Cider clearing issue

[BeerClaw]

I'm having a problem getting my cider to clear out and was wondering if anyone has any advice? So far it has fully fermented, it has been racked off all the sediment and I have added 1tsp of dissolve gelatin twice now. It has pulled stuff out but it is still completely cloudy. Previous batches I have made cleared out completely with just 1tsp of dissolved gelatin.

At this point I'm not sure if I should add a larger amount of gelatin or put the carboy in my cold shed to settle out or use some other fining agent? I need my carboy for a dubbel so I'd like to get it bottled within a week. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Yooper]

You can try putting it somewhere very cold for a few days, and that should help. If it's a pectin haze, pectin enzyme would help.

 

[BeerClaw]

Okay, I'll try my shed then, its been close to freezing at night now. Does the pectin enzyme work once it has fermented? I'm figuring pectin is a problem, the cider was really pulpy to begin with. This batch has been a bit of a nightmare.

 

[LeBreton]

Pectic enzyme will work even after fermentation, but is somewhat inhibited by the presence of alcohol. When makign cider, avoid gelatin based fining agents since they will capture both the apple solids and the tannins in the juice, making for a thinner bodied cider.

 

[Devo9]

Pectic enzyme will work even after fermentation, but is somewhat inhibited by the presence of alcohol. When makign cider, avoid gelatin based fining agents since they will capture both the apple solids and the tannins in the juice, making for a thinner bodied cider.

Any suggestions on what fining agents to use?

 

[lucasbodie]

Gelatin finings have a tendency to "cloud" your cider or wine. I use benodite which is a clay product mined in Wyoming, for fining or clearing...however I'm not sure that "fining" a cider is something you want to do. Pectic Enzyme is defiantly a good additive I have used in the past and my wines have come out very very clear with the combo of both...

 

[lucasbodie]

I can't say enough about using Benodite finings, but I have used KC Claro as well which is a shell fish product (not Kosher!!!), and that works super good with little to no effort, you just stir the stuff in. The benodite you want to blend to a fine powder and slowly add it to your cider in the secondary...

 

[LeBreton]

I always add pectic enzyme before pitching. Then sometimes again with a difficult batch in secondary. For extreme cases bentonite does it for me.

 

[AndrewTodd]

Time...my cider was cloudy for months in the secondary. Then it cleared at the end of month three.