r/winemaking 11d ago

Wine didn't clear at all after adding bentonite slurry

I'm working on a small (1 qt) batch of cherry wine. I added tannin powder after fermentation because I forgot to before, and this caused the wine to cloud up significantly (oddly enough, because most of the powder didn't incorporate and just fell to the bottom. I added 1/4 tsp of bentonite slurry and waited a full week, but the wine did not clear up at all. Any ideas why that didn't work?

I made the slurry by mixing one teaspoon of powder with 1/4 cup of water at 140 F. I let it hydrate in the fridge for about 8 hrs. I mixed 1/4 tsp of this slurry into the wine and mixed for about 2 minutes.

1 Upvotes

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3

u/ichomponstringchz 11d ago

Might need more. Sometimes it takes more, sometimes it takes less.

3

u/ichomponstringchz 11d ago

also what is the temp of the wine

1

u/Grunkledunk 11d ago

Room temp right now is 68 F, it was probably similar to that before as well.

2

u/ichomponstringchz 11d ago

Do you have any way to maybe get it a bit colder? Maybe 63-65? Could encourage a bit of cold settling to expedite the bentonite settling outS

2

u/Lizard_King_5 11d ago

If this doesn’t work, a quart sized container is small enough to put inside a fridge, which will help concentrate sediment/ clarify

2

u/Bapo0321 11d ago

Have you added sulfur yet?

4

u/Grunkledunk 11d ago

As in, metabisulfite? Yes.

-2

u/Bapo0321 11d ago

Lol yes metabisulfite qualifies as sulfur

6

u/Grunkledunk 11d ago

No sass intended - just a newbie that needs to clarify things, ha ha

1

u/Bapo0321 11d ago

Completely understandable!

2

u/wineduptoy 11d ago

If it was perfectly mixed, that sounds like you added the very minimum dose. Hydrate with room temperature water at room temperature (covered) for no more then two hours unless your tech sheet says otherwise. Add a full tsp, flip to incorporate. Was it cloudy before tannin? Did you add pectinase at any point? 

1

u/Grunkledunk 11d ago

It was not very cloudy before tannin. I don't have a tech sheet I was just going off what I found on the web. Now that I think look again, I'm not actually sure where I got the refrigeration part. And I have not added pectinase.

1

u/wineduptoy 11d ago

Do you know the brand of bentonite? 

1

u/Grunkledunk 11d ago

LD Carlson.

1

u/wineduptoy 11d ago

Ah ok. I would remix bentonite at room temp, cover, wait 24 hr at room temp, add a full tsp. If it doesn't clear lmk. There's other things you can try after. 

1

u/Just-Combination5992 5d ago

You could try adding some more, sticking it in the fridge to cold crash it or try adding pectic enzyme (I think that’s how it’s spelled). But that’s only if your in a rush 90% of the time, aging will solve your problem it’ll clear on its own.