How to Eliminate Cloudiness and Clarify Homemade Wine

Bottle Crystal Clear Wines Made at Home

May 14, 2009

Homemade fruit wines are sometime difficult to clear. Follow these steps to clarify the wine and reduce sediment in the finished wine.

It takes about six to eight weeks for fermentation to turn fruit juices and sugars into wine. When the fermentation stops, if the wine is clear, it is ready to be bottled. Siphon it into sterile wine bottles and cork, but if the wine is cloudy, follow these steps for clearing it.

Rack the Wine into a Second Carboy

If the wine is cloudy, rack it off, which means siphon it, into a second, sterile carboy being careful not pick up any of the sediment (lees) at the bottom of the carboy with the siphon hose. Let the wine sit in the second carboy for another month or so giving the sediment time to settle out.

If Racking Doesn’t Clear the Wine, Use Bentonite

Fruit wines like plum, blackberry, cherry or any citrus are often hard to clear because of the large amount of pulp in the juice. Bentonite, a natural clay, can be added to the wine to hasten the clearing. The molecular charge in the bentonite attracts the microscopic particles of pulp in the wine, and the weight of the clay pulls them to the bottom, usually clarifying the wine in a few weeks.

How to Mix the Bentonite

Bentonite has to be liquidized before adding it to the wine. To do this add 1 ounce of bentonite clay to 12 ounces of water. Stir and shake the mixture often. It takes two or three days of intermittent stirring and shaking for the clay and water to become a homogeneous mix. To clarify 5 gallons of wine draw out about a pint of wine from the carboy and mix it with 7 ounces of the now creamy bentonite, then pour the mixture back into the carboy, swirl to mix it throughout the wine. The wine now looks milkier than ever, but after it settles for two or three weeks, and it should be quite clear.

A Second Clearing

If the wine is not as clear as hoped after a couple weeks with the bentonite in it, swirl the carboy again to redistribute the clay, and let it settle a second time. This second time usually clears the wine. Most winemakers do not recommend leaving the bentonite in the wine longer than a month, since it may affect the flavor of the wine.

Bottling and Corking

When the wine clears, it is ready to be bottled. Gather recycled wine bottles and sterilize them, and new wine corks that have been purchased from a brewer supply store. A corker is necessary to compress the corks and insert them in the bottles. There are lots of inexpensive ones on the market, but for winemakers who think they’ll make wine again, investing in a good corker is worth the money.

Siphon the Wine from the Carboy

Use clear plastic hose, like the kind sold for aquariums, to siphon the wine into clean bottles being careful not to disturb the lees and bentonite lying on the bottom of the carboy.

Making wine is a satisfying hobby, and with a little patience, a backyard vintner can produce some good quality wines.

The copyright of the article How to Eliminate Cloudiness and Clarify Homemade Wine in Beverage Recipes is owned by Sheila Gaquin. Permission to republish How to Eliminate Cloudiness and Clarify Homemade Wine in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.