Gooseberry wine

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pepsi100

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Gooseberry wine
« on: September 02, 2014, 10:51 »
I have a problem trying to clear my gooseberry wine

It just wont clear, I have used various finings, even tried a filter a couple of times

Anyone else had this problem ?

Its stil in the demijohn with the trap, I have used 2 campden tablets and given it a good shake to clear the gas, there is no more fermentation going on

Why wont it clear ?
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crh75

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2014, 15:28 »
It could be a pectin haze.  Did you add pectolase?

Is it this years wine?  If so time will help.  I haven't made a gooseberry wine for years but I seem to remember it took a long time to mature.

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pepsi100

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2014, 15:34 »
No, what is pectolase ?

It was made with just gooseberries and sugar, yeast

It kicked off really well, so much in fact I had to split it into 2 demi johns

Once it had settled down after a week I put them into the one demi john, it was very active for 6-7 weeks

I shook it every weeks to just keep it going

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Auntiemogs

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2014, 20:58 »
I'm following this, as I'm having the same problem with my rhubarb wine.  Haven't resorted to a filter yet (although I did add some finings) and am just leaving it sitting for now.

Will it be too late to add some pectolase now crh75?
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pepsi100

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #4 on: September 03, 2014, 21:14 »
Mine has been sitting for 3-4 weeks now, still cloudy

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BigPaddy

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2014, 21:45 »
My gooseberry is still bubbling. Are you sure yours has stopped fermenting. You probably are a few weeks ahead of me here in Hull.

Pectin in fruit is good for Jam, it helps set it. In wine pectin can cause the wine to be hazy or cloudy. Pectolase is used to break down the pectin before brewng. Gooseberries have a high pectin content.

You could leave it to settle a bit more.

You can buy wine finings Wilkos do a two step pack which has worked well for me.

Usually a bit of haze doesn't affect the taste.

My Rhubarb was still a bit hazy after fermentation. Finings cleared that.

BP
Patrick
Hull, East yorkshire

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pepsi100

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2014, 21:57 »
I have used the Wilko finings twice now, got one in there now

I guess pectolase is too late now ?

Mine was brewing for 6-7 weeks

I dont really want keep putting finings in it

I might just bottle it and leave them for a few months while I am away

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crh75

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #7 on: September 04, 2014, 11:37 »
It is not too late to add pectolase. 

Let us know if this does the trick, it may take a few weeks to work.

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crh75

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #8 on: September 04, 2014, 11:48 »
Another thought...

As you are adding the pectolase late you will need more (possibly twice as much) than if you had added it before the yeast.

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pepsi100

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #9 on: September 04, 2014, 13:22 »
Okay, I'll give it a try with this pectolase, got nothing to lose, plenty of time to see if it works

How much pectolase per Demi John ?

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grinling

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #10 on: September 04, 2014, 14:53 »
I leave my fruit wines, once racked into a fresh demijohn for a year in the airing cupboard. Never use finings and it comes out lovely.
Gooseberry is a sweet wine,so next time I am going to mix with apple wine

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pepsi100

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #11 on: September 04, 2014, 15:00 »
I dont have an airing cupboard

I bottle mine, leave a year, maybe more (I have a wine that is over 20 years old, a red, looks pretty good

I havent tried this gooseberry wine yet, I would like it to clear before I have a taster of it

I wonder if this will turn out to be a sweet wine  :mellow:

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AnnieB

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #12 on: September 05, 2014, 14:42 »
If you have a hydrometer then just make sure it has ceased doing everything.
I would then filter it again, likely just for the hell of it, then add a pectic enzyme and leave this for a week, possibly more. That should, hopefully, break down pectin in the wine. The problem is that alcohol and the enzyme as not good partners, so the enzyme action may be slowed.

It should be clearer after this.
Possibly then filter again, and then add fining agents to remove as much as possible.

Then I suppose a final filter. May seem a lot of filtering but it would seem best to catch in the pad as much as possible from the previous action.

Time and lowish temperatures also seem to eventually do the job.

When making a fruit wine it is generally advisable to throw in a teaspoon of pectic enzyme at the start to break down the pectin.

Also avoid cooking the fruits for wine making this extracts more pectin, some recipes suggest this mainly to kill off other yeasts etc in the friuit. Pouring boiling water over the fruits does the same.

By the time you try all the options you could end up affecting the flavour.

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pepsi100

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #13 on: September 05, 2014, 15:09 »
I have now added this pectolase, I put in 3 teaspoons, the recommeded was 2, gave it a good shake, now it up to time to take its course

I used about 3 pounds of gooseberries, and I heated them up enough to soften the fruit, but not boiling, added a kilo of sugar, let it cool for a while, added water and the yeast (it was just enough water to top up the demi john) added a crushed campden tablet

Put the trap on, and a couple of hours later, divided them into 2 demi johns, it was just bubbling so much

Now we wait and see what happens :)

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Auntiemogs

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Re: Gooseberry wine
« Reply #14 on: September 05, 2014, 19:57 »
Keep me posted Pepsi.  :)  As an aside, I put my rhubarb in the freezer for a while, and it certainly helped break it down a bit.  Still haven't gotten around to starting on the gooseberries yet... ::)



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