"kksbridge" > wrote in message
om...
> We made some wine years ago when it was all the craze, quit and then
> started again a year ago (plenty of time to forget everything!), and
> made some apple wine that we started in Oct. 2002. We bottled it in
> late Feb. of this year and all looked good, sediment wise. The problem
> is, it is still is throwing off sediment (we didn't fine or filter). A
> couple of months ago we did a half-baked filter job on two bottles so
> we could rebottle it to look decent as a gift for the people who gave
> us the apples. Those bottles have gotten a filmy sediment that seems
> to coalesce over time into little 'clumps' or 'flakes' of brownish
> unsavory in appearance, very light weight sediment.
>
> One thing I will mention: (remember, we're 'restarting' any winemaking
> knowlege here!) we had trouble getting the fermentation started in the
> primary. So we added another packet of yeast (this is a 5 gallon
> batch) and that didn't work either. It turned out that we needed to
> raise the temp to get the fermentation started but by the time we
> figured that out, we may have added a third packet of yeast.
>
> So, did adding the extra yeast cause this long sediment production or
> is it because of the nature of apples, or is there another cause? We
> made a batch of apple years ago and do not remember this kind of
> problem with sediment. Plus, we have a 5 gal. batch of apple and a 6
> gal. batch of pear, apple combo going and could use some advice on
> getting this sedimentation problem under control for these batches. I
> know we bottled a bit (maybe a LOT?) early. What advice can you more
> experienced folks give us? By the way, the apple wine is quite good
> (we think) and we're solving the sediment problem for these bottles by
> doing a crude coffee filter filtering when we open the bottle for
> drinking.
>
> Thanks in advance for any advice.
>
> Chuck

I've had that problem and was just about to post and ask! The sediment is
like little lumps of hard gritty stuff, not like the fine lees sediment you
sometimes get in prematurely bottled wine. The wine isn't still fermenting
as there is no fizz on opening the bottle.