Re: Bentonite Haze

Nope, that's the Evil Lee :-)

Charlie,

The lysozyme appears to be doing the trick. I added it on Sunday, and peeked at the carboys last night. They are *noticably* clearer.

Just to clarify (pun intended!) the lessons here - is there an advantage to adding lysozyme to wines that are intended to be sweet? I am assuming said addition is exclusively for suppression of ML? Are there other benefits? Are there situations where you would add lysozyme to a dry wine? When is the best time to make said additions? I'm guessing my late addition here (as a correction) was not optimal?

--Lee P.S. Bill, thanks for the original suggestion.

advantage to

benefits?

Lysozyme is used against ML bacteria, but as it is a protein agent, it can also bind with other things in your wine, notably tannin. In other words, it can also fine your wine, which can be a good or bad thing, depending. Being a protein, it could make the wine instable and give you hazes later, so make sure to bentonite the wine fairly soon.

ML can affect any wine, sweet or dry, so lysozyme is added to any type. It can be pretty crucial for sweet wines if they were treated with sorbate because ML would destroy such wines completely.

You can add it at any time, it depends on your goals - I think the Scott Lab site discusses all that. If you really don't want any ML, the best time to add is to the must in the beginning. The one thing to keep in mind is that you shouldn't bentonite the wine/must before lysozyme addition because bentonite inactivates the enzyme immediately.

Pp