| Fining: Clearing Your Wine |
The following excerpt is from :
THE HOME WINEMAKERS MANUAL
by Lum Eisenman
Chapter 14 FINING
For more Lum's complete manual, please click on the following link: The Home Winemakers Manual
"Fining materials are used for the specific purpose of removing something from wine. A wine might be fined to remove unwanted color, haze, bitterness, excessive astringency, off-flavors, unpleasant odors, etc. Usually, the fining agent itself is eliminated before the wine is bottled. Wine has been made for thousands of years, and over that lengthy period many different materials have been used as wine fining agents. Each fining material has different characteristics, so each material must be evaluated carefully by the winemaker.
Sometimes two or more fining materials are needed to solve a single wine defect. At other times, the winemaker might be lucky and discover that a single fining agent can eliminate multiple wine problems. For example, a dark, murky, blush wine might be fined with bentonite. A single application of bentonite might (1) remove excessive protein and make the wine "hot" stable. The bentonite fining might also (2) improve the clarity of the young wine and (3) remove a small amount of the excess color.
Albumin (Egg-white)
Egg-whites are often used to reduce astringency by removing small quantities of phenolic materials from red wines. Egg-whites have been used to fine French Burgundy and Bordeaux wines for hundreds of years, and this inexpensive protein material is still used for fining high quality red wines. Egg-whites are also used to "polish" or clarify red wines to give added brilliance. Egg-whites should not be used to clarify cloudy wines. They are not beneficial when used in cloudy wines, and excessive protein can cause additional problems.
The whites from one to four eggs are the usual quantities used for a barrel (60 gallons) of wine. This is roughly equivalent to 1/2 to 2 milliliters of egg albumin per gallon of wine. A small pinch of table salt should be added to a cup or so of warm water. The egg-white should be separated from the yoke carefully. One part egg-white should be mixed with two parts salt water. The mixture should be stirred thoroughly before being added to the wine, but the mixture should not be beaten to a stiff froth. Add the egg-white mixture to the wine slowly and stir continuously. The wine should be racked in a week or so.
Bentonite
Bentonite is an extremely fine, clay-like material. It has a negative electrical charge, and it is used to remove positively charged particles from wine. Bentonite is most commonly used to remove excess protein from both white and blush wines. It is also used for clarification fining of white and blush wines, and sometimes bentonite is effective in clearing hazy fruit wines.
A normal dose is 1 to 2 grams of dry bentonite per gallon of wine. However, it is often used at dose levels that range from 1/2 to 4 grams per gallon. Bentonite can strip desirable aromas from wine when used in excessive amounts (more than 2 grams per gallon), so bench testing should always be done. Bentonite should be mixed with water and allowed to stand for twenty-four hours before being adding to the wine.
Bentonite can be mixed easily in a blender. Put the required amount of hot water in the blender, turn the blender on, and slowly add the dry powder. When the mixture is cool, place it in a refrigerator and allow the bentonite mixture to hydrate for at least 24 hours. Add the hydrated mixture to the wine slowly and stir continuously. Bentonite is a popular fining material, but it has a major disadvantage. It produces large quantities of lees, and the lees are light and fluffy. Wine is difficult to rack off bentonite lees because the lees are so light. "
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