Wine No. 2 gone bad?

[timages]

Hi

I have just noticed a problem with a wine no. 2 I made a few weeks back. I have never seen this problem before, so I hope someone can give me some advice.

After the first racking and degassing and adding 1 camped tablet, I left the wine to drop clear in a glass demijohn. After a week or so I checked to see how it was getting on. Upon inspection, I noticed a whitish sort of stringy fur in the wine near the neck of the demijohn. Some of it looks like spider webs in the actual wine. It is only near the top of the wine, say the top 5-10%, and nowhere else. I have given it a smell and it smells ok - just what you would expect from a normal wine no. 2, and it has dropped a lot of yeast. I have since left it - about 4-5 weeks and it doesn't seem to have got any worse.

The question is, what is it and is it salvageable?

Thanks for your help.

[SiSandrine]

If it doesn't smell off and tastes OK then this could likely be a pectin haze. What did you use for juice, did you add any fresh fruit? Also did you heat it at all?

You can also test for pectin. Thread is here somewhere but basically draw off 1 part wine (say 30ml) and add it to 3 parts meths (90ml), if it starts clumping/getting jelly like then you have a pectin issue.

If it is then you may be able to clear it using pectic enzyme (e.g Pectolase) but can be harder in finished wine (use double the stated amount).

First, to be on the safe side, if the stringy fur is clumping together then I suggest you carefully rack off as much of the 'clean' wine as possible into a clean, sanitised DJ. If you haven't already I would also sulphite it and then give it a couple of weeks to see whether it reforms.

[Cellar_Rat]

+1 the only thing I can add is?

100% recoverable. it is unpleasant to look at, and technically as a fault, but I do not think it makes it undrinkable.

Have you done any fining? That might help?

Blue or black enamel spray paint works as well.

[timages]

Thanks for your replies guys. Sorry for the slow response.

I will rack it off into a clean demijohn and, as Simon suggests, leave it to see if it reforms. But your answers have given me reassurance that all is not lost!

Thanks

[timages]

Sorry Simon, I should also answer your questions. I used sainsbury's red grape (x2) and blueberry. No fresh fruit was used. It was a lot darker than the other juices I have used for wine no 2 (lidl and Waitrose). Nor did I heat the juices at all.