The last few months have been awfully busy at work and at home, and I have not had the time or energy for my fermentation hobby. For almost 3 months, a CellarCraft Sterling Johannisberg Riesling kit has been sitting in my basement, waiting for me to open it. Today, I started it.
First things first, being the kind of person I am, I was puzzled by the spelling of "Johannisberg" because I am more familiar with spelling of the city of Johannesberg, RSA. It turns out that Johannisberg refers to the Schloss Johannisberg in the Rheingau region of Germany. This is where the "late harvest" wines were, apparently, discovered.
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| Schloss Johannisberg |
The wine kit itself is pretty standard. It included two packets of bentonite clay, which is a fining agent. As per the instructions, I mixed up the clay with hot water in the primary fermenter and then added the grape juice to it. This is only the second time I have added a fining agent
before the fermentation. Why is this done? Because the bentonite clay particles, which are negatively charged, react with positively charged particles in the wine, and these settle out. This seems like a great way to remove macromolecules like proteins, which are a source of haziness in wines.
The following is a nice general review of fining agents and how they work:
A Clearer Understanding of Fining Agents
Image of Schloss Johannisberg:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johannisberg_Rheingau.jpg
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