Feb 2018
Clearing Agents - Revisted
February, 2018 Filed in: Wine making
With the latest change to the kit instructions it is probably a good time to review the clearing agents used, as they have slightly changed. Properly clearing your wine maybe a flashback to high school physics or chemistry. And you thought you would never use that stuff, hopefully you didn’t cut those classes!
What are the clearing agents?
Bentonite- Sterilized natural clay used as a clearing agent. Its primary role is removing protein from your wine. Failure to remove the protein could result in your wine having a haze, known as protein haze. In the fermentation stage the bentonite continually “boils up” to the top of your wine, grabs a negatively charged particle and drops to the bottom depositing the particle. It continues this throughout the fermentation time. It also helps fermentation by providing a site for the yeast to replicate on.
Kieselsol – Pronounced KEY-SEL-SOL is a fining agent that binds with suspended particles in the wine to aid in clearing. This is used in conjunction with Chitosan for clearing and is made from silicon dioxide.
Chitosan – Pronounced KY-TOE-ZAN is a fining agent that binds with suspended particles in the wine to aid in clearing. Chitosan is derived from the outer shells of crustaceans and is used in conjunction with Kieselsol (another fining agent). Because it is from the shell it is basically a Calcium source. Calcium has a positive charge so it is very effective in binding and removing negatively charged particles.
What are the clearing agents?
Bentonite- Sterilized natural clay used as a clearing agent. Its primary role is removing protein from your wine. Failure to remove the protein could result in your wine having a haze, known as protein haze. In the fermentation stage the bentonite continually “boils up” to the top of your wine, grabs a negatively charged particle and drops to the bottom depositing the particle. It continues this throughout the fermentation time. It also helps fermentation by providing a site for the yeast to replicate on.
Kieselsol – Pronounced KEY-SEL-SOL is a fining agent that binds with suspended particles in the wine to aid in clearing. This is used in conjunction with Chitosan for clearing and is made from silicon dioxide.
Chitosan – Pronounced KY-TOE-ZAN is a fining agent that binds with suspended particles in the wine to aid in clearing. Chitosan is derived from the outer shells of crustaceans and is used in conjunction with Kieselsol (another fining agent). Because it is from the shell it is basically a Calcium source. Calcium has a positive charge so it is very effective in binding and removing negatively charged particles.