Depressing Campden cloudyness

The only thought I have is that you added sugar and sorbate at the same time. Sorbate is a stabilizer and I could be wrong but if you add the sugar and sorbate at the same time then the wine would not have time to stabilize. The cloudiness could be due to the yeast eating the sugar you just added. I have never had a campden tablet make my wine cloudy.

Thanks,

David

(here:

I have had that cloudiness happen a few times... With Apple, Rosehip and Crabapple wines (there was at least one other one but I forget). I started with a brilliantly clear wine, added Campden and watch it turn the color and opaqueness of skim milk. I let it sit for almost a year with little result... I finally filtered each batch and bottled it.

I wrote and called a couple of manufacturers of Campden Tablets and they had no idea of what happened and why. I have made the very same wines several times and used Campden without problems. I don't know what causes a particular wine to go opaque, so I stopped using Campden.

Later, A.J. Rawls Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Thanks, I searched google groups and found your original post, it was about strawberry wine, almost a year ago to date. That's what's depressing, if I had searched before, I could have sweetened, sorbated, THEN fined. In fact, I did search for rose hip wine recipies, but just find this particular problem.

I tried warming the wine up to 65 F to maybe dissolve something, that didn't help. I have it in the fridge now to help it settle, when I get the chance I'll put it outside at night when the temp is about 32 F

-- I don't want it to freeze and shatter the glass. If I have to fine again, I'll use the KC again. I don't want to deal with bentonite lees.

Dang. What is this cloudyness? Could it all be binder from the Campden? Is it some residual secret protein from rose hips (and in your case, apple and strawberry) that sat calmly in solution through bentonite and kieselsol and chitosan, which reacted badly to metabisulfite? Or some bizarre acid reaction between excess unusual fruit acids (all Vitamin C rich fruits here), metabisuphate, sorbate and sugar? I guess we'll never know. Ah well, there's next year's crop of rose hips for me to play with -- they're free, afterall.

I have experienced similar hazes after using Campden tables. I have never experienced hazes when using potassium metabisulfite, so I suspect the binder in Campden tablets causes the problem. Lum Del Mar, California, USA

What binder is listed on the label of your tablets?

Mine don't list the binder but it appears to be some sort of wax. It's light, white and soft. It leaves a neat little ring around the top of the carboy when I rack.

Exactly. I asked the group once before what the binder in Campden tablets was, and people came up with proplyene glycol or sodium benzoate. At any rate, there are only traces of these binders in each tablet. Not likely enough for 2 tablets to cloud a gallon and a half. Besides, why did it happen now, after sugar and sorbate, and not before, when I added the tablets after every other racking?

Maybe some fruit wines contain high levels of something simple (like an obscure nonfermentable sugar, or some strange acid) that doesn't like to stay dissolved in sorbate plus campden. Ah well, moot point at this point really, it SEEMS to be slowly settling out. A couple of months, and we'll see if I have to fine again.

Hi, I've noticed the same thing with some of my wines, but it doesn't happen with all, only with a few. I use campden tablets all the time. Usually, the wines clear; if they don't I usually fine them (but then I don't do this a lot either). Just be patient. Darlene Wisconsin

What does anyone think about it being PECTIN??????

I don't think it's pectin.. It filters out easily and stays gone.

I didn't think of pectin either. A pectin haze is usually a reason why your wine won't clear to begin with, and won't clear on its own. Usually the campden haze clears up on its own. I'm not sure why it happens; I use campden tablets all the time (sometimes it happens, sometimes not). I keep pretty good notes on any batch I make, and I've never noticed a pattern of campden haze with any particular fruit, veggie, or frozen concentrate. I rarely use anything to clear a wine either, most clear on their own. Hope this helps. Hang in there. Darlene Wisconsin

I'm with Darlene; I haven't used anything to make the sediment fall out in years. My main ingredient is patience.... "Time is on my side..." -The Rolling Stones- Bob

-- "We are assassins, we are not evil, we act with reason, and heart... your heart."- Gary Numan- "I, Assassin"