Help Please! Apple wine not clearing

[Hazel at the Hill]

Closet, leave no trace and never try to explain, produce and accept plaudits when due, low profile and good results will be your armour against ignorance and predjudice.

Wish there was a way to explain the name of country wines to make them acceptable to the mainstream - neighbour (who knows a good wine, particularly red) came round last night when I had a nice glass of white on the go, and I asked him if he'd like a glass.

He said, 'oh, lovely, I'll say!', looking at my glass, 'what is it?'

'Parsnip, from a couple of years ago, nicely aged,' I say.

'Er...' he says.

Hey ho - all the more for me!

[Closet Brewer]

Closet, leave no trace and never try to explain, produce and accept plaudits when due, low profile and good results will be your armour against ignorance and predjudice.

Ha ha ha! That's wonderful, thanks for that philosophical nugget!

Because what I was going to say was: "why? Why does this keep happening? I've got a peach and ginger wine under the stairs that's hazy, I've never made a succesful apple wine and now I'm having to resort to multiple applications of bentonite! Why?! Forgive me, CJJ, I'm not a worthy practitioner of this noble art!" Then I was going to wring my hands repeatedly.

But now, I will hold my head up high and say "yes, this 2011 apple is a cheeky little number, and look how it's cleared so beautifully..." and my guests (probably local celebrities, nobility, that kind of thing) will say "oooh!" in impressed unison

[Closet Brewer]

Wish there was a way to explain the name of country wines to make them acceptable to the mainstream...

I agree. Blackberry isn't too difficult to shift, but do you think I could get anyone interested in last year's sugar beet? Do you? Hmmm? No. Turned their noses up, they did.

(I haven't worked out how to quote more than one message yet, can you tell?)

[veggiechicken]

I know nowt about making wine but I'll drink it whatever its made from! As for Multiquoting its the little icon with a + by it to the right of Reply with Quote

[Hazel at the Hill]

..... and my guests (probably local celebrities, nobility, that kind of thing) will say "oooh!" in impressed unison

Not if my neighbour is among them, I fear.

[ohbeary]

People can be very sniffy about homemade wine, I mainly produce pink wine from juices because the management likes Rose', I reuse bottles but keep the lables on so that my wine rack looks posh.
Some years ago my best mate had made banana wine, it was a bit 'orrible, a surviving bottle forgotten at the back of a cupboard was discovered on the day that his wine snob brother was coming for Sunday lunch, we faked a label that I had to dash home for complete with capsule for the top and antiqued the bottle with ash, a story was concocted and the "Chateau Benina" was opened and served with great reverence, the poor sod swallowed the story hook, line and sinker, recognising the name and pontificating on its obvious southern aspect vinyard and chalky soil with possibly a little magnesium?.
Needless to say he was very angry when we told him what it really was, he went home without lunch or his wife and kids, the rest of us had a wonderful lunch and fun filled afternoon, Jane and the kids stayed over and were returned home the next day.

[Thomasuno]

My first reply here. I have to agree that that the two part wine clearing pack from Wilkinsons worked for me. The first Supermarket apple juice I bought was from concentrate and was fine. The second was crushed apple juice which was very hazy and was resolved by the two part wine clearing pack.

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

Can I make a recommendation - not meaning to hijack this thread.

I usually use Ritchies Kwik Clear, also a 2 part fining agent. The good thing is that it comes in 2 bottles, and, you usually get away with 1ml of part A and 1ml of part B for a gallon. This means you get loads of applications from a single pack. It is more expensive initial outlay, but much cheaper per use.

You can't get it from Wilko though....

[cptncrackoff]

^ yes i found this the best, something like a capful of 'a' then a while later a capful of 'b'... iirc.

[Kirk]

I will keep an eye out for the 2 part clearing agent mentioned, have to be next time I visit a suitable homebrew shop. Nice to have a reasonable supply around, although I have 3 Wilkinsons within easy distance (one walking distance).

Concerning an alternative name: English Country Wine perhaps. Sounds reasonable.
Next time try "It's an English Country Wine I am trying out."

If it catches on someone on the forum trademark it.

[AkionTotocha]

Hazel, how did the Quince wine clear?

[Hazel at the Hill]

Hazel, how did the Quince wine clear?

Very nicely indeed, thank you - I used the two-part finings that the brew shop recommended (but for all new batches I pop in a tsp of bentonite per the discussion here) and - blimey - it didn't half clear! Took less that a week to go crystal clear.

It's bottled now and in the garage 'maturing' for another couple of months. I had a taster on bottling, and it's very - er - floral, which is a bit weird (bit like drinking palma violets if you see what I mean) so I'm not sure how I'll get on with it.

[Closet Brewer]

I've used the 'kwik-clear' finings very succesfully on most of my brews. It seems to be good if there's a bit of haze left but it wouldn't budge the sludge in my apple. I'll definitely be using bentonite right from the start for all my batches now!

Has anyone noticed if fining takes anything out of the finished wine? I haven't, but my taste isn't that sophisticated...

Glad your quince wine is looking better, Hazel!