Clearing Wine
There are many ways to help a wine clear prior to bottling. One of the easiest is to just wait. Given enough time, just about every wine will clear. It may take 6 months to a year, but they usually clear on their own. However, if you want to speed up the process, there are some things you can add to the wine to help it to clear.
One thing I add to every fruit wine I make is Pectin Enzyme. Pectin is naturally in fruit. It helps jelly to thicken. In wine, it will cause a haze in the wine. I add Pectin Enzyme at the beginning of the process. This enzyme helps remove the pectin from the wine and aids in clearing.
Bentonite is another type of clarifier. It is a clay based material. It has a negative electrostatic charge that will bind with proteins to remove them from the wine. It also will remove some off flavors and help prevent oxidation of the wine.
Isoglass is another clarifier. It has a positive electrostatic charge. It is pure gelatin clarifier that binds to yeast and other particles suspended in the wine. It is popular because it is gentler on the wine that some other classifier’s.
Sparkolloid is another positively charged clarifier that can be added to the wine to remove yeast and other particles from the wine. You will need to boil some water and mix the Sparkolloin very well before adding it to the wine.
Kieselsol/Chitosan, also called SuperKler, is a two part clarifier. It works by binding with both positive and negativly charged particles and settleing out of the wine. If I can’t get a wine to clear, this will usually do the job.
Time is my first choice for getting wine to clear. However, sometimes the wine just won’t clear on its own. If you are having problems, or just want to speed up the process a bit, feel free to use any of these clarifiers. I have used them all at one point or anther to clear wine. They all work for the particular particles you have in your wine.
Enjoy!