17 Days in Primary - Process question

[MDVDuber]

Hello,

Regular Beer brewer - so the basics of fermentation etc. are pretty clear to me, but newbie with the wine.

I started my first kit wine (World Vineyards - Cali Zin/Shiraz) a few weeks ago, and then had to travel out of town for business. In the end the wine was in Primary for 17 days (supposed to be 5-7 or until SG = 1.000) and had an SG of 0.991. I racked to secondary - where the kit says to leave it for 10 days - or until SG is below 0.996. Then I'm supposed to re-rack it and add the rest of the ingredients and de-gas it.

My question is this - it's fermented past the required SG for tertiary fermentation (aging?) - should I:

1) Add extra ingredients into the Secondary fermenter, de-gas and start the 14 day clarification process?

2) Re-rack right now, add extra ingredients, de-gas and start the 14 day clarification process?

3) Wait the 10 days then re-rack etc....

Thanks!

 

[Tom]

I would let it sit in secondary as per instructions. Each kit mfg is different as its the clearing agent they use. Some work in the secondary with the sediment others (yours) do not.
Continue as if you just put it in the secondary.

 

[robie]

As Tom said.

 

[Wade E]

If you were supposed to rack everything over including the sediment and didnt rack over the sediment then you might need to use a different fining agent like SuperKleer instead because some of the fining agents included require the sediment to work properly. If you did rack over the sediment then you can proceed with adding all of the ingredients now without racking again until it has cleared. I would also give it a little extra time with the clearing agent to let it compact a little more so that its not so easily disturbed when racking off of it.

 

[xanxer82]

You'll have to let us know how it turns out. Glad to see some other Marylanders posting.
I'm from Westminster myself.

 

[Wade E]

Excuse me, I missed the point that you were a new user here. Welcome to our site, we have many brewers here also. Do you do All grain, partial mash or extract?

 

[xanxer82]

Excuse me, I missed the point that you were a new user here. Welcome to our site, we have many brewers here also. Do you do All grain, partial mash or extract?

You got Wade's attention.. He's gotta chime in with a link of pictures to his awesome brewing setup.

 

[Wiz]

It's always great to hear from Marylanders as we retired from Freeland, Md. with our business down in Towson. We did live for awhile in Northeast, Md right outside of Elkton.

 

[MDVDuber]

Hey,

Let me try to address everything in one post.

First thanks for the friendly helpful responses!

Sediment - the directions say to rack to secondary leaving as much sediment behind as possible - And the wine is actually pretty clear already. But I can be patient.....

Beer - I am in transition to all-grain, but my 5 gallon mash tun doesn't always hold enough grain for the beers I like to brew, so partial mash is common. It's a hobby along with mountain biking and dabbling in motorsports - so most of my spare space is dedicated to bike parts and an automotive work zone. No three tier brewing set up yet.

Maryland - Well I'm from an Island in Southern Maine - so Maryland is not originally home. That said It's a great place to live - and the wife is from Virginia so moving back to the sticks of Maine is out of the question - plus I like the hops growing season here..... Yes Grapes are on the list too.

 

[Wade E]

Wow Wiz, thats quite a ride you took when you retired, what inspired such a drastic change? MDV, you should be fine to continue on with the instructions.