Question:
This egg shell clearing agent recipe was posted a month or so ago. Eggshell Clearing Agent Clean any remaining egg white off the shells as best you can. Then dry out the eggshells in a very low oven, until they become very crumbly. Break them up using a pestle and mortar until reasonably powder like. Use a teaspoonful per gallon demi-john and leave for at least 4 weeks before racking off. There is some science behind clearing of wine. In laymen’s terms (the kind of terms I can understand), the particles in suspension in wine have an electric charge. The fining agent you add has an opposite charge. Since opposites attract, the two components join. Once they join they become heavier than the solution and therefore drop to the bottom of the storage vessel. It is possible to add to much clearing agent and create a haze in the wine caused by the opposite charged fining agent which no longer has particles in the wine to join with. So be careful not to add to much clearing agent. Bryan Casper – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’ve also heard that you can use crushed egg shells. I think that this came from C.J.J.Berry’s book "First Steps in winemaking". Drop them in the top of the demijohn, and let them sink., Clarifies and then rack off.
Response:
What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? This is for a group of people producing from 200 to 300 gallons per year. Please make specific comments on methods such as filtering systems vs. clearing agents such as bentonite, egg whites, isinglass, and sparkolloid.
The techniques of fining and filtering are held to be complementary, so it’s rarely a case of choosing exclusively one or the other as a solution to all problems involving wine clarity. The hardest decisions concerning filtering lie in the initial choice of equipment, whereas the use of fining agents very much depends on the specific characteristics of the wine to be fined, and is never exactly the same twice. It’s not possible to give a "best and most economically feasible" agent to cover all cases, since there are several different measures of performance, and not only does no one agent excel at them all, each has less desirable qualities which have to be borne in mind. Underfining and overfining with certain agents can make matters worse rather than better. Furthermore, some agents work in usefully different ways in combination than they do separately. Fining agents are primarily electrostatic in action, so their effectiveness depends on the charge carried by the haze particles, which in turn is affected to some degree by redox potential and pH. Rather than worry about how these factors interact, you would usually test each fining agent under consideration at a range of dosages and see how they behave, which may include further tests for stability. Once this has been done for a given wine, you can identify the most effective agents having the fewest side effects, and the cost of fining the whole quantity with each becomes a trivial calculation. The better winemaking texts usually treat these issues in several chapters, and would be worth reading closely at your scale of winemaking. All this may seem a bit much to take on, but remember that you don’t have to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. When you do encounter a specific problem and want to treat it by fining, try to identify its cause and then apply only the appropriate agents in the appropriate amount. The closest thing to a general solution is filtering, which is most of the reason for its popularity, but it has its own shortcomings as I’m sure you’re aware. — . o o . Laboratory for Computational Intelligence . v< . University of British Columbia _____mm.mm_____ http://www.cs.ubc.ca/nest/lci
Response:
I use one egg white for clarifying a 23 litre carboy of red wine. Beat an egg white in a cup of water making it froth but no peaks (hand whisk for about 30 seconds). Pour into carboy (suitably voided of about two cups of wine to compensate). Watch over the next two-three days as the mass sinks to the bottom as a blanket draggin with it the wine solids. Carefully rack wine off without disturbing the lees (therefore keep wand tip min 1 inch above mass. I also finter with .45 micron filter. Yeast cells are in the .5-.7 micron size so this will work fine without stripping the wine. Paul Jean Jr. Publisher Getting Started in Winemaking by JE Underhill (50,000 copies sold) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? This is for a group of people producing from 200 to 300 gallons per year. Please make specific comments on methods such as filtering systems vs. clearing agents such as bentonite, egg whites, isinglass, and sparkolloid. The techniques of fining and filtering are held to be complementary, so it’s rarely a case of choosing exclusively one or the other as a solution to all problems involving wine