Reply to
jim c
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It is a very good fining agent AND it is probably one of the most expensive he has in his store. Time and patience are less expensive. Fining is done for more reasons than just rapid clearing. First determine your needs - other than quick clarity.

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

Jim:

I'm a kit kind of guy, and I tend to use the additives included in the kits, and that includes clearing agents. The popular one in Canada is Kieselsol-Chitosan. Good grades of gelatin were apparently difficult to source during the Mad Cow thing. Don't know about now. Don't know if K-C or K-G is better or if it depends on the circumstances.

I tend to use a combination of gravity and clearing agents. I bottled a kit today, so have the data in front of me.

Nov 5 - started - sg 1.084 Nov 16 - to carboy - sg .990 (ferment complete) Dec 13 - stabilizers and clearing (isinglass) added - .988 Jan 24 - racked off sediment Feb 9 - filtered and bottled

That was a six week kit, and it took me three months (13 weeks or so). That was actually quick for me, because we're low on wine.

As you can see, I did not add the clearing agent as soon as the ferment was finished.

Steve

Reply to
Steve

IMHO, a 2 month repeated racking schedule is overkill in the extreme.

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

I thought you were talking about racking every two months.

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

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