Clarification of wine. How to clarify homemade wine? Clarifying wine at home Why is bentonite used in winemaking?
Before clarifying wine, you should know some nuances:
- Firstly, if you have no experience in such things, then you should clean a test 200-300 ml of the drink. So as not to spoil the rest of the wine.
- Secondly, for fining wine you need to use natural fining raw materials.
- Thirdly, after clarification, fermentation processes can be observed. In this case, you need to reduce the temperature in the room where the wine is stored to 10˚C.
You also need to correctly calculate the dosage of absorbents so that they completely absorb the particles of raw materials.
Methods
1. White clay - bentonite. Used as a powder with small grains. Perfectly absorbs the causes of cloudiness. Particularly suitable for grape wines. Clarifying 1 liter of wine with bentonite requires only 3 g of powder (for comparison: 20 g fits in 1 tablespoon). The gluing technology is as follows:
- To clarify wine, bentonite is poured with cool water in a ratio of 1:10, then infused for about 12 hours. To glaze 10 liters of alcoholic drink, you need to prepare 30 g of white clay and 300 ml of water.
- Bentonite hardens into lime. So the clay needs to be diluted with water and slowly poured into a container with wine.
- After a week, after removing the sediment, you can check the result.
2. Gelatin. Clarifying wine with gelatin is an easy way. It works great with all types of wines. Cleaning requires 1.5 g of gelatin per 10 liters of wine. Before use, gelatin must be soaked in water for 24 hours, then poured into wine. After a couple of weeks, the resulting drink can be drained from the sediment.
3. Chicken egg white. Used to clarify red wines. For 10 liters of alcohol you need 1-2 eggs. Warm water is mixed with egg white and the mixture is whipped until foamy. It is better to use a mixer on high power. Then you need to pour a little wine into the rolls with water, mix and pour the resulting mixture into a container with the rest of the wine. The result will be received after 3 weeks.
4. Chitosan. It is obtained from the chitin of crustaceans. It is practically insoluble in water, but is highly soluble in some acids. Dissolved chitosan is an excellent absorbent of fats, hydrocarbons and fat-soluble substances. One it is rarely used. Usually, wine is first treated with chitosan, and then with Kizelzol - this is how the best effect is achieved.
5. Activated carbon. What is needed is charcoal, since pharmaceutical grade charcoal is not very effective. In general, this method is rarely used. Usually - with a high content of fusel oils or an unpleasant odor. For 10 liters of alcohol, 3–4 g of powdered activated carbon is required. Mix well and leave for 4 days, shaking occasionally.
6. Lightening with heat. The first step is to tightly seal the wine bottles. Then you need to prepare a container of water where the bottle will be placed. Lightening occurs due to a slow increase in temperature to 50˚C. After this, you need to slowly cool the wine and let it sit for a week.
7. Cold. Low temperatures cause small particles to sink to the bottom. To do this, 3 liters of wine are placed in the refrigerator or on the balcony in winter for 24 hours. Then you need to quickly drain the wine before it warms up.
8. Tannin. This is a wood powder made from oak heartwood, very effective for apple wines. The advantage of this method is that tannin imparts a special astringency to the finished drink. First, the wood powder must be mixed with water (200 ml of water per 1 g of powder). The mixture is infused, then strain through cheesecloth. For 1 liter of drink you need 6 tsp. soaked tannin. You can remove the wine from the sediment after a week.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to clarify fruit and berry wine, especially in non-professional home conditions, especially for beginners.
If the wine remains cloudy, you can let it sit in a cool and dark place for another month or a month and a half. A precipitate may form, which is easy to get rid of.
The considered methods should be tried on small volumes of wine. If the glazing still fails, but the taste of the drink has not changed for the worse, then you can drink it. If you don’t have a distiller, all you have to do is pour out the wine and try to make it again.
Date of publication: 01/23/2018
Bentonite for winemaking is a modern approach to winemaking designed to clarify wines, an effective way to increase the quality and value of your product. When bentonite is added in the optimal amount, flakes are formed in the wine, which settle to the bottom and carry turbidity particles with them.
