2 quick questions

[hounddawg]

I’m 4 days in to the clearing stage but I’ve got SO much sediment on the bottom. It looks like a sandy beach down there. Is this normal?

View attachment 64230,

yep it sure is,
Dawg

 

[jinjo4444]

Thanks.

So do I bottle from here pulling the wine from the top of the carboy or do I have to rack again? And once I get close to the bottom IF I bottle from this stage do I just get as much as I can without sediment and throw the bottom sediment with an inch or two of wine above it away just to be safe?

sorry for so many questions, but I guess that’s what newbies do a lot lol.

 

[KCCam]

Best is to rack to a clean carboy, leaving as much sediment as possible behind. Make sure you have the sediment tip on your racking cane. Slowly lower it as the carboy empties, so as not to disturb the sediment. With the amount you have shown you should be able to gently rest it on the bottom before the level drops that low. Watch for movement of the sediment towards the racking cane, and pull it up before any gets in there. Now you have a clear carboy you don't have to worry about jostling or bumping as you bottle. I would give it another couple of days in the clean carboy to make sure it is, in fact, finished dropping sediment. Personally, I dump the rest into a quart mason jar to settle out over the next week or two and get a couple glasses of clear wine as a reward.

 

[sour_grapes]

I’m 4 days in to the clearing stage but I’ve got SO much sediment on the bottom. It looks like a sandy beach down there. Is this normal?

View attachment 64230

Yes! When you "cleared," where else did you think the detritus was going to go? Looks good to me!

 

[bstnh1]

I would not bottle from this carboy or right after the next racking. You're almost guaranteed to pick up some sediment when you rack, even if you don't see it happening at the time. I would let it sit in the new carboy for at least a couple of weeks and then rack it again and bottle from there if it's clear. If you see more sediment drop, rack again and wait. Patience - the most critical ingredient in wine making!

 

[Rocky]

I’m 4 days in to the clearing stage but I’ve got SO much sediment on the bottom. It looks like a sandy beach down there. Is this normal?

View attachment 64230

It looks perfectly normal to me. You are doing great. I would probably rack at least 2 more times before bottling.

 

[Sailor323]

Thanks.

So do I bottle from here pulling the wine from the top of the carboy or do I have to rack again? And once I get close to the bottom IF I bottle from this stage do I just get as much as I can without sediment and throw the bottom sediment with an inch or two of wine above it away just to be safe?

sorry for so many questions, but I guess that’s what newbies do a lot lol.

I would rack and then bottle about 2 weeks later.

 

[hounddawg]

Thanks.

So do I bottle from here pulling the wine from the top of the carboy or do I have to rack again? And once I get close to the bottom IF I bottle from this stage do I just get as much as I can without sediment and throw the bottom sediment with an inch or two of wine above it away just to be safe?

sorry for so many questions, but I guess that’s what newbies do a lot lol.

no like KCCam said rack to clean carboy, then bottle, or else one day it will bite you in the butt,,, UM questions both asked an/or answered is why we are here,,,,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

I would rack and then bottle about 2 weeks later.

that'll work just watch your head space,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

i have seen a member on here that's been on here years longer than me, that said they never worry about headspace, so ask 10 questions get 11 different answers, lol, it will get easier for you,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

Thanks.

So do I bottle from here pulling the wine from the top of the carboy or do I have to rack again? And once I get close to the bottom IF I bottle from this stage do I just get as much as I can without sediment and throw the bottom sediment with an inch or two of wine above it away just to be safe?

sorry for so many questions, but I guess that’s what newbies do a lot lol.

no like KCCam said always rack to clean carboy
Dawg

 

[Sailor323]

that'll work just watch your head space,
Dawg

Yeah, I usually have to top up from a bottle of same variety wine

 

[pete1325]

Yep, Looks normal to me, from my experience with whites.