clarity. The hardest decisions concerning filtering lie in the initial choice of equipment, whereas the use of fining agents very much depends on the specific characteristics of the wine to be fined, and is never exactly the same twice. It’s not possible to give a "best and most economically feasible" agent to cover all cases, since there are several different measures of performance, and not only does no one agent excel at them all, each has less desirable qualities which have to be borne in mind. Underfining and overfining with certain agents can make matters worse rather than better. Furthermore, some agents work in usefully different ways in combination than they do separately. Fining agents are primarily electrostatic in action, so their effectiveness depends on the charge carried by the haze particles, which in turn is affected to some degree by redox potential and pH. Rather than worry about how these factors interact, you would usually test each fining agent under consideration at a range of dosages and see how they behave, which may include further tests for stability. Once this has been done for a given wine, you can identify the most effective agents having the fewest side effects, and the cost of fining the whole quantity with each becomes a trivial calculation. The better winemaking texts usually treat these issues in several chapters, and would be worth reading closely at your scale of winemaking. All this may seem a bit much to take on, but remember that you don’t have to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. When you do encounter a specific problem and want to treat it by fining, try to identify its cause and then apply only the appropriate agents in the appropriate amount. The closest thing to a general solution is filtering, which is most of the reason for its popularity, but it has its own shortcomings as I’m sure you’re aware. — . o o . Laboratory for Computational Intelligence . v< . University of British Columbia _____mm.mm_____ http://www.cs.ubc.ca/nest/lci
Response:
I’ve also heard that you can use crushed egg shells. I think that this came from C.J.J.Berry’s book "First Steps in winemaking". Drop them in the top of the demijohn, and let them sink., Clarifies and then rack off. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -I use one egg white for clarifying a 23 litre carboy of red wine. Beat an egg white in a cup of water making it froth but no peaks (hand whisk for about 30 seconds). Pour into carboy (suitably voided of about two cups of wine to compensate). Watch over the next two-three days as the mass sinks to the bottom as a blanket draggin with it the wine solids. Carefully rack wine off without disturbing the lees (therefore keep wand tip min 1 inch above mass. I also finter with .45 micron filter. Yeast cells are in the .5-.7 micron size so this will work fine without stripping the wine. Paul Jean Jr. Publisher Getting Started in Winemaking by JE Underhill (50,000 copies sold) What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? This is for a group of people producing from 200 to 300 gallons per year. Please make specific comments on methods such as filtering systems vs. clearing agents such as bentonite, egg whites, isinglass, and sparkolloid. The techniques of fining and filtering are held to be complementary, so it’s rarely a case of choosing exclusively one or the other as a solution to all problems involving wine clarity. The hardest decisions concerning filtering lie in the initial choice of equipment, whereas the use of fining agents very much depends on the specific characteristics of the wine to be fined, and is never exactly the same twice. It’s not possible to give a "best and most economically feasible" agent to cover all cases, since there are several different measures of performance, and not only does no one agent excel at them all, each has less desirable qualities which have to be borne in mind. Underfining and overfining with certain agents can make matters worse rather than better. Furthermore, some agents work in usefully different ways in combination than they do separately. Fining agents are primarily electrostatic in action, so their effectiveness depends on the charge carried by the haze particles, which in turn is affected to some degree by redox potential and pH. Rather than worry about how these factors interact, you would usually test each fining agent under consideration at a range of dosages and see how they behave, which may include further tests for stability. Once this has been done for a given wine, you can identify the most effective agents having the fewest side effects, and the cost of fining the whole quantity with each becomes a trivial calculation. The better winemaking texts usually treat these issues in several chapters, and would be worth reading closely at your scale of winemaking. All this may seem a bit much to take on, but remember that you don’t have to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. When you do encounter a specific problem and want to treat it by fining, try to identify its cause and then apply only the appropriate agents in the appropriate amount. The closest thing to a general solution is filtering, which is most of the reason for its popularity, but it has its own shortcomings as I’m sure you’re aware. — . o o . Laboratory for Computational Intelligence . v< . University of British Columbia _____mm.mm_____ http://www.cs.ubc.ca/nest/lci