Bentonite for wine clarification is distinguished by its strong swelling in water, as well as its ability to undergo an exchange reaction, which plays a major role in the process of “fining” wines, in which the wine is freed from proteins, amino acids, enzymes, resulting in increased stability and it becomes stable and transportable .
When using bentonite, the quality of the product remains unchanged, a persistent aroma and a magnificent wine aftertaste are preserved.
And most importantly, bentonite for winemaking is easy to use and completely harmless to human health.
INSTRUCTIONS for the use of Bentonite for the wine industry
GENERAL INFORMATION.
1. Bentonite for the wine industry. Application in the wine industry for clarification of musts, wine materials and wines against protein, reversible colloidal and biochemical cloudiness, as well as stabilization of wines and wine materials.
2. Does not contain genetically modified products
3. In appearance it is a gray powder with a slight yellow tint without foreign odor or taste. When processing wine, it does not introduce any foreign shades. 4. Available in powder form for preparing a suspension.
APPLICATION.
One of the important indicators of wine quality is its transparency. Some wines do not clear well and require additional processing, filtering and fining.
When bentonite is added, flakes form in the wine, which settle to the bottom and carry turbidity particles with them. Bentonite for wine fining is characterized by extremely strong swelling in water, as well as the ability to undergo an exchange reaction, which plays a major role in the process of fining wines, in which the wine is freed from proteins, enzymes and other undesirable impurities, as a result of which its resistance to colloidal turbidity increases. Bentonite for the wine industry is used both independently and with the use of other auxiliary substances used in processing to clarify and stabilize wine materials. Bentonite is added to wine material in the form of a 20% aqueous suspension at a rate of 1-4 g/l. the dose is determined by conducting a test pasting.
COOKING METHOD.
To prepare a 20% aqueous suspension, bentonite is poured with hot water (not lower than 80 ° C) in an open container, and then heated with live steam for 2-4 hours using a rubber hose with a metal tip, lowered to the bottom of the container, or with a coil . Then the mass is thoroughly stirred and left for a day to swell. The next day, stir again, and in case of incomplete swelling, steam again. The ratio between the amount of bentonite and water should be 1:4. The wine-water suspension is prepared immediately before processing the wine. The amount of aqueous suspension calculated from the test fining is mixed with: three times the volume of wine. The wine-water suspension is introduced into the wine or must, with continuous stirring with a pump or a mechanical stirrer, which lasts 2-3 hours from the end of the introduction of the suspension, and left alone. Sediment removal is carried out after clarification of the wine with simultaneous filtration.
PREVENTION MEASURES.
1. When working with Bentonite for the wine industry, you must follow the rules of personal hygiene and safety.
2. Store out of the reach of children.
Making wine at home is a rather complicated process, requiring strict adherence to all recommendations. But even if you act exactly according to the instructions, there are many nuances that affect the quality and taste of the drink. One of them is the clarification and stabilization of wines. Professional winemakers call this process “fining.” How to clarify homemade wine? The following can be used for clarification: fish glue, chicken eggs, bentonite, gelatin and other substances. They also practice clarification of wine with cold and heat.
Why do you need to clarify wines?
You always want your wine to be perfectly transparent.If you have not deviated from all winemaking, after three to six months the drink should lighten on its own, and it can be served at the table. After the process of active fermentation, the wine must settle under certain conditions, after which it is poured into glass bottles. But it also happens that the product remains cloudy, with various impurities of the wine material used and a cloudy sediment, and you just don’t want to use it. As a rule, this happens with white and fruit-bearing species. Winemakers advise before bottling the drink, be sure to clarify it. It is worth noting that filtration and fining are different concepts. During the clarification process, various substances are added to the wine, which help undesirable impurities to form a sediment. If the wine is filtered through special paper, cloth, etc., its quality and taste suffer greatly. Experienced winemakers recommend using fining.
The best way to clarify wine is to age it for a long time. But it is only suitable for collection vintage wines, since this process takes at least three years. It is clear that at home it is unlikely that anyone will wait that long.
