Cloudy apple wine

My applewine is really cloudy. It's been in the primary since the 22nd of December and isn't showing much signs of clearing up. I used Ed's recipe but substituted one of the gallons of apple juice with unfiltered organic apple juice. Not sure if it's the cause of the cloudiness or not. At some point should I cold crash the primary? If so how long should I do that? Anything else I could try to clear it up a bit at this point?

I would cold crash and give it a mo. or so...First time I made apple wine using Ed's recipe this happen to me and took forever for it to stop fermenting...

Turnerdude1 said:

I would cold crash and give it a mo. or so...First time I made apple wine using Ed's recipe this happen to me and took forever for it to stop fermenting...

Click to expand...

So cold crash it for a month?

Or you could add some pectic enzyme.

The normal way to make "Cloudy" sweet cider stay cloudy is to add a bunch of vitamin C at pressing... Apparently, it keeps the pectin in solution and when they pasteurize - Ta-Da.... cloudy cider....

Thanks

yea a mo. or two should do it...

I also used a unfiltered Apple juice for one of my batches, it stayed cloudy never cleared till I cold crashed.

Now it is clearing but I have about a 3 inches of loamy sediment, hoping it settles enough for easier racking, time will tell

That's likely the pectin settling that I mentioned above.... Apple has a giant amount of pectin in it.... It doesn't really compact very well.... and if it warms up or you agitate too much - back into solution it goes.....

Thanks

Did you rack off your initial lees?

If not, do that, sulphite (or don't) and top off and give it a couple weeks. I bet it clears then. You might be seeing a malolactic fermentation haze. There may be light bubbles coming up or not. If so, it may take a few weeks months to clear. If you cider had preservatives in it a malolactic fermentation is unlikely.

Time alone should clear it, just get it off your lees and into a secondary. IMO

It's racked off of the lees. Also after cold crashing for a month do I bring it back to room temperature again? Or do I just bottle cold and store cold after cold crashing?

I don't thing you need to cold crash it for a month. Is it fermented dry? If yes, you can let it sit under airlock for a month or so (or more) to bulk age. Pectin is insoluble in alcohol, so the pectin will drop out naturally in time.

If you want to cold crash, you could do so for about a week at most and that should clear it up pretty good. But if the cider needs age in general, better to bulk age it a month at room temp, then cold crash, rack to bottling bucket and bottle.

The haze might be malolactic fermentation, but I still am not sure if your cider was pasteurized in any way. If yes, I would doubt the malolactic. If there is a malolactic haze, meaning you are in the midst of malolactic fermentation, you absolutely do not want to bottle until it is finished.

It is possible that the cider you used had something added to it to maintain the cloudy haze of the cider. That might be the route of the issue. Some ciders put an additive in there to keep the haze, to make the cider look more authentic. But I doubt this is the case with an organic cider, but who knows...

perhaps you should describe your process in the cider making, maybe there is a clue there.