Peach wine in secondary 6 months, still has clumps of sediment

[Erik the Awful]

I have a five-gallon batch of peach wine that's been in secondary fermentation since April. I blended the peach, added water and sugar, simmered it on the stove, cooled it, and started primary fermentation. At the time I hadn't started using pectic enzyme, but since I've been using it in other wines to help break the fruit down. I screened it from primary into secondary fermentation. When I tried to rack it last week (3rd racking), it still had sediment hanging in clumps throughout. I ended up pouring it into the new bucket and left the bottom couple inches. I strained what was left and tried it, and it's good. I added 1 tsp of pectic enzyme to the bucket and put the lid on for a day, then went back in and added three crushed campden tablets to keep it from spoiling. When I opened the bucket to add the campden, it had a thick cap, like it was in primary fermentation. I haven't opened it since.

Where do I go from here? I'm pretty sure the yeast is done (Lalvin EC-1118), so I'm not worried about stopping the yeast. Because I blend and simmer, I always have a bit more trouble getting wines to clarify, but having sediment clumps is frustrating.

Do I open it back up and use a screen to remove the cap?

Do I hope the cap drops and check again in two months?

What would you do?

 

[Erik the Awful]

Update: When I strained it on the 7th, I put the lees and liquid in a bottle in the fridge. It steadily settled off over the last week and a half, and I finished drinking it tonight. It might be cloudy, but it's pretty good. Afterwards I went ahead and got the bucket out of the garage and racked it. I racked about 2.5 gallons into a fresh bucket before I got to sediment clumps. I screened that into a half-gallon bottle and most of a fifth bottle, and my plan is to let that settle and drink it next month. No signs of spoilage so far.

I think next time I do a peach wine I'm going to screen it from the stove into primary fermentation, add pectic enzyme, and use my finer screen when I move it to secondary. I'm trying to get the most out of the fruit and not add so much sugar during fermentation, but I think I'm at odds with how much sugar the EC-1118 can convert to alcohol. It's a shame because I really like its temperature tolerance.

 

[Coffee49]

I had a Niagara that acted in a similar way. I used bentonite and in 3 weeks clear as a bell but the lees on the bottom looked the surface of the moon. Turned out good