Please help my confusion..fining agents?

[The_Dutch]

Hey guys so up until a week ago I usually just let my mead age out and clear on it’s own..well recently I have been on a kick about getting little or no sediment in my finished product so I turned to fining agents...about 4 days ago I finished an orange/vanilla as well as a jalapeño capsumel. Well I ordered bentonite after the fact and added it and now I’m waiting for it to clear before I bottle..so here’s my question:

When am I traditionally supposed to add bentonite? I’ve heard before fermentation, during secondary, and before bottling. Same question applies to sparkalloid

I appreciate the help. I’m trying to use more of the ingredients that are going to produce a consistent product every time so I’m new to all this stuff

 

[bernardsmith]

I am sure that you will get four different answers from four different wine/mead makers but here's my thought for what it's worth. First, bentonite can strip color and flavor from wines so you need to be judicious about using it but if it makes good sense to use this clay to fine a wine or a mead I would add it shortly after fermentation has begun. Here's why: the CO2 being pumped out by the yeast will tend to force the bentonite back towards the surface and so the negatively charged molecules of the clay will attract positively charged particles both on the way up and on the way down as the now heavier particles succumb to gravity. The CO2 production will help the clay particles defy gravity and force them back up towards the surface so you get a continuous movement of the bentonite and so the clay will tend to sweep up and down over a couple of weeks cleaning the mead or wine during active fermentation. If you add the bentonite later then I would assume you get less bang for the buck as once the clay latches on to enough positively charged ions it will sink to the bottom but now each molecule will be too heavy to rise back up to continue sweeping. Of course you can stir the bentonite up out of its torpor but letting the yeast do that job frees you to take care of tasks the yeast cannot..