WOW just wont seem to clear....

[Leeds Chimp]

Had these two DJ sat in the cold for 3 weeks now...added bentonite which did not work then added some kwik clear...and now its day 6 after that and still not clearing....
Any advice or is it down the sink time and I have messed up somewhere????

 

[calumscott]

Had these two DJ sat in the cold for 3 weeks now...added bentonite which did not work then added some kwik clear...and now its day 6 after that and still not clearing....
Any advice or is it down the sink time and I have messed up somewhere????

Looks like a fair sediment there - worth trying racking them onto isinglass?

 

[RobWalker]

it's never sink time unless it's infected. even bad wine makes good vinegar. have you tried adding pectolase? did you heat the juice at all? (that would cause the pectins to activate and definitely require pectolase.)

could it also be chill haze causing a lot of yeast not to drop out? the one on the right looks positively seperated, like it should be clear - have you tried leaving them at room temp for a few days?

 

[ScottM]

That doesn't look to good at all. Have you racked into a secondary at all, or is that still the primary? First thing to do, if it's the primary, is get them into secondary.

It can take a long time for wine to clear on its own but using kwik clear shouldn't take long at all. Did you use pectolase?

 

[Leeds Chimp]

it's never sink time unless it's infected. even bad wine makes good vinegar. have you tried adding pectolase? did you heat the juice at all? (that would cause the pectins to activate and definitely require pectolase.)

could it also be chill haze causing a lot of yeast not to drop out? the one on the right looks positively seperated, like it should be clear - have you tried leaving them at room temp for a few days?

added pectolase at the start and did not boil it..but not perser in the carton...

could try room temp for a few days as been on the concrete floor under the stairs so not too cold tho

 

[ScottM]

How long did you primary ferment for, before moving to the cold? Just wondering if the yeast hasn't finished doing it's cleaning up and that's why you're having trouble.

Moving into the warm would combat this if that's the case.

 

[Leeds Chimp]

How long did you primary ferment for, before moving to the cold? Just wondering if the yeast hasn't finished doing it's cleaning up and that's why you're having trouble.

Moving into the warm would combat this if that's the case.

primary for 4 weeks ..racked off into second with OG of 998 , de gassed, added potsob and bento then under the stairs ...

the other two i did at the same time have cleared nicely and are now in bottles

 

[ScottM]

How long did you primary ferment for, before moving to the cold? Just wondering if the yeast hasn't finished doing it's cleaning up and that's why you're having trouble.

Moving into the warm would combat this if that's the case.

primary for 4 weeks ..racked off into second with OG of 998 , de gassed, added potsob and bento then under the stairs ...

the other two i did at the same time have cleared nicely and are now in bottles

That's quite strange. The final gravity is pretty high too as I would have expected low 90s at least (0.988-0.995). It's almost as if the yeast hadn't finished.

If the yeast hadn't finished, and had left a lot of solids in the wine, then killing them off prematurely will be the reason your wine isn't clearing. Not a lot you can do about it now, that I can think of anyway, if that's the case.

You should always make sure your wine is crystal clear before killing off the yeast. They are mostly responsible for clearing and making the juice transparent. Finings simply take the solids created and make them fall out, if they aren't out of the liquid then there isn't a lot it will do.

 

[Leeds Chimp]

How long did you primary ferment for, before moving to the cold? Just wondering if the yeast hasn't finished doing it's cleaning up and that's why you're having trouble.

Moving into the warm would combat this if that's the case.

primary for 4 weeks ..racked off into second with OG of 998 , de gassed, added potsob and bento then under the stairs ...

the other two i did at the same time have cleared nicely and are now in bottles

That's quite strange. The final gravity is pretty high too as I would have expected low 90s at least (0.988-0.995). It's almost as if the yeast hadn't finished.

If the yeast hadn't finished, and had left a lot of solids in the wine, then killing them off prematurely will be the reason your wine isn't clearing. Not a lot you can do about it now, that I can think of anyway, if that's the case.

You should always make sure your wine is crystal clear before killing off the yeast. They are mostly responsible for clearing and making the juice transparent. Finings simply take the solids created and make them fall out, if they aren't out of the liquid then there isn't a lot it will do.

wanted a bit sweeter wine instead of back sweeten....maybe not to do that again then...

so how do you clear then...?? use the kwik clear then a few days later the potsob?? as was just following the link on WOW by moley??

 

[ScottM]

wanted a bit sweeter wine instead of back sweeten....maybe not to do that again then...

so how do you clear then...?? use the kwik clear then a few days later the potsob?? as was just following the link on WOW by moley??

Ahh, that's likely the reason then.

The first time I did the WOW I followed the guide by Moley. I fermented dry for a fortnight, transferred to secondary and added finings (vinclear). Within a week the wine was crystal so I transferred it again and added potassium sorbate and a campden tablet.

Now when I'm making wine I do all of the above but I don't bother with the finings. I transfer to secondary, leave in the warm for a week then put out the way (cool location) for a month or so. I have a healthy enough stash now that I can put them away and forget about them for months without issue. Once I'm ready to bottle I either do so directly from the secondary, or I transfer to another DJ to get it off any fallen solids before then bottling. I like my wine dry so I don't even bother using potassium sorbate or campden. If I wanted to back sweeten I would add potassium sorbate and a campden tablet to another DJ and rack on top of that from the secondary. I would then leave that for a day or 2 before adding sugar to taste.

 

[Leeds Chimp]

wanted a bit sweeter wine instead of back sweeten....maybe not to do that again then...

so how do you clear then...?? use the kwik clear then a few days later the potsob?? as was just following the link on WOW by moley??

