beginner question

my girlfriend is in the process of making her first batch of wine right now. its been in the process over a month now. it is a cabarnet franc kit from rj spangnols. according to the instructions it should be ready to bottle but it is not clearing up at all. it tastes very good for a first effort a month in the making, but it still has a trace of CO2 and is a murky red/purple color. should we add more isinglass? or some other clearing agent? don't know what to do here...please help.

Red wines can take a long time to settle out and too much clearing agent can strip out flavors. You'll be aging the wine for months, so if the gravity is stable bottle it.

the gravity has been stable for a couple weeks now. we'd like to bottle it, but i have two questions: 1) what about that small amount of CO2 in it still? I'm sure that shouldn't be there, but not sure how tro get it out. I definitely don't want to strip it of its flavor, because it tastes really nice already, and i'm sure it will only get better. 2) will it clear some in the bottles, after a few months aging? the cloudiness is easier to deal with for us than the CO2, as the little bit of bubbles is distracting on the tongue, but we would like for it to be somewhat clear.

With The Wine Kits I Have Used The Instructions Have You Add
Potassium Metabisulphite(i Think) And Stir At Least 6 Times Over The Next 2 Days Before Adding The Clearing Agent To Remove The C02.
The Option Now Is To Put In A Cold Place To Let The Yeast Drop Out And Rent A Filter Before Bottling
My Local Shop Rents A Mini Jet For $5.00 Plus $4.00 For Pads.
The Wine Is Sparkling When You Bottle

drengel, You mention CO2 and the fact it's not clearing as well as you'd like. The two can be linked - excess CO2 can prevent the finings from working properly. The usual method to remove CO2 is to first agitate the wine (by shaking etc) to release it and THEN add more finings and store it cold. The combination of chill and finings will then help to clear it further.

You haven't mentioned what size kit or how you have been fermenting it. Shaking a 5 Gallon secondary might be tough i agree!

('Oxidation!' is often the reply to agitation BTW - The escaping CO2 pushes out the oxygen so no worries)

caplan- the kit is 6 gallons of cab franc. i am new to winemaking but assume i'm fermenting it teh standard way. i added yeast in the primary, transferred it when it down at 1.000, then waited a week, rtansferred again and added some chemicals, then added the isinglass and stirred to degas it. (or something to that effect- in short i followed the instructions given with the kit.) the only thing i have done different was not use a carboy as i do not have a 6 gallon carboy (i will tommorow though). I used plastic bucket fermenters.

so my thought is this- i will stir it again to degas further tonight. wait a day or two for the yeast to settle back down. i have no way of chilling it in my house, but it is plenty cold here, so i was thinking of moving it outside in the morning, waiting until night time, and then transferring very carefully into the 6 gallon carboy that it is arriving tommorow. then i'll wait a few more days and see how clear it gets. if not clear by that time i will use some more isinglass i guess.

sound good?

drengel said:

the kit is 6 gallons of cab franc. i am new to winemaking but assume i'm fermenting it teh standard way. i added yeast in the primary, transferred it when it down at 1.000, then waited a week, rtansferred again and added some chemicals, then added the isinglass and stirred to degas it. (or something to that effect- in short i followed the instructions given with the kit.) the only thing i have done different was not use a carboy as i do not have a 6 gallon carboy (i will tommorow though). I used plastic bucket fermenters.

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Standard wine kit instructions are a little 'vague' - you've managed to decipher them! RESPECT! No problem with what you've done so far drengel.
A carboy will be easier to seal for future secondarys (either wine or beer)

drengel said:

so my thought is this- i will stir it again to degas further tonight. wait a day or two for the yeast to settle back down. i have no way of chilling it in my house, but it is plenty cold here, so i was thinking of moving it outside in the morning, waiting until night time, and then transferring very carefully into the 6 gallon carboy that it is arriving tommorow. then i'll wait a few more days and see how clear it gets. if not clear by that time i will use some more isinglass i guess.

sound good?

Click to expand...

It's not a bad plan! My take would be I'd wait til your carboy shows up - do nothing just keep the wine sealed. When it arrives, wash and sterilize it (and if you have Campden tablets crush a couple and add them to the carboy) then syphon the wine gently from your bucket (to ensure you don't stir any more sediment up) but let the wine being transferred into your carboy have a little 'trickle' into the wine (i.e. a 2" gap between the syphon end and the wine surface). This will help get some CO2 out. Seal and then chill it the best you can and see after a week. If you still see no improvement i'd add more finings but consider putting a sterilised airlock back on the carboy to make sure all the CO2 is gone.

One thing Im not sure about is moving it in the cold after adding finnings, I haven't really used them , but a experienced person said that it is better to leave them in the warmth so they can work.

Yes putting it in the cold does help, but I don't Believe
it would WHILE the finnings are doing their thing.

Im guessing puting it in the cold might drop them out
Like it drops yeast particals, but thats only a guess.

Time is your friend. Leave things in the carboy, rack every couple of weeks for two months, and you'll have bulk-aged, sparkling clear wine. Then bottle.