Apfelwein from clear to cloudy?

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SSteph2747

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Hey all, apfelwein is my first wine to be ready to bottle. I followed the directions almost exactly except I used 1 lb brown sugar and 1 lb white sugar instead of the dextrose. I used unfiltered juice.

So, after 1 month, it was clear and fermented to .999, so I racked it off the lees, degassed, and added potassium sorbate (2.5 tsp) and 6 campden tablets. I crushed the sorbate and campden first then added to a cup of the wine, stirred, then added to the carboy and stirred. And it went from clear to cloudy! I searched the forum for what may have happened. Is this normal? If so, How long until it clears out again? We were hoping to bottle this weekend (we added the stuff on Friday). Does anyone else add potassium sorbate? I don't have fridge room to cold crash.

Thanks,

Sara

PS - I think next time, I'll just leave it alone :)
 
Hi Sara ... I've never added anything to the Apfelwein ... but during one bottling day, we accidently stirred up the lees ... so to avoid that the next time we bottled, we racked the apfelwein to a clean carboy ... only to find the wine cloudy the next day. It took a good 10 days to clear again ... as a result, we now just bottle the apfelwein from the fermenting carboy.

So I guess what I'm trying to say ... I am not sure that the additives caused your wine to go cloudy ... more likely just racking from one carboy to another.
 
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one to whom this has happened. It IS starting to clear (again) - I'll just give it some time.

Thanks!
 
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