Ahh, that's likely the reason then.

The first time I did the WOW I followed the guide by Moley. I fermented dry for a fortnight, transferred to secondary and added finings (vinclear). Within a week the wine was crystal so I transferred it again and added potassium sorbate and a campden tablet.

Now when I'm making wine I do all of the above but I don't bother with the finings. I transfer to secondary, leave in the warm for a week then put out the way (cool location) for a month or so. I have a healthy enough stash now that I can put them away and forget about them for months without issue. Once I'm ready to bottle I either do so directly from the secondary, or I transfer to another DJ to get it off any fallen solids before then bottling. I like my wine dry so I don't even bother using potassium sorbate or campden. If I wanted to back sweeten I would add potassium sorbate and a campden tablet to another DJ and rack on top of that from the secondary. I would then leave that for a day or 2 before adding sugar to taste.

So i got this clear as I like bullet points more for someone explaining something to me :whistle: :hat:
If want dry wine....

* once its dry out to 99 (whatever) add the kwik clear and leave somewhere cool....then bottle once ready and clear..no need to potsob or CT

**If want sweet add Kwik clear...wait till clear then add potsob and CT ...then juice/sugar a day or so later???

SO dont add the potsob, fining and CT at the same time roughly :drunk:

fining.....then potsob/ct if needed to sweeten

 

[Moley]

When you rack your wine, that's when you add Campden and sorbate.

After you've done that it should be safe to back sweeten if required.

If you haven't stopped and stabilised then adding more sugars will just get the yeasties excited again and it's not going to clear.

Finings are optional but come after stopping and stabilising.

I have never had any problem with Kwik Clear and consider that to be the best wine finings available. Did you follow the instructions properly and add the two parts at least half an hour apart?

How cold is cold? That probably isn't helping.

 

[Leeds Chimp]

When you rack your wine, that's when you add Campden and sorbate.

After you've done that it should be safe to back sweeten if required.

If you haven't stopped and stabilised then adding more sugars will just get the yeasties excited again and it's not going to clear.

Finings are optional but come after stopping and stabilising.

I have never had any problem with Kwik Clear and consider that to be the best wine finings available. Did you follow the instructions properly and add the two parts at least half an hour apart?

How cold is cold? That probably isn't helping.

put the potsob, CT and Bentonite in when I racked into the 2nd DJ then under the stairs.....no idea what temp it is...
then added Kwik clear a few days ago.....and yes I did leave it over 30 mins between A and B :mrgreen:

not added any extra sugar or juice to them at all

 

[ScottM]

[quote="Leeds Chimp":2lnx83h2]

wanted a bit sweeter wine instead of back sweeten....maybe not to do that again then...

so how do you clear then...?? use the kwik clear then a few days later the potsob?? as was just following the link on WOW by moley??

Ahh, that's likely the reason then.

The first time I did the WOW I followed the guide by Moley. I fermented dry for a fortnight, transferred to secondary and added finings (vinclear). Within a week the wine was crystal so I transferred it again and added potassium sorbate and a campden tablet.

Now when I'm making wine I do all of the above but I don't bother with the finings. I transfer to secondary, leave in the warm for a week then put out the way (cool location) for a month or so. I have a healthy enough stash now that I can put them away and forget about them for months without issue. Once I'm ready to bottle I either do so directly from the secondary, or I transfer to another DJ to get it off any fallen solids before then bottling. I like my wine dry so I don't even bother using potassium sorbate or campden. If I wanted to back sweeten I would add potassium sorbate and a campden tablet to another DJ and rack on top of that from the secondary. I would then leave that for a day or 2 before adding sugar to taste.

So i got this clear as I like bullet points more for someone explaining something to me :whistle: :hat:
If want dry wine....

* once its dry out to 99 (whatever) add the kwik clear and leave somewhere cool....then bottle once ready and clear..no need to potsob or CT

**If want sweet add Kwik clear...wait till clear then add potsob and CT ...then juice/sugar a day or so later???

SO dont add the potsob, fining and CT at the same time roughly :drunk:

fining.....then potsob/ct if needed to sweeten[/quote:2lnx83h2]

Yup, that's how I would do it.

Although Moley has suggested that the fining should come after stabilising. I tend not to stabilise so I guess that may be down to adding those ingredients making it a little murky again

 

[Leeds Chimp]

Will give it a week then or might have an infection maybe

 

[ScottM]

Will give it a week then or might have an infection maybe

I don't think it's an infection. I think it's that the yeast hasn't been given time to strip the colour out of the juice.

 

[Leeds Chimp]

Will give it a week then or might have an infection maybe

I don't think it's an infection. I think it's that the yeast hasn't been given time to strip the colour out of the juice.

so I killed it too soon in other words

 

[ScottM]

[quote="Leeds Chimp":3jjreu25]Will give it a week then or might have an infection maybe

I don't think it's an infection. I think it's that the yeast hasn't been given time to strip the colour out of the juice.

so I killed it too soon in other words[/quote:3jjreu25]

That's what I've been saying since I first posted

The wine might be fine tasting though. If you're happy to drink non transparent wine then no point in tipping it :)

 

[Leeds Chimp]

Got there in the end then
At least I now know where I went wrong and how to sort it out for next time

Don't beimpatient with it and wait a bit longer
Just that the other two came out fine
Will leave them in the DJ in that case and ray it's a special cloudy English wine

 

[wezil]

Hi I had a wow that wouldn't clear even after fining, so I put it outside in the cold overnight (Undercover in a shed) next morning clear! 2 weeks later still fine and loverly!