Finings are substances that are usually added at or near the completion of the processing of brewing

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

, and various nonalcoholic juice beverages. They are used to remove

organic compound In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. T ...

s, either to improve clarity or adjust flavor or

aroma An odor (American English) or odour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their se ...

. The removed compounds may be sulfides,

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

polyphenol Polyphenols () are a large family of naturally occurring organic compounds characterized by multiples of phenol units. They are abundant in plants and structurally diverse. Polyphenols include flavonoids, tannic acid, and ellagitannin, some o ...

s, benzenoids, or copper

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

s. Unless they form a stable

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...

in the final container, the spent finings are usually discarded from the beverage along with the target compounds that they capture. The term “finings” is a mass noun rather than a plural. Substances used as finings include egg whites,

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...

isinglass Isinglass () is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification or fining of some beer and wine. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialised gluing purposes. The ...

, and Irish moss. These are still used by some producers, but more modern substances have also been introduced and are more widely used, including

bentonite Bentonite () is an absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite. Na-montmorillonite has a considerably greater swelling capacity than Ca-m ...

, gelatin,

casein Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins ( αS1, aS2, β, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of the proteins in hum ...

carrageenan Carrageenans or carrageenins ( ; ) are a family of natural linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red edible seaweeds. Carrageenans are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties. T ...

alginate Alginic acid, also called algin, is a naturally occurring, edible polysaccharide found in brown algae. It is hydrophilic and forms a viscous gum when hydrated. With metals such as sodium and calcium, its salts are known as alginates. Its colour ...

, diatomaceous earth,

pectinase Pectinases are a group of enzymes that breaks down pectin, a polysaccharide found in plant cell walls, through hydrolysis, transelimination and deesterification reactions. Commonly referred to as pectic enzymes, they include pectolyase, pectozy ...

pectolyase Pectin lyase (), also known as pectolyase, is a naturally occurring pectinase, a type of enzyme that degrades pectin. It is produced commercially for the food industry from fungi and used to destroy residual fruit starch, known as pectin, in wine ...

, PVPP, kieselsol (

colloidal silica {{Unreferenced, date=November 2021Colloidal silicas are suspensions of fine amorphous, nonporous, and typically spherical silica particles in a liquid phase. It may be produced by Stöber process from Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). Properties U ...

copper sulfate Copper sulfate may refer to: * Copper(II) sulfate, CuSO4, a common compound used as a fungicide and herbicide * Copper(I) sulfate Copper(I) sulfate, also known as cuprous sulfate, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Cu2 SO4. It ...

, dried

albumen Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms aro ...

(egg whites),

hydrated Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely among o ...

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

, and activated carbon.

Actions

Finings’ actions may be broadly categorized as either

electrostatic Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies electric charges at rest ( static electricity). Since classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles after rubbing. The Greek word for amb ...

adsorbent Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. This process creates a film of the ''adsorbate'' on the surface of the ''adsorbent''. This process differs from absorption, in which a f ...

, ionic, or

enzymatic Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. ...

. The

types comprise the vast majority; including all but activated carbon, fining yeast, PVPP,

and pectolase. Their purpose is to selectively remove proteins,

tannins Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'', f ...

(polyphenolics) and coloring particles (melanoidins). They must be used as a batch technique, as opposed to flow-through processing methods such as

filter Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...

s. Their particles each have an

electric charge Electric charge is the physical property of matter that causes charged matter to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. Electric charge can be ''positive'' or ''negative'' (commonly carried by protons and electrons respe ...

which is attracted to the oppositely charged particles of the

colloidal A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others extend ...

dispersion Dispersion may refer to: Economics and finance * Dispersion (finance), a measure for the statistical distribution of portfolio returns * Price dispersion, a variation in prices across sellers of the same item *Wage dispersion, the amount of variat ...

that they are breaking. The result is that the two substances become bound as a stable

