I have a question about clearing my wine...When I checked my specific gravity, prior to stabilizing, there were no air bubbles for several days and the sp gr. reading was at the lowest possible point on the scale (I could not get an accurate reading because the hydrometer actually dipped slightly below the wine line .990). I assumed the fermentation had stopped and continued to stabilizing the wine.
My Brew King Selection Estate Pinot Noir kit says to stir vigorously for 2-3 minutes after adding the metabisulphite and sorbate. Then after adding the chitosan, stir again for another 2-3 minutes and then seal with the bung.
Instructions elsewhere say to stir several times a day for 3 days.
If I let my wine sit long enough, will it clear properly with only 1 stirring? If I stabilized my wine slightly too early, will it still clear properly if I let it sit long enough?
Hello, I don't do wine kits - my understanding of everything I've read on this site, says to follow the directions which the company gives you, which you have written below. This section "Instructions elsewhere say to stir several times a day for 3 days" seems out of place with your other instructions, but wait to see if others confirm this. I don't know that I would expose my wine to all that air after it has fermented to dry. Anyway, patience is always the key...wine will clear on its own (unless something else is going on) if you wait. They say you should always wait after stabilizing wine, to allow additional sediment to drop out. Most of the problems people run into is when they rush the process in order to bottle the wine, so as long as you are willing to let it bulk age a bit longer, I would let it sit. Hope this helps. Darlene ;o)
BrewKings/WinExpert's fining instructions are a little different from those for other kits, but they work well for BrewKing kits. As far as driving the CO2 out, what you're trying to do with all the stirring, if, after a session of stirring, you take the last drop of wine off the stirrer and place it under your tongue, when it needs more works it will feel like 7-up, but if it just lies still, you're done. If you will be bulk aging the wine in the carboy for a few months, don't worry too much about degassing; it'll happen on its own in time. If you want to bottle soon, make sure the degassing is complete.
Basically you are talking about 3 different things here. Stabilizing, Clearing, and Degassing. Clearing is done with time or with clearing agents such as betonite, or in your case, chitosan. You are handling this the way the kit says to so you should be fine.
Stabilizing can be many things. The two you need to be concerned with in your wine are protection against oxidation and refermentation. The K-metabisulphate will protect against oxidation if you use it in the correct amount which should be the amount they include in the kit and if the wine does not come into contact with too much air. As far as stabilizing against refermentation, with the low SG you have you need not worry about this unless you are going to sweeten the wine. This is one place where many people will tell you to deviate from kit instructions. If they included sorbate to stabilize you wine and if you wine is very dry (as yours is) and if you are not sweetening it, then do not add the sorbate. It is not needed and can give off flavors if not covered up by sweetness.
Finally there is degassing. Young wine tends to be supersaturated with CO2 due to the fermentation process. Some people actually like the CO2 in there wine. Most do not. In general, it needs to be removed. It will leave the wine naturally if you bulk age it for 9 to 12 months and with 2 or 3 rackings. But most kits want to give you quicker gratification They have you bottling in 3 to 6 months or less. Hence they have you force the CO2 out by a lot of stirring. Yes this will remove the CO2 but it will also tend to oxidize you wine as it is put in more contact with air. No real problem if you are going to drink you wine fairly young as kits are intended; but if you are going to age it, it can be a problem and the wine may even start on decline after only a year or two. If you are going to bulk age your wine for 6 months or more, I would limit the stirring if I were you. Only stir in the ingredients necessary but cut down on the extra
3 min. stirring they suggest. Before you bottle, stir it vigorously. If there is a lot of foaming, then you need to degas. Not before.
So, if I wanted to bulk age my wine (aging it in the carboy) for six months, then how often would I rack it from carboy to carboy? Then when I bottle, would the six months bulk aging be enough for the wine to be ready to drink? (as opposed to bottling in another month and then aging the wine in the bottles for six months?
OK, now I've got something going on that I've never seen before and the store I bought the wine kit from does not have a clue either... My wine has been sitting quietly after its initial stirring three days ago. Today, I twisted the Carboy a few times to dislodge some more air bubbles. Everything was fine - an hour later, the top of the carboy seems to have been filled with the stuff that was on the bottom of the carboy. It looks like large floating spongelike material . I did not shake the carboy - only a twist or two. I did NOT open the air bung at the top (except to just now smell the wine).. The wine does not smell, either. Everything was fine prior to my twisting the carboy. What is this stuff? Has anyone had this happen before? Will it clear over the next few days? If it were bacteria wouldn't it smell? Thanks,
When it has settled and cleared pretty well, which will probably be about a week or two after you added your clearing agent, it is a good idea to rack it off the sediment. You said you "twisted the bottle to free some bubbles" and some of the stuff from the bottom rose to the top. It probably has some bubbles on it and your twisting the bottle freed them so the bubbles carried some sediment back to the top. If this is the case and if they have not settled back on their own, you can pop the airlock off, stick something down in it and stir just the top part of the carboy where the stuff is a little and put the air lock back on. If the carboy is topped up, there should be little problem with this. If this is the cause, it will settle back down within a few days.
After you rack it off the initial clearing agent sediment, let it set for 2 or 3 months and rack it again. It should then hold to the end of your 6 months. At that time, check it to see if it is clear of CO2 by stirring it vigorously to see if you get significant foam. Six months is about the minimum time to let the CO2 clear naturally so you want to check it. If there is no real foam, then bottle it. If there is, then stir for 3 min., let set for 3 min. stir again for 3 min. Repeat until most foam is gone. (Or give it another 2 months in bulk ageing.) You might give it a shot of
1/2 tablet of campden per gallon to protect from oxidation as a result of the stirring. Then bottle.
Now, will it age the same in bottles? No, it is generally considered that it ages differently and perhaps better in bulk. Part of this is due to temperature. Bulk aging protects from any temperature changes better than bottled wine.
After you bottle it, give it a month in bottle to get over bottle shock before drinking.
I do think it is sediment from the bottom. There was a lot of air bubbles around the sediment and like I said, it had no bad smell - just smelled like wine or early wine. Anyway, I have just stirred the top portion of the wine and the stuff has broken up and hopefully will continue to clear. If my wine does clear as it should, then is it safe to assume there is no bacteria and the wine will be safe to drink in time? OR might I have just stirred up bacteria? How will I know?
It's not time to worry about it not clearing yet. As far as bacteria, there are no known pathogens that live in wine. There are things that will ruin the taste of wine but not your health. That is why you should drink wine or beer in places where the water is not safe.
If it does not clear in a reasonable time there are other things to try. There are different clearing agents that do different things. Someone here will help you when the time comes. But there are few things less appetizing than cloudy wine.
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