 

[jinjo4444]

Thanks so much for all your help!! It’s bottled now and I did a taste test and it actually seems really good! Nice and clear too.

so in the meantime I started a batch of pinot grigio on that just finished fermenting. Og was 1.084 and I’m down to 1.000 so I’m reading the instructions in this kit and I’m so confused AGAIN. For the transfer from the primary to the carboy it states that the transfer leaving sediment behind “will leave a space in the carboy. Do not top up the carboy at this time”.

it actually doesn’t say to top it up until the clearing stage. Can this be right? I thought leaving that much space in the carboy could ruin the wine because of oxygen?

 

[winemaker81]

Your bottles look really good! On appearance alone, you get 11 out of 10.

If you have active fermentation, the wine is emitting CO2, so you have a cushion protecting it from air. Once fermentation is done, top it up.

I usually press or rack at ~1.010, so I have active fermentation. I'll leave 6 to 12 inches of head space in the carboy. I learned a lesson years ago when I filled the carboys -- they overflowed, making a real mess and wasting wine. I was using double-bubbler airlocks, they got full of crud I could not get out, so I tossed 'em and went with 3 piece locks, which I can clean.

EDIT: fixed typos

 

[BernardSmith]

My thinking is that the kit makers assume that their typical customer is likely to use water to top up the wine which will dilute flavor and ABV and acidity but given the expectation and "instructions" to bottle quickly oxidation is unlikely given the CO2 blanket . However, what you might consider is to think outside the box and rack the wine to a smaller carboy and add the excess to still smaller vessels or even 1500 ml or 750 ml bottles.

 

[winemaker81]

I agree with Bernard.

Many hardware kits include a 6 gallon carboy. For 6 US Gallon kits, that's a poor choice, as the final result is less than 6 gallons so there will be headspace, requiring topping.

My carboys are all 5 US gallon. I typically reconstitute kits to 5.5 to 5.75 gallons, and which fills the carboy with topup in smaller bottles. With volume loss due to sediment, I usually get 25 to 27 bottles.

I keep a collection of 4 liter, 1.5 liter, 750 ml, 375 ml, and other odd sizes in which I store topup. I used to have 2 and 3 liter jugs which I mistakenly recycled. All sizes come in handy at some point.

Another choice is to top up the carboy with a compatible wine, e.g., you're making unoaked chardonnay, use an unoaked commercial chardonnay that you like.

 

[winemaker81]

@jinjo4444, I forgot to say congratulations! You are now a fully fledged wine maker!

Now comes the truly hard part .... making that first batch of wine last more than a year!

My recommendation to all beginners is to wait 3 months and open a bottle. Write down your impressions. Then open a bottle every 2 or 3 months, recording your impressions each time you taste. Do not look at your previous notes.

At the end of 1 year post-bottling, read through your notes, first to last. This will help you understand the aging process, and (hopefully) give you incentive to age future wines longer, as they improve with time. It will make sense when a more experienced wine maker recommends aging that wine a year before opening a bottle.

 

[KCCam]

transfer leaving sediment behind

I’m not sure if I’m right about this, but the first few kits I made I tried to take no sediment when transferring to secondary, leaving quite a large headspace. I now don’t worry so much. I rest the sediment tip gently on the bottom of the primary and as the level gets close to the tip, lift the far side a bit. This allows some of the finer lees into the secondary, but leaves all the really heavy gross less behind. I only lose about a litre that way. I’d be happy to hear from the experts if that’s frowned upon.

 

[hounddawg]

there's a member on here i forget there handle, that says they go for long periods of time without headspace issues, i myself, have never made a kit nore any type of grape wine, as for myself , since i do bulk age everything, i filter at every racking, and at bottling time as well, i keep lots of jugs from pint to gallon all with 38-400 threads so they all use the same 6.5 bung, so i top off every rack with the same must/wine, as what i am making, and head space scares me, but that member i spoke of, well they have been doing wines for many, many years, not a clue if they do traditional wines, country wines or both, or if that even matters, just my 2 cents, IMHO,,,
Dawg