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

; their net charge becoming neutral. Thus the agglomeration of a semi-solid follows, which may be separated from the beverage either as a floating or settled mass. The only

types of finings in use are activated carbon and specialized fining yeasts. Although activated carbon may be implemented as a flow-through

, it is also commonly utilized as a batch ingredient, which later must be separated and discarded from the beverage. It can completely/partially remove benzenoid compounds and all classes of

s non-specifically, decolorizing and deodorizing juices and wines. Traditionally, yeast fining has involved the addition of hydrated yeasts used as

adsorption Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. This process creates a film of the ''adsorbate'' on the surface of the ''adsorbent''. This process differs from absorption, in which ...

agents. Consisting of approximately 30%

, yeast cell walls have a

chemical affinity In chemical physics and physical chemistry, chemical affinity is the electronic property by which dissimilar chemical species are capable of forming chemical compounds. Chemical affinity can also refer to the tendency of an atom or compound to co ...

with wine compounds, such as those that may be polyphenolic or metallic. Indeed, yeast fining is a practical means of removing excess

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

ions An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...

(greater than 0.5 mg/L) when copper sulfate is used to bind selected volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs). The ionic finings are copper sulfate and PVPP. When dissolved in aqueous beverages, copper sulfate's copper ions can chemically bind undesirable sulfides. The resulting complexes must be removed by other finings. The action of PVPP appears to be through the formation of hydrogen bonds between its

carbonyl In organic chemistry, a carbonyl group is a functional group composed of a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom: C=O. It is common to several classes of organic compounds, as part of many larger functional groups. A compound containi ...

groups and the phenolic hydrogens of the

s. It attracts the low

molecular weight A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...

polyphenols rather than the condensed

and leucanthocyanins that are removed by gelatin. The

finings are pectin and

. They aid in destroying the large polysaccharide molecule named pectin, which otherwise causes haze in fruit wines and juices. They are among the few finings that are added ''before'' juices are

fermented Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...

Nutritional concerns

Unfortunately, beneficial antioxidant flavonoids are removed by some finings.

Quercetin Quercetin is a plant flavonol from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves, seeds, and grains; capers, red onions, and kale are common foods containing appreciable amounts of it. It has a bitter flavor ...

is removed from red wines via the finings gelatin,

, and PVPP to reduce

astringent An astringent (sometimes called adstringent) is a chemical that shrinks or constricts body tissues. The word derives from the Latin ''adstringere'', which means "to bind fast". Calamine lotion, witch hazel, and yerba mansa, a Californian pla ...

flavors. If other fining methods are used, the quercetin remains in the wine. Similarly the

catechin Catechin is a flavan-3-ol, a type of secondary metabolite providing antioxidant roles in plants. It belongs to the subgroup of polyphenols called flavonoids. The name of the catechin chemical family derives from ''catechu'', which is the tanni ...

flavonoids are removed by PVPP and other finings that target

ic compounds.

Vegetarianism concerns

Since some finings are animal products and others are not, it can be difficult for consumers to find out whether a particular wine or beer is

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

, or neither, unless the producer or seller chooses to label it as such. The website ''Barnivore'' maintains an international database of wines and beers, classifying each as "Vegan Friendly" or "Not Vegan Friendly"

References

External links

by Bruce Zoecklein, Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 17 May 2002
Bentonite Fining of Juice and Wine
by Bruce Zoecklein, Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, pub. 463-014, 1988

Colloidal stabilisation of beer
The Brewer International, Jan 2002
Fining Agents for Wine
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060913181405/http://www.uark.edu/depts/ifse/grapeprog/articles/nmc14wg.pdf , date=2006-09-13 , by J.R. Morris and G.L. Main, Proceedings of the 14th NM Conference, 1995]
Fining
by Ben Rotter

by C.G.B. Cole Brewing ingredients Winemaking

Actions

Nutritional concerns

Vegetarianism concerns

See also

References

External links