Plum Wine

[chadspad]

I have made a delicious plum wine which up until I added the campden tablet was completely clear. It has now gone really cloudy and Im gutted! Ive added another tsp of pectolase but nothings happened. It was ready to be bottled, hence adding the campden tablet. Why did the campden tablet make it go cloudy and how can I resolve this please?

[lockwood1956]

I have read elsewhere of Youngs campden tablets allegedly producing a haze

what make of campden tablet were they?


I would leave it a little while to see if it is a haze that needs removing, or a cloudiness that will settleon the the bottom.


regrds
Bob

[chadspad]

Hi Bob, They are Youngs tablets. There is a small amount of sediment on the bottom but I thought thats probably from the extra pectolase I added. Would it be worth adding another tsp? How long do u suggest I wait? Its been a month since I added the campden.
Thanks for your help!

[Ben]

Aren't you supposed to put the campden tablets in before clearing the wine?

[chadspad]

The wine had been perfectly clear from the start. I added the campden tablet to prevent any more fermenting happening when I bottled it (have I done it wrong then???)

[Mamgiowl]

Aren't you supposed to put the campden tablets in before clearing the wine?

You put in one at the start and one at the end to help preserve and stop it.

Chadspad, do you have a filter? That might help if it is just some sort of sediment.

[chadspad]

I have never put a campden tablet in at the start of making wines - does it matter?

I have some muslin would that do it?

[Hippie]

Yep, must should always be sanitized while waiting to pitch your yeast starter, then you stabilize with same at the end, sweeten, clear, bulk age, maybe filter, bottle. This process could take weeks or years.

[chadspad]

I have followed all my recipes from C.J.J.Berrys book and he has never mentioned putting campden tablets in at the start. Im very cross with him if he has been lying to me all these years then!

[lockwood1956]

CJJJJJJJ advises adding campden at the start in recipes that dont ask you to use boiling water over the ingredients at the start. the boiling water sterilises the must.

it's an old book that is getting a little out of date now.
I have switched to adding 1 capden tablet per gallon at the start and not using boiling water, as i have had some serious "issues" with wines (particularly plum) not clearing, due to too much pectin being released.

if you decide to go this route, then be sure and wait 24 hours after adding the campden tablet before pitching the yeast.


back to the wine at hand...


how much pectolase per gallon have you added in total?

it needs to be at least 2 tsp per gallon (three or four is better for musts using boiling water)

[lockwood1956]

managed to find the info re clouding.

the guy concerned contacted youngs about the problem and this was the response

When I notified John Smith of the problem, I had a reply, which you may be interested in -

'Good morning,
Thank you for your enquiry.
Clouding up after the addition of campden tablets is not unknown. However, it is not common. I'm not sure if I know the answer as to why it occurs. Metabisulphite may well have a precipitating effect on certain proteins that are in solution. Alcohol also has a similar effect. Put together it may trigger some reaction which clouds the wine?
Fining at the same time as adding campdens usually helps clear the wine quickly.

We sell almost 12million campden tablets per year.

John Smith'

so it would appear that the addition of campden can cause proteins to become a problem again....what a pain in the bum


so try these in this order

1) chill the DJ (is it a 1 gallon or a 5...chilling a 5 gal might be problematic) this may get the haze to settle, should work after about 5 to 7 days, maybe quicker

2) add finings (quik clear or similar) should start to work in 24 hours

3) filter it...(I dont think muslin cloths will be a tight enough filter).but if it is protein haze then the filter may block

[lockwood1956]

also ....

you can test for the presence of pectin.

add a couple of drops of the wine to about 5ml of methylated spirits and shake the snot out of it....if it goes gooey and stringy, then there is pectin present.



And put your copy of first steps to one side and get your recipes from a more modern source (here for example )

or the wonderful Mr Jack Kellers site (both he and the site are wonderful)

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp more recipes than you can shake a stick at


hope all this helps
regards
Bob

[chadspad]

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for your detailed responses and taking the trouble to find that reply about the tablets. I will read thru it several times and decide which way Im going to go next. I have added 3 tsp of pectolase so far. Chilling - is that just in a cool place or in a fridge? Its only 1 gallon but it certainly wont fit in my fridge! I have heard of the banana liquid being used before but I have no bananas at the moment - will def write it down for future reference tho. I have 1 sachet of finings in the cupboard which Im loath to open immediately due to the fact that I have to buy more from the internet, so that a last resort if the chilling doesnt work!

Will start using your site for recipes and adding campden tablets instead of boiling water (I have a pear and necterine thats never cleared and thats prob due to the boiling water too eh?). I have Mr Kellers site already in my favourites!

Thanks again
Wendy

[lockwood1956]

No probs

I'm about to start an oulins gage (yellow plums) wine from the 6lbs of them I harvested (10 mins ago) from our tree I'm going for a two gallon batch (maybe 3) using white grape concentrate to make up the extra sugar content required.

[chadspad]

I have another on the go with yellow plums too (unfortunately I used the same method with the boiling water!). The batch of plum wine originally in question was made with red & purple plums (variety unkown to me!) and the colour is the most amazing pink colour and the taste is wonderful, by far the best of all the wines Ive amde so far, hence my upset at it having hazed up!