Wine Making: The next step (fining and stablizing)

There are a few materials you will need to successfully rack and stabilize your wine.
If it is a red, you will need stabilizer which is a blend of potassium metabisulphite and ascorbic acid. For 22L the recommended dosage is 1 tsp to be added after the wine is cleanly racked into another vessel, making sure to stir the wine to fully incorporate the stabilizer.

Stabilizer

For whites, things get a bit more fancy. You will need to add the stabilizer as above, but you will also need to add some fining agents. This article from the Globe and Mail explains some of the different kinds of fining agents used in the world of wine making. You can also just type "fining agents wine" into google and you will uncover a wealth of information regarding how these additions work. I suggest you do some research if you are interested in the science behind clarification as some work as charged particles which bind to the solids in your wine to create a clearer finished product and others work through absorption. There are a few options in fining your wines, so choose the best regimen that suits both your wine and your wine making experience. We use gelatin and keiselsol at Kamil Juices as they are tried and true methods to create a consistent clarity in a short amount of time.

Gelatin
To use gelatin add 1/2 tsp/22L of wine. Mix the gelatin in boiling hot water and stir until it is dissolved. We reccomend that you allow the gelatin to sit and fully incorporate for at least 15 minutes before you add it to your freshly racked wine. Once the 15 minutes are up, stir the gelatin once more to make sure it is fully dissolved, then add it to your wine stirring the well. At this time, you will note the time and wait 10 minutes in order to add your keiselsol. After 10 minutes add 1 ounce of keiselsol to 22L of freshly racked wine. Making sure to stir the wine gently but well enough that all of your additions are fully mixed into the liquid. You can now at this point, rack your wine back into a clean vessel (that has been completely sanitized), making sure that the wine in the vessel is "topped up", leaving no air space between the level of the liquid and the airlock. To aid in clarification as well as to utilize a natural method of stabilization, place your wine into the coldest place you have available. A temperature between zero degrees and ten degrees is optimal. I will go over the benefits of cold stabilization in the next post. Until then, cheers and happy winemaking!

Wine for a friday afternoon!

And, this is why I love my job! Happy Friday!

Cheers!

Allison

This is the first step in your wine making journey (after you purchase your juice/equipment, naturally). It is my hope that you find this helpful, and as always if anything is unclear please ask questions. I am happy to answer them.



Take a measurement of your must using a hydrometer. This is an important first step as understanding the specific gravity of your juice will tell you quite a bit about your resulting wine. As you can see in the photo above, the hydrometer reads at 1.090. Always take your reading below the meniscus (the link provided, gives a good definition with pictures of reading below the meniscus, however the super snazzy goggles are not a wine making requirement).

This reading was taken one day after the addition of yeast. For a more accurate reading, perform this step before inoculation. Now here is the fun part, your hydrometer is the most useful and least expensive part of your wine making arsenal, however they are highly breakable so treat them like a good friend.

If you turn your hydrometer around to the side that yields potential alcohol, you can determine, using your initial reading (1.090), the potential alcohol available for fermentation (which is approximately 12%-using the photo below). This is useful, unless you like accidental rocket fuel. Keep in mind that the side for S.G. (specific gravity) has gradient lines that move up or down in increments of two, however on the potential alcohol side, it is determined in increments of 1.

Knowing this can also allow for sugar additions if your juice is lacking the appropriate sugars. If your must is not perfectly balanced for you, this is a way to determine if the person who sold you the juice, sold you what you thought you were buying, and gives you the option to take it back or request a new product, or add the appropriate amount of additional sugar.

So, the photos above show that the juice has an S.G. (specific gravity) of 1.090 which will yield a alcohol content of 12% provided that all of the sugars are fermented out. See below an image of what your hydrometer reading should look like when the fermentation is complete. If your hydrometer reads above the 1.000 line your wine will be unstable and there is likely some residual sugars left over.
The hydrometer reads at .994, which is a good place to undertake your first racking, and add your finings and stabilants. Which will be covered in the next blog post.

Cheers and Happy Winemaking!