On a note! It is worth noting that clarification of homemade wine does not affect the taste of the drink, but only makes it more transparent, eliminating unnecessary impurities and sediment. It is not necessary to clarify the wine; you can skip this step. But any winemaker, even a beginner, dreams of his home wine being of ideal quality, and it is unlikely that anyone will want to serve a cloudy drink.
Methods for clarifying wine
There are several ways to garnish a drink, so it's a good idea to experiment with a small amount of wine first to see which one works best. When clarification and stabilization of wines occurs, all proportions specified in the recipe must be strictly observed, otherwise during cleaning you can simply spoil the product.
- Gelatin coating. One of the most accessible and effective ways is to clarify wine with gelatin. Its main advantage is that you can accurately determine the required amount of gelatin, unlike, say, a chicken egg. For 10 liters of wine you will need 0.5-2 grams of natural gelatin. We use only high-quality gelatin without any additives. Clarification with gelatin occurs as follows. First, gelatin is soaked in water to swell for several hours, but it can be soaked for a day. In this case, you will need to drain the old water a couple of times and add new water. After soaking, hot water is added to the gelatin and everything is mixed thoroughly. The result is a warm, homogeneous mass. Pour the gelatin into the wine very slowly through the filter, stirring constantly. After all the gelatinous mass is in the drink, the container must be tightly closed with a lid and placed in a cool room for several weeks. As soon as the drink becomes light, it is poured into another container, leaving sediment.
- Pasting with egg white. Eggs are mainly used to clarify red wine: cherry, currant, and they can also be used to clarify homemade grape wine. For 100 liters of wine product you will need 2-3 egg whites. They must be thoroughly beaten to form a fluffy white foam. It should be mixed with a small amount of wine material and poured into a bottle. The container must be tightly closed and left for three weeks. The process of clarification with protein will be noticeable within a few days, and after 21 days the wine will be free of sediment.
- Bentonite (white clay). Cleaning wine with bentonite is suitable for absolutely any type of drink. It is especially recommended for grape wine.
Natural absorbent often used to clarify wine materials The advantage of this method is that clay has high absorbent qualities, so pasting with its help will be effective and quick. You will need to buy bentonite in the form of a fine powder. You will need 30 grams of it per 10 liters of wine material. Bentonite for clarification of wine is pre-diluted in water. The proportion should be as follows: 1 part clay is diluted with 10 parts water. You will have to wait about 12 hours for the bentonite to swell well. Next, water is poured into the mixture, everything is mixed until a homogeneous consistency. Pour the clay solution into the bottle of wine in a thin stream through the filter, stirring constantly. After about a week, you will notice the appearance of sediment. Now the perfectly pure drink can be poured into another bottle and allowed to brew.
- Cleansing with milk. A very simple way of fining, for which you need to add skim cow's milk at the rate of 1 teaspoon per liter of drink. Everything is mixed well and left at room temperature for four days.
- Lightening with cold.
Tannin for lightening can be bought at the pharmacy Table drinks should be cooled in the refrigerator or outside at a temperature of at least two degrees. Cold helps the wort particles and yeast form sediment and sink to the bottom. Once this has happened, the wine must be poured very quickly into glass bottles, without allowing it to become warm.
- Application of tannin. Tannin, which is sold in pharmacies, is a yellowish powder made from oak. Suitable for clarification of sweet wines, for example from non-sour apples or pears. It is not recommended to choose tannin as a fining for tart drinks. Tannin (10 grams of powder) must be dissolved in two liters of distilled water. Infuse, strain using a filter. For one liter of wine material you will need 6 teaspoons of infusion. The wine should stand at room temperature for 6-7 days, after which it is drained from the sediment.
- Pasting with charcoal.
Important! Wine experts recommend clarification of homemade wine using charcoal only in the most extreme cases.
Charcoal is suitable; do not buy an analogue at the pharmacy. For 10 liters of drink you will need 3-4 grams of charcoal. It should be thoroughly crushed using a press to obtain a powder, then poured into wine. The container will need to be shaken constantly for four days. On the fifth day, the drink must be filtered using a special filter.
