I made a Victoria Plum wine at the beginning of last Autumn. It fermented a little quicker than I would have expected
but then I suppose it was unseasonally warm. It finished but after the first few weeks, failed to throw down
significant sediment. I know plum is reputed to take forever to clear, but it looked like something was wrong. A
couple of weeks ago I smelled the wine and it smelled slightly sulphuric maybe even a tad eggy. I know the plums
weren't treated with anything because they are from my grandmother's Victoria Plum tree and she leaves it alone. Anyway
I gave the wine a bit of a thrashing as I read might work and that seemed to sort out the smell, but the odd look to the
wine remained.

I gave the wine a swirl and saw that it seemed to contain a 'haze' within (like mother of pearl in it). The closes
match I have been able to find was on Jack Keller's site where he describes Lactic Acid Bacteria Haze. I can only
pressume it is this as nothing else that I have read fits.

Anyway in my experiments so far I tried pectic enzyme in case it was a pectic haze and recently tried fining with
insinglass. Neither have had even a tiny hint of success. The temperature where the wine is currently sitting is low
(10C / 50F - 15C / 60F) but I figured it wasn't so low as to denature enzymes.

Well I am unsure how to proceed. Keller says to dose it with campden tablets 3 per Gallon and rack after 10 days. I
hope to goodness that works. It was my second winemaking attempt and a 5 gallon, it would be a shame to have to waste
it if it is savable. Does anyone have any other ideas as to what the problem might be?

It could be a protein haze. Have you fined with Bentonite?

RD

I didn't no. I could try that. Thanks.

Cheers, Jim

"RD" > wrote in message ups.com...
> It could be a protein haze. Have you fined with Bentonite?
>
> RD
>

I would try that too, but I never made plum. Bentonite works wonders
on mead though.

Joe

jim wrote:
> I didn't no. I could try that. Thanks.
>
> Cheers, Jim
>
> "RD" > wrote in message ups.com...
> > It could be a protein haze. Have you fined with Bentonite?
> >
> > RD
> >

I never made plum either yet. I made glossy pink alcohol soup so far!
Thanks for the reinforcement Joe


"Joe Sallustio" > wrote in message ups.com...
>I would try that too, but I never made plum. Bentonite works wonders
> on mead though.
>
> Joe
>
> jim wrote:
>> I didn't no. I could try that. Thanks.
>>
>> Cheers, Jim
>>
>> "RD" > wrote in message ups.com...
>> > It could be a protein haze. Have you fined with Bentonite?
>> >
>> > RD
>> >
>

Fabulously this seems to be working rather well! I wish I'd identified it properly in the first place. Leaning towards
the mid-heavier dosage of bentonite I currently have precipitation to make Snowmen jealous.

I can't speak for plum but I have seen meads just fall before my eyes
after waiting for year for them to clear so I know what you mean. It's
good when it _looks_ edible too...

I bet that has something to do with the electrical charge of the haze
inducing particles. Bentonite is opposite of a lot of fining agents.
The lees never really firm up, so just rack off and resettle those lees
again in a small full container and you will get a lot back. You can
chill it after a day or so to speed it up.

Joe


jim wrote:
> Fabulously this seems to be working rather well! I wish I'd identified it properly in the first place. Leaning towards
> the mid-heavier dosage of bentonite I currently have precipitation to make Snowmen jealous.