Can grape tannins...

[edacsac]

...be added after the first racking? I just learned in the "hard water" post how grape tannins help in clearing. Just wondering if they need to be present during primary fermentation.

 

[Dan McFeeley]

...be added after the first racking? I just learned in the "hard water" post how grape tannins help in clearing. Just wondering if they need to be present during primary fermentation.

It would be best to add them during the primary fermentation. Follow the instructions on the label but be sure to add tannin in small amounts.

 

[Oskaar]

Joe Mattioli is the local grape tannin expert here. He adds them up front, and uses .6 Tablespoon per gallon of must. He has had great results, witness the popularity of his Three Week Straight Mead.

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[zweitracht]

Joe Mattioli is the local grape tannin expert here. He adds them up front, and uses .6 Tablespoon per gallon of must. He has had great results, witness the popularity of his Three Week Straight Mead.

Cheers,

Oskaar

Uhoh, you sure about this figure? I'm seeing his 1G
recipes as 1/4 teaspoon, not 1/2 Tablespoon.

Now I hope I didn't go overboard with 3 teaspoons in
5G. It doesn't taste super-puckery, so I guess it'll be fine,
right?

Thanks,
Z

Help?

 

[Oskaar]

My error, that should be .6 Teaspoon.

Sorry bout that.

Oskaar

 

[Zem]

Hmmm...tannin questions, many many tannin questions.... ;D

My roomate just so happens to have some sitting around, so I got to thinking

I am in the middle of a brew right now using eau de vie and wildflower honey.
I have 8 lbs of tart dark cherries, several vanilla beans and light and/or medium oak awaiting it in secondary and tertiaty.

The fermentation it's self is getting on towards it last leg (one blip every 6-7 seconds now) I am going to check gravity and possibly feed more after haloween. If I need to sweeten I would expect the batch to restart atleast a little, is it too late in the game to add tannins to this batch?

Would this brew benifit from added tannins? Or would that over do it with tannins added from the dark cherries and oak cubes (dark cherries and oak cubes do add tannins, right?) and fight with the vanilla beans?



Any input much apretaited.

Thanks

~Wolfie

 

[Oskaar]

You will get fruit tannin from the skins of the cherries, and wood tanin from the oak. Best bet is to taste it and see if it needs additional astringency, if so then add a small amount of tannin at a rate of about .25 teaspoon/gal one/quarter teaspoon at a time until you get where you think it should be.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

 

[Zem]

ahhhh, so it is OK to add tannin post fermentation.

Thanks Oskaar

~Wolfie

 

[byathread]

A friend who frequently makes sweet traditional meads added tannin post-fermentation on one, but didn't like the results. I have tasted that mead side-by-side with some of his others and I definitely prefer the pre-fermentation addition. The difference was slight, but noticable. The tannin is more integrated in the pre-ferm batches. All the meads were 1.5 - 2+ years old. The post-fermentation tannin addition wasn't bad, didn't taste off, just noticably lacking the same "integration" of tannin as the others. Not sure how else to explain it.

Hope it helps,
Kirk