Unfortunately, no one can guarantee that after the glazing process the drink will become crystal clear. But after trying all possible methods, you can find exactly the one that will make the wine lighter and remove unnecessary impurities and sediment. After clarification, the drink must stand for at least a month, and only then it is bottled for further storage.
Bentonite and its features
Bentonite is an aluminosilicate whose crystal lattice is capable of swelling. The basis of the lattice causing swelling is montmorillonite. Thanks to this ability, bentonite is widely used in winemaking. does not have a negative impact on the properties and performance of drinks.
Purpose:
- stabilization and clarification of fruit, berry and grape juices;
- wort clarification, removal of oxidative enzymes and proteins;
- stabilization and clarification of fruit, berry and grape wine materials.
Bentonite can be used either alone or together with other substances. Its dosage is determined in the laboratory.
Methods for preparing bentonite
The concentration of bentonite in the suspension prepared in the laboratory ranges from 5 to 20%. Bentonite is placed in a conical flask, water is poured into it, heated with constant stirring to 50-60 degrees, one gram of Na2CO3 is added and brought to a boil. After cooling, the suspension can be used.
Under production conditions, a 20% aqueous suspension is prepared. Bentonite is poured with water, mixed, soda ash is added, heated to 95-100 degrees, stirring. The cooled suspension can be used.
The temperature for preparing the suspension may be lower, but it will take longer. You can prepare it in two steps, the first time heating it to 50 degrees, and after 15 hours again to 70-80.
If heating is not possible, you can add bentonite to hot water, stir and add soda. After stirring and cooling, the suspension is ready.
It can also be prepared without heating by adding the required amount of water and then soda ash. The suspension is stirred in a bentonite cooker 4-5 times during the day. Accelerates the process of intensive mixing with a piston pump. The cooking process can last from 10 minutes to two days.
Benefits of Bentonite
- Reduces the amount of adhesive deposits during processing:
- easy-to-glue wine materials by reducing the concentration (3%) of soda ash;
- must for the production of dry white and champagne wines, excluding the addition of soda ash.
- Convenient for use in production due to the fact that the 20% solution is mobile, so no lumps form when mixed with wine.
- Small doses and low cost with the same or higher technological indicators, which increases its effectiveness by 2-4 times.
- Possibility of using a suspension of higher concentration.
Bentonite is supplied in polypropylene bags, stored in dry rooms without foreign odors.
Bentonite is produced in accordance with technical specifications. The document specifies product quality requirements, including hygienic ones. Quality control is carried out by the manufacturer and supplier.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.
BENTONITE is an aluminosilicate with a swelling crystal lattice, the basis of which is montmorillonite. It does not have a negative effect on the physicochemical and organoleptic characteristics of the processed drinks.
PURPOSE.
Clarification and stabilization of grape and fruit juices;
Processing of wort for the purpose of clarification, removal of proteins, oxidative enzymes;
Processing of grape and fruit wine materials for the purpose of clarification and stabilization.
APPLICATION.
BENTONITE is used both independently and with the use of other auxiliary substances used during processing for the purpose of clarifying and stabilizing wine materials.
DOSES OF BENTONNITE are selected in laboratory conditions based on the results of trial treatment.
PREPARATION OF BENTONITE.
In the laboratory, in a concentration of 5 to 20% (as is customary at a particular winery). Weigh 20g. bentonite, placed in a 250 ml conical flask, add tap water to 200 ml (in case of preparing a 10% suspension) and heat on an electric stove at a moderate heating speed with continuous stirring to 50-60 0C, then add 1 g of pre-weighed, calcined (Na2CO3), soda and heat to a boil while stirring, set the flask aside for 2-3 minutes, bring to a boil again and set aside. After natural cooling, the suspension is ready for use. Instead of an electric stove, heating can be carried out in a water bath, and the suspension does not have to be constantly stirred to avoid burning, but can be stirred periodically, while the heating temperature of the suspension is brought to 95-100 0C and held for 15-20 minutes.