Response:
WOW! One egg white per 23 Litres! That should strip just about all the tannins in a red wine plus a lot of other qualities. I was with Ted Underhill at a winery in Napa where we discussed using egg white as a clearing agent with the winemaker and we tasted several samples that had been cleared with egg white. The treatment was two to four eggs per 45 gallon barrel. In his book "Making Better Wines" Ted recommends using one fifth to one half and egg white per 20 litres. The method is to beat to a forth one egg white in some wine and water to which a small pinch of salt has been added. One half to four fifths of the sultan is discarded and the remainder quickly stirred into the wine. Jack – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I use one egg white for clarifying a 23 litre carboy of red wine. Beat an egg white in a cup of water making it froth but no peaks (hand whisk for about 30 seconds). Pour into carboy (suitably voided of about two cups of wine to compensate). Watch over the next two-three days as the mass sinks to the bottom as a blanket draggin with it the wine solids. Carefully rack wine off without disturbing the lees (therefore keep wand tip min 1 inch above mass. I also finter with .45 micron filter. Yeast cells are in the .5-.7 micron size so this will work fine without stripping the wine. Paul Jean Jr. Publisher Getting Started in Winemaking by JE Underhill (50,000 copies sold) What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? (Snip, snip…)
Response:
The best, and most economical, method that I have found has been to use eggshell. The effect appears, to me anyway, to have no effect on flavour or colour. Method: Clean any remaining egg white off the shells as best you can, no need to be too enthusiastic about it. Then dry out the eggshells in a very low oven, I have an Aga so this is no problem i the simmering oven, until they become very crumbly. Break them up using a pestle and mortar until reasonably powder like. Use a teaspoonfull per gallon demi-john and leave for at least 4 weeks before racking off. I only use this method rarely as I tend to leave my wines to clear for a very long time with the occassional racking off. However some ingredients, apple for instance, tends to make a wine stay a bit cloudy unless ‘helped’. The main problem with the ‘time’ method of course is the storage room needed and so a little pushing is sometimes required. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -[posted & e-mailed] What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? This is for a group of people producing from 200 to 300 gallons per year. Please make specific comments on methods such as filtering systems vs. clearing agents such as bentonite, egg whites, isinglass, and sparkolloid. You may get a lot of differing responses to your question. All of the above methods work. EVERY method of clearing wine has its drawbacks, except one (which I’ll get to in a bit). As Tom Shaw pointed out in another post, filtering strips some smell and taste components from wine. Various fining agents strip color, or taste, of whatever. All methods have good points and bad points. The one method that doesn’t strip anything from the wine is *my* favorite – TIME. I have found that I actually need a clearing agent less than 5% of the time. If you’re using a good wine yeast the wine will clear on its own and the lees will compact so racking isn’t a problem. You have to be patient. I started a batch of Carmine in September. I’ll probably bottle some time between April and August of ‘98. The wine is clear already and dropping no appreciable new sediment, so bottling is going to be more a matter of my time and ambition. More sediment *will* drop, so bottling now isn’t a good idea. Plus – although I can’t necessarily define it well, extended bulk aging improves a wine. When you decide what method to use, please post. I’ll be curious as to what you decide and why. Good luck. — Bryan for more info check out the rec.crafts.winemaking FAQ: http://www.pobox.com/~malak/rcw.faq
– Neil Edgson
Response:
What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? This is for a group of people producing from 200 to 300 gallons per year. Please make specific comments on methods such as filtering systems vs. clearing agents such as bentonite, egg whites, isinglass, and sparkolloid.
