Pectin Haze?

[ksk2175]

My first attempt at Strawberry wine .... I am wondering if the lack of clearing is due to pectin or something else. Pics attached.

I used pectin enzyme as I was extracting juice from fruit the first 24 hours prior to primary fermentation.

It has been three weeks since placed in carboy for secondary fermentation and wine is completely dry. It has been racked twice.

I plan to back sweeten with white grape juice concentrate a little prior to bottling but want it to be completely clear before I do.

What do you all think? More time? More pectin enzyme?

Thanks - Ken

 

[fuelish]

My vote goes to more time....along with less headspace. have never made anything that won't clear....eventually

 

[bernardsmith]

When did you pitch the yeast? If there is CO2 dissolved in the wine then clearing requires the particulates that you want to drop out of suspension (it is those particulates in suspension that create the lack of clarity) to overcome the added buoyancy created by the presence of CO2 - which is one reason why many wine makers rack their wines every two or three months: racking helps remove CO2 when you allow the wine to run down the walls of the target carboy. And which is why many wine makers age their wines for 6 months to a year (or more).

 

[Yooper]

It should clear, although if it is a pectin haze, you can add more pectic enzyme if you want.

There is a problem with that much headspace, though! You want to move it to a smaller carboy as soon as possible.

Once you go 60 days in a new vessel with no new lees, if the wine is still not clear you can add finings or cold stabilize and that will clear it.

 

[ksk2175]

This is my first fruit wine and one of the mistakes I think I made was pulverizing the fruit too much without the use of a fruit bag. I smashed the fruit in the bucket and added the pectin enzyme, let it sit for 24 hours, then added the water, sugar, yeast nutrient and pitched the yeast. That was four weeks ago. It was dry within a week and transferred from bucket to this secondary carboy and you can see how much product was lost in that transfer. (head space)

I've racked it into the bucket and back into this carboy twice.

Saturday I gave it another dose of pectin enzyme to see if that helps and have noticed fallout building up (much smaller amount than initially) which I am assuming is a good thing.

I will remove the head space tonight and give it some time.

I would like to back sweeten a bit once it is clear.

Do you recommend aging it in the smaller carboy or in bottles and if in carboy, how long to age a strawberry before bottling? Would you back sweeten after aging?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Yooper]

This is my first fruit wine and one of the mistakes I think I made was pulverizing the fruit too much without the use of a fruit bag. I smashed the fruit in the bucket and added the pectin enzyme, let it sit for 24 hours, then added the water, sugar, yeast nutrient and pitched the yeast. That was four weeks ago. It was dry within a week and transferred from bucket to this secondary carboy and you can see how much product was lost in that transfer. (head space)

I've racked it into the bucket and back into this carboy twice.

Saturday I gave it another dose of pectin enzyme to see if that helps and have noticed fallout building up (much smaller amount than initially) which I am assuming is a good thing.

I will remove the head space tonight and give it some time.

I would like to back sweeten a bit once it is clear.

Do you recommend aging it in the smaller carboy or in bottles and if in carboy, how long to age a strawberry before bottling? Would you back sweeten after aging?

Thanks for your advice.

That's a lot of racking, back and forth. I'd highly recommend crushing some campden tablets in a little water, and stirring well, and add them to the wine ASAP. Use 1 crushed tablet per every gallon of wine. Thereafter, use them at every other racking and at bottling. Each time you rack, you risk exposure to oxygen and risk contamination, so while it's important to do to get the wine off of the lees after 60 days, or if you have lees more than 1/4" thick, unnecessarily racking it back and forth poses risks.

Using the sulfite will help a lot, as sulfites are used by winemakers as an antioxidant. They dissipate, so that is why they are re-added at intervals.

 

[ksk2175]

I added the campden tablets at last racking when I added the pectin enzyme on Sat. I moved it into a smaller carboy last night and it seems to be clearing. I will let it rest now and give it some time.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Lauritsen]

I added the campden tablets at last racking when I added the pectin enzyme on Sat. I moved it into a smaller carboy last night and it seems to be clearing. I will let it rest now and give it some time.

Thanks for your help!

you DONT add campden and pectin enzyme at the same time. Pectin enzyme doesnt like working with campden. FIRST enzyme. Wait 12 hour minimum and then campden.