In production, in the form of a 20% aqueous suspension. The required amount of bentonite is poured with cold water to obtain a suspension of the required concentration. Stir, add 5% soda ash (Na2CO3) to the mass of air-dried bentonite (1 kg of soda ash per 20 kg of bentonite), heat with stirring to 95 - 100 0C. After cooling, the suspension is ready for use.
You can prepare the suspension at a lower temperature, but in this case the preparation time increases. The higher the temperature of the suspension, the faster it cooks.
You can prepare the suspension in two steps: by heating to 50 0C and after 15 hours reheating to 70-80 0C.
If it is impossible to heat the suspension during its preparation, bentonite can be added to hot (90-95 0C) water with stirring, after obtaining a uniform suspension, add soda ash. After further stirring for 15-20 minutes and cooling, the suspension is ready for use.
You can also prepare the suspension without heating by adding the required amount of water and then adding soda ash. In this case, the suspension must be stirred periodically - 4-5 times a day in a bentonite cooker. To speed up the process of preparing the suspension, it can be mixed more intensively (by circulating “toward itself”) with a piston pump with a narrowed nozzle on the discharge hose or mixed intensively in another way. Depending on the intensity of stirring, the time for preparing the suspension without heating it can range from 10 minutes to 36-48 hours.
ADVANTAGES.
1. Possibility of reducing the volume of adhesive residue in case of processing:
Easy to finish wine materials by adding a smaller amount (3%) of soda ash.
Wort in the production of dry white and champagne wine materials by eliminating the addition of soda ash when preparing a bentonite suspension or adding no more than 2% of it. This produces a denser sediment, removes proteins and increases the yield of the clarified part of the must by 15-20%. When using well-swelling bentonites, it is not possible to reduce the volume of sediment.
2. More convenient preparation and use in production, since a 20% bentonite suspension is quite mobile and easily mixed with wine without forming lumps, increasing the degree of clarification and stabilization of products at lower doses than well-swelling bentonites.
3. Lower cost and lower doses with similar or better technological indicators, which increases the economic efficiency of using the proposed bentonite by 2-4 times.
4. Possibility of using, if necessary, (for example, to reduce the dilution of sugar standards) a more concentrated bentonite suspension.
5. Consultation with the supplier on all issues related to the use of the supplied bentonite, up to comparative tests in laboratory and, if necessary, in production conditions.
DELIVERY AND STORAGE.
BENTONNITE IS SUPPLIED in polypropylene bags and should be stored in a dry, odorless room.
ANSWERS TO POTENTIAL QUESTIONS.
Bentonite is produced according to Specification U “Bentonite for the wine industry,” which takes into account all the basic requirements for the quality of bentonite, including hygienic ones. Its quality is controlled by the manufacturer and supplier.
All indicators that affect the quality of wines - chemical resistance, organoleptic properties, fining ability - have been studied in laboratory and production conditions and have been used for a long time at wineries in the production of fruit, grape and champagne wines.
Bentonite chemically binds to soda ash and does not reduce the titratable acidity of wines.
Soda ash does not add calcium to wine because its formula is Na2CO3.
The proposed bentonite, taking into account all indicators, is superior to the bentonites available on the market. The origin and technology of preparation of some imported bentonites is unknown. It is possible that they contain additives that are incompatible with food products.
Perlite filter powder.
We offer domestic perlite filter powder and technology for its use on domestic and imported filters.
Filter powders have many advantages over filter paper:
Lower cost (two or more times);
Possibility of high-quality filtering of almost any wine;
Possibility of adjusting the quality of clarification during the filtration process;
The use of not only special expensive filters for filtration purposes, but also the use of anti-corrosion filter presses designed for filtering yeast and sediment deposits. By installing belting fabric in these filters and using centrifugal pumps available at wineries, it is possible to filter wine materials with high productivity. Filter washing can be done without unclamping the filter plates. In this case, the subsequent filtering cycle is carried out after 30-40 minutes.
When used correctly, filter powders can be used in all operations requiring filtration, except for serving wines for bottling;
Use for filtering wort, yeast and glue sediments.
Perlite filter powders produced in Ukraine are quite competitive. When choosing the optimal brand can significantly reduce costs on the filtration process .