I was just reading Glen Duff’s response and his cautions on filter sizing. He stated that: The key in filtration is to use a filter pad which is not less than 0.5 microns, in other words a No. 1 or No. 2 pad. No. 1 is very coarse and is only useful if your wine is really cloudy as it will remove only the larger particles, leaving the wine less cloudy. In this case all you’re really doing is saving your No. 2 filters (finer pores of 0.5 microns) which will not then become clogged as quickly. I do not like to use the No. 1 at all as it does not adequately clear the wine and two filterings can be unnecessarily hard on the wine (exposure to oxygen). In really cloudy wines I would bulk age longer or use a fining agent. If you then require further clearing I would then filter with a No. 2 pad. On most whites which are less cloudy I do not even use a fining agent and simply "polish" the wine with a No. 2 pad.
technically, his assertions are true; a #2 pad will filter out more than a #2 pad because the latter has smaller pores. I also agree that running a wine through a filter twice will likely subject it to stress and colour/flavour/whatever removal unnecessarily — having experienced it once myself — but of course you may have agents that cloud the wine which the #1 cannot remove. But what he didn’t mention is that clearing agents bring the particles together to make larger particles, which can be cleared out by a coarser filter. I rarely ever use a fine filter for my wines yet invariably have crystal clear wines. Perhaps I’ve used 3 pairs in 7 years? I believe that the fine filters do indeed strip the wine of components necessary to the wine (even though from a technical point of view I know that they’re only removing particles creating cloudiness and ultimately a sediment) but that the coarse filters remove little of this nature. What I do is clear the wine for a couple of weeks using gelatin, isinglas, or another common agent. When I can see through the wine down to the bottom of the carboy, THEN I filter (using a coarse filter, which can take out those fine particles created by the clearing agents); I don’t use the filter as a means to clear the wine, just to polish it off. Call me a perfectionist and impatient. Winemaking linx & FTP, rec.crafts.winemaking FAQ, Missing Link Rovers (Mtl Que Can), firstarter FAQ, Scouting FTP & Super Scout(er), Star Trek linx & FTP, Help Stop Spam, Zee Svedish Cheff, Summer Camp selection
Response:
extensive snip The one method that doesn’t strip anything from the wine is *my* favorite – TIME.
I second this completely. I have never had to use anything but time to clear my wine. I have been a little reluctant to push this because my wine was always fairly dry and I though maybe I was having better luck because of that. However I usually left my wine in the secondary, with traps, for a year or more. At the end of that time it was always crystal clear. TS
Response:
What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine?
Hi Jim, My wife and I are quite experienced winemakers as she ran a winemaking shop for about 3 years. Just 5 years ago we rediscovered the hobby. Like many questions on winemaking the issue of wine clarity and clearing is as much on the art (subjective) side of winemaking as it is on the science side. Most of our experience is with freshly pressed french vinifera wine juice from the Niagara region and therefore my remarks are directed to this type of winemaking. Our philosophy on winemking is to intervene on the basic processes only for good reasons. We never have a problem with clearing red wines assuming they have been made properly and under clean conditions and have been bulk aged for a year before bottling. This is particularly true of red wine aged in oak barrels. When clarifying reds, a proper amount of lightly whipped egg whites are the best choice although I have not personally used them. White wines are another story and always seem to require some method of clearing. For whites aged in barrels such as Chardonnay or Seyval, we find they become quite clear though not brilliant when aged in barrels for a month or longer. In the case of wines from freshly pressed grapes, the use of bentonite following pressing, sulfiting and settling perhaps a day prior to innoculting with yeast is quite helpful as this precipitates out a variety of unwanted substances even before fermenting and seems to aid the clarifying process after fermentation has finished. We have had success with both bentonite and isinglass following fermentation but we only use these substances after some aging in the carboy, usually 4-6 months. Patience is a great virtue in winemaking and even stubborn white wines will often settle out to acceptable clarity with bulk aging. The use of bentonite can be quite a challenge as it becomes like thick mud after adding water. There was recently a thread on this newsgroup with some good suggestions on mixing bentonite. Egg whites should not be used for white wine. At the quantities you are making I highly recommend the purchase of a good quality filter. We make use of a Buon Vino filter which has filtering pads of about 6 x 6 inches. We use it only with our white wines. There continues to be controversy on whether or not filters damage the wine. Like any process they can, however, my