backsweeten then clear or vise versa?

[SmokeyMcBong]

I grabbed 3 used carboys last night and am fixin to rack my "ade" into one and sparkolloid clear. my question is which order to do it in. sweetener then sparkolloid or sparkolloid then sweetener? or both at the same time?

thanks for your time!
ipe:

 

[novalou]

I grabbed 3 used carboys last night and am fixin to rack my "ade" into one and sparkolloid clear. my question is which order to do it in. sweetener then sparkolloid or sparkolloid then sweetener? or both at the same time?



thanks for your time!

ipe:

Let it fully clear. Then you can sweeten and stabilize with potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Adam_Selene]

Yes. 2nd. Back sweeten at the same time that you stabilize. Otherwise, active yeast will eat a little bit of your sweetener if it's not pre-stabilized, and if it is, it might kill the yeast, or knock a few of them out. Either way it just precipitates more sediment which you might as well rack away from before you stabilize. So it comes down to either wasting the power of your sweetener a little bit, or wasting the power of your finings, a little bit. Or both.

--Adam Selene

 

[T_Baggins]

hit with the stabilizer and let sit a few days to a week just to make sure there is no more yeast action, then sweeten

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

Thanks for the responses peeps.

I could have given more info about my plans i guess. The idea is to sweeten with artificial sweetener so no need to worry about re-fermentation and I plan on making this a sparkling beverage so no stabilization.

The reason I ask about the order of operations is because I've read on different posts that after you clear your wine, and add the sweetener, The wine will become cloudy again and I would have to wait another week or two after sweetening for the wine to re-clear.

Any thoughts?

 

[T_Baggins]

to make sparkling you 'll need to use natural sweetener...the sparkle, or fizz, comes from a certain amount of controlled fermentation in the bottle.

 

[Adam_Selene]

Thanks for the responses peeps.

I could have given more info about my plans i guess. The idea is to sweeten with artificial sweetener so no need to worry about re-fermentation and I plan on making this a sparkling beverage so no stabilization.

The reason I ask about the order of operations is because I've read on different posts that after you clear your wine, and add the sweetener, The wine will become cloudy again and I would have to wait another week or two after sweetening for the wine to re-clear.

Any thoughts?

The *perceived* cloudiness is probably just imperfectly dissolved sugar. Invert syrup often enough, which already looks pretty. This will go away.

If your bottle conditioning, I don't know what to say about artificial. It's generally stronger in sweetness per unit. That's what the internet told me anyway.

If your using a keg, just keg the wine prematurely. If your in a hurry your going to have to crash the yeast/sediment in the bottle or the keg anyway.

To be on the safe side, wait until it's 1.000 or lower.

--Adam Selene

 

[Adam_Selene]

Also, bubbles will make the wine look cloudy if you were using a drill on it-- Just a second ago.

--Adam Selene

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

to make sparkling you 'll need to use natural sweetener

yup, I'm gonna use the fake sweetener to backsweeten for taste and also use priming sugar to make some carbonation.

To be on the safe side, wait until it's 1.000 or lower.

Will definitely wait till its fully fermented dry before I do anything. Its almost there anyway, when I checked last night (after transferring to a glass carboy) it was at the 1.009ish area.

Also, bubbles will make the wine look cloudy if you were using a drill on it-- Just a second ago.

--Adam Selene

Funny you should mention that. This is my first wine and only the second fermentation that I've done on purpose lol. I read a lot but not enough on de-gassing 'cuz when I transferred to the carboy, it had a ton of dissolved C02 in it. I jury rigged a wine de-gasser out of a plastic coat hanger as I had seen someone (member here?) make on a youtube video. When I hit the wine with it, it was a lot like a mentos in a diet Pepsi!!

I also have a FoodSaver with the attachment hose and a marination setting along with some FoodSaver wine bottle valves (used to vac out wine bottles after opening to preserve freshness). with a little persuasion, the wine bottle valve will fit the hole of a regular drilled carboy bung. So after de-gassing with the drill for a while i did a couple of vacuum rounds. There was still a lot of C02 left after that so I think I will do another de-gassing session today.

I think I read somewhere that Sparkolloid (my available clearing agent) and maybe all fining agents have a more difficult time clearing a liquid with c02 dissolved into it.

Again people, thanks alot for the help, tips and suggestions!! :rockin:

 

[Adam_Selene]

Yes, don't be afraid to splash the hell out of the wine, once or twice. Even the action of the siphon helps some. The trick is to get the pmbs in there at the same time so that oxygen doesn't get a chance to take the co2's place, and aerobic bacteria don't get a chance to horn in on the territory once the yeast have all but given up and gone to sleep.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

so after de-gassing and air-locking, i instantly got airlock bubbling. its still going strong this morning and there seems to be a mini layer of krausen type foam on top, it could be just a layer of fine c02 bubbles tho. I didn't look very hard and it was kinda dark in the room. since I was at 1.009ish, I'm assuming that the yeast were pleased enough with my first de-gassing to need a snack after.

The trick is to get the pmbs in there at the same time so that oxygen doesn't get a chance to take the co2's place, and aerobic bacteria don't get a chance to horn in on the territory once the yeast have all but given up and gone to sleep.

sorry brother, what are PMBS? seeing as I'm not sure what they are, I'm pretty sure I haven't put any in. I'm assuming youre talking about campden and potassium sorbate? in which case, I'm sure I have not put any in. (except campden at the beginning)

thanks again for the help

Edit: i'm an idiot, PMBS = campden. I didn't add anymore campden because I'm shooting for sparkling bottle carb'ed.