Residual yeast problem

[arthurmaysii]

I cleared a batch of wine with bentonite and stabalized it with campden tablets. After it cleared, I bottle the wine and put it away. I looked at one of the bottles and saw that there were yeast that had settled to the bottom. What can I do to prevent this from happening the next time?

 

[WhtHawk]

How long did you let the wine clear after adding the bentonite? You said you stabilized with Campden Tablets, did you sweeten too?

My first thought is that it needed a couple of more days to settle before racking and bottling, so there may have been additional particulate material that had not finished falling out of the wine. My other thought is that Campden Tablets do not kill wine and beer yeasts or inhibit their growth in typical dosages. Campden Tablets (either Sodium Metabisulfite or Potassium Metabisulfite) are designed more for anti-oxidant additions than killing Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, to inhibit yeast growth you would also need to add either Sodium Benzoate or Potassium Sorbate with the Campden.

If you really want to make sure the yeast is out of the wine, then you'll need to filter. Otherwise, a popular strategy is to stabilize with Campden and Sorbate or Benzoate and then bulk age, racking about every 30 days, until you no longer see fresh lees at the bottom of the fermenter when it is time for the next racking.

 

[huesmann]

The only way to remove all yeast/sediment is to filter. If you rely solely on the tip of your racking cane/siphon, there will always be a little sediment, no matter how careful you are. If you can't filter, I recommend when you bottle to suspend the tip of the cane/siphon in the middle of the carboy and move it down gradally as the fluid level drops. When you must finally reach the bottom of the carboy with the cane, keep those bottles to the side, because they will have a little sediment. It's harmless, and mostly an aesthetic issue, so keep those bottles for yourself to sample for "quality control" purposes.

 

[Yooper]

The "secret" to clear wine without sediment in the bottle is really just to not bottle so soon.

Once the wine is completely clear (read a newspaper through it clear, just like commercial wines) and not throwing any lees at all for at least 60 days, then it can be bottled. That usually requires a couple of rackings over a 4-6 month period before bottling.

 

[Dicky]

And a bit of lees at the bottom won't hurt anyone. Just be sure that the fermentation is complete before you bottle so the bottles don't explode from co2 build up.

Dicky

 

[arthurmaysii]

Thanks, I will make sure to let it bulk age longer. Is there a way to filter without buying some form of filtering device.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks, I will make sure to let it bulk age longer. Is there a way to filter without buying some form of filtering device.

I don't filter. If you want to filter, you need to do it without aerating the wine so you'd need a filtering device. Given enough time, you'd never need to filter.

 

[arthurmaysii]

Ok, I will just let father time do his job. Thanks, this has been very helpfull.