experience is that filtration of wine with a good filtering system (minimal exposure to air), the use of appropriate filters (not overly fine) on a wine protected by at least 30 ppm’s of sulfite does not harm wine. We tested a wine flitered with an 0.5 micron pad with a control batch and could not detect the difference in colour, fragrance, aroma or taste. It was not the most objective test as a good eye could tell you which one was clearer (filtered). The key in filtration is to use a filter pad which is not less than 0.5 microns, in other words a No. 1 or No. 2 pad. No. 1 is very coarse and is only useful if your wine is really cloudy as it will remove only the larger particles, leaving the wine less cloudy. In this case all you’re really doing is saving your No. 2 filters (finer pores of 0.5 microns) which will not then become clogged as quickly. I do not like to use the No. 1 at all as it does not adequately clear the wine and two filterings can be unnecessarily hard on the wine (exposure to oxygen). In really cloudy wines I would bulk age longer or use a fining agent. If you then require further clearing I would then filter with a No. 2 pad. On most whites which are less cloudy I do not even use a fining agent and simply "polish" the wine with a No. 2 pad. I tend to filter just before bottling although some argue that filtering as soon as possible once fermentation is finished will produce a "cleaner" tasting wine. There are several excellent references on filtering and fining including "Modern Winemaking" by Philip Jackish and web sites such as the Winemaking F&Q or the University of Californa at Davis Winemaking Site. Good luck. Glen Duff
Response:
What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? This is for a group of people producing from 200 to 300 gallons per year. Please make specific comments on methods such as filtering systems vs. clearing agents such as bentonite, egg whites, isinglass, and sparkolloid. Thank you for the advice.
Response:
What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? This is for a group of people producing from 200 to 300 gallons per year. Please make specific comments on methods such as filtering systems vs. clearing agents such as bentonite, egg whites, isinglass, and sparkolloid. Thank you for the advice.
Up until recently filter was not economically feasible for amateur wine makers. I believe some reasonably priced filters are not available. However there is not question that filtering removes potential taste enhancing elements from the wine. Therefore, from the standpoint of taste, the traditional clearing agents would seem to be best. TS
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? This is for a group of people producing from 200 to 300 gallons per year. Please make specific comments on methods such as filtering systems vs. clearing agents such as bentonite, egg whites, isinglass, and sparkolloid. Thank you for the advice. Up until recently filter was not economically feasible for amateur wine makers. I believe some reasonably priced filters are not available. However there is not question that filtering removes potential taste enhancing elements from the wine. Therefore, from the standpoint of taste, the traditional clearing agents would seem to be best. TS
I dont know if my fingers have died and gone the hereafter or what. This message should have read, Up until recently filters have not been economically feasible for amateur winemaking. I believe some reasonably priced filters are now available. However there is no question that filtering removes potential taste enhancing elements from the wine. etc. TS
Response:
[posted & e-mailed] What do people feel is the best and most economically feasible method for clearing homemade wine? This is for a group of people producing from 200 to 300 gallons per year. Please make specific comments on methods such as filtering systems vs. clearing agents such as bentonite, egg whites, isinglass, and sparkolloid.
You may get a lot of differing responses to your question. All of the above methods work. EVERY method of clearing wine has its drawbacks, except one (which I’ll get to in a bit). As Tom Shaw pointed out in another post, filtering strips some smell and taste components from wine. Various fining agents strip color, or taste, of whatever. All methods have good points and bad points. The one method that doesn’t strip anything from the wine is *my* favorite – TIME. I have found that I actually need a clearing agent less than 5% of the time. If you’re using a good wine yeast the wine will clear on its own and the lees will compact so racking isn’t a problem. You have to be patient. I started a batch of Carmine in September. I’ll probably bottle some time between April and August of ‘98. The wine is clear already and dropping no appreciable new sediment, so bottling is going to be more a matter of my time and ambition. More sediment *will* drop, so bottling now isn’t a good idea. Plus – although I can’t necessarily define it well, extended bulk aging improves a wine. When you decide what method to use, please post. I’ll be curious as to what you decide and why. Good luck. — Bryan for more info check out the rec.crafts.winemaking FAQ: http://www.pobox.com/~malak/rcw.faq
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