Physical and chemical methods for clarifying wine from turbidity and sediment at home

Wine clarification is a process popular in winemaking in which the color of the liquid becomes lighter. Before you start clarifying a drink, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of the procedure and the most common methods.

Pros and cons of fining wine

Before clarifying a wine drink, you need to familiarize yourself with the advantages and disadvantages of this procedure. The advantages include the following:

1. Perfect look. The clarified drink looks much better than usual. It becomes less cloudy due to the fact that sediment is completely removed from it.
2. Duration of storage. Experienced winemakers engage in clarification to increase the shelf life of the prepared wine.

Among the disadvantages is that if clarified incorrectly, the taste of the liquid may deteriorate.

A few nuances for proper lightening at home

Clarifying a wine drink at home is not easy, as it is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. Some people believe that this procedure is carried out only if a person makes grape wine, but this is not so. Plum and apple wine also need pre-filtration and clarification.

Before starting the procedure, you need to check that the wine drink has matured. To do this, it is transferred to a warm room for 2-3 days. If bubbles appear in the liquid during this time, it means that it is not fully ripe.

Methods for cleaning wine

There are several effective ways to thoroughly clean wine liquid.

Physical methods

Physical methods that are popular among winemakers will help clear cloudy wine from sediment.

Filtration

To remove sediment, a common filtration method is often used. This cleaning method is used if you need to clean wine made from white grapes. Experts recommend using a coarse layer filter, which consists of kieselguhr, cellulose or perlite.Thanks to such filters, it will be possible to clean the liquid from sediment and other large particles that it contains. If there is too much sediment in the mixture, special membrane filtration products can be used.

Cryostabilization

To make wine transparent, it is recommended to use this method. This method is ideal if you need to clean a wine drink made from ripe cherries or grapes. When cleaning, the filled containers are transferred for two and a half weeks to a cold place, where the temperature should be 2-3 degrees below zero. The cold drink is then poured into separate containers and transferred to the cellar for storage.

Pasteurization

Pasteurization will help remove sediment from the liquid, during which the wine is treated using a thermal method. This heat treatment helps to slow down the fermentation process and also destroy active microorganisms that settle at the bottom. Pasteurization is recommended when clarification of red wine drinks is carried out.

Chemical methods

Sometimes physical methods do not help get rid of turbidity in a liquid and you have to use chemical methods.

Egg white

Egg white contains a substance called albumin, which not only purifies the liquid, but also becomes less hard. Winemakers recommend using protein to clarify red wines.

To clean wine, you need to beat the egg white and stir it with salt water. Then everything is stirred until foam forms and added to a container filled with wine. The liquid is infused for about a month, after which it is removed from the sediment.

Gelatin

This product is considered universal, as it is suitable for any type of wine drink.

To clarify ten liters of liquid, you will need one and a half grams of the substance. Gelatin is mixed with cold water, after which it is left to infuse for 2-3 hours. Then the soaked gelatin is poured with hot, boiled liquid and stirred until it swells. The resulting mixture is poured into a container with wine and quickly stirred with a stick. The mixture is infused for fifteen days and poured into bottles.

Fish glue (isinglass)

This product is sold in several forms. You can find fish glue in powder and liquid form in stores. Fish glue is used to clean red or liqueur wine drinks. However, this remedy will not work for homemade wine that is too cloudy.

This glue must be used in the same way as gelatin.

The only difference is in the proportions, since a gram of the product is enough to clarify one hundred liters of liquid.

Milk (potassium caseinate)

The milk contains casein protein, which can reduce the amount of tannic components in wine and get rid of the cloudy brown tint.

To clarify ten liters of liquid you will need 8-9 teaspoons of milk. Experts advise using low-fat milk, as it is the most effective. Milk is added to the wine and left to infuse for a week at a temperature of twenty degrees. The mixture is then bottled.

Bentonite (white volcanic clay)

According to many winemakers, the best clarifier is volcanic clay, which is sold in powder form in many stores. The advantage of such clay is that it is used both before and after fermentation.

Thirty grams of the substance is enough to clarify 8-9 liters of drink.First, the clay is filled with water and left for a day. Then it is added to the wine must and stirred. After two weeks, the purified wine is poured into containers.

Tannin

If you need to clarify pear or apple wine, it is better to use tannin. First you need to prepare a mixture that will lighten the drink. 5-7 grams of the substance are added to a liter of water, after which everything is infused and filtered through a filter. Then the tincture is added to the wine and left for a week and a half.

Activated carbon

It is customary to use activated carbon not only to get rid of sediment, but also to eliminate the unpleasant aroma emanating from wine. To begin with, charcoal tablets are crushed into powder, after which it is added to alcohol. In this case, for ten liters of liquid, five grams of activated carbon is enough. After adding the substance, the liquid is thoroughly shaken and left to infuse for four days. Then the mixture is filtered and poured into containers.

Chitosan

To clean wine products, you can use chitosan, which is extracted from mushrooms. Adding this component to wine prevents oxidation of the drink and its further spoilage. It also helps get rid of sediment and turbidity. It is poured into containers with liquid and drained after a week and a half.

Other wine fining agents

There are other substances that are used if you need to clarify wine liquid. These include:

• household filtration products used for water purification;
• fillers used in cat litter.

Possible mistakes

There are several errors due to which the prepared wine does not clarify. These include the following:

• red or white wine will not clear if the procedure is carried out at a low temperature;
• the wine from the grapes has not fermented, which is why it will not clarify.

Conclusion

The prepared wine drink after fermentation may have a cloudy color due to the sediment it contains. To make the liquid cleaner, you need to use one of the considered methods of clarification and filtration of wine, as well as deal with possible errors during the procedure.