First Racking With Sediment Included?

[vinividivici]

I picked up a couple of 6 gallon juice pails this past weekend, Malbec and Carmenere.

On the buckets were some basic instructions, but one that stood out was this: transfer the juice, along with all the sediments, to a sanitized carboy. This was for the 1st racking.

I've always racked off the sediment each time and have never let any get into the next bucket.

Opinions? Suggestions? Always welcome!


Bob

 

[Sammyk]

I am fairly new but with the first racking I always stir well and transfer the sediment too. The reason is so that it will finish fermenting.

Always follow the directions on kits. I have only done one kit but it also said to transfer everything. I have made about 40 gallons of wine.........

 

[vinividivici]

I am fairly new but with the first racking I always stir well and transfer the sediment too. The reason is so that it will finish fermenting.

Always follow the directions on kits. I have only done one kit but it also said to transfer everything. I have made about 40 gallons of wine.........

Thanks, Sammy. One small point, though, is this isn't a kit. It's 6 gallons of pure juice for each variety.

It makes sense, though, to keep the sediment with the first rack to finish fermentation.

Cheers!
Bob

 

[Rocky]

Bob, I make about half of my wine from juice buckets and I do transfer everything at the first racking. I find I get a more thorough fermentation that way and I begin to remove the sediment in subsequent rackings.

 

[vinividivici]

Thanks, Rocky. There's now a consensus of two, so will do.


Bob

 

[samwisegamgeese]

I am fairly new but with the first racking I always stir well and transfer the sediment too. The reason is so that it will finish fermenting.

Always follow the directions on kits. I have only done one kit but it also said to transfer everything. I have made about 40 gallons of wine.........

Please help. I am fairly new too but if you are racking with the sdediment what is the point of racking? Why not just let it ferment?

 

[rjb222]

Please help. I am fairly new too but if you are racking with the sediment what is the point of racking? Why not just let it ferment?

You would be racking from a lidded fermenter with a large surface area to an air locked carboy with a smaller surface area to prevent oxidizing your wine.

 

[Chateau Joe]

I picked up a couple of 6 gallon juice pails this past weekend, Malbec and Carmenere.

On the buckets were some basic instructions, but one that stood out was this: transfer the juice, along with all the sediments, to a sanitized carboy. This was for the 1st racking.

I've always racked off the sediment each time and have never let any get into the next bucket.

Opinions? Suggestions? Always welcome!


Bob

Hi there brother New Yorker! You must have got your pails from Mark at Bottom of the Barrel.

First off, what was your intitial brix?

Last year I got some pails from Cailfornia that arrived 7-8 brix. What was in the bottom of those buckets was lees and they need to be left behind. Do not rack them off.

If your brix come in at the 22-23 range then what you have in the bottom is grape sediment. I like to rack those into my primary pail and then pitch my yeast.

 

[robie]

First racking is from primary to secondary. You take most of the sediment so you will be sure to have lots of yeast in secondary.

If I have gross lees, like with fresh grapes or a grape pack, about an hour before I rack to secondary, I give the wine a really good stir to stir up the yeast, which have fallen to the bottom. Over that hour most of the big gross lees will have fallen back to the bottom, but the yeast will still be suspension. I then rack over everything but the gross lees.

With a juice bucket, there won't really be any significant gross lees, so you just take everything.

Some kits have you take everything over even for clearing. WineXpert sometimes does this. This is because some clarifiers want lots of STUFF in the wine in order to assist in the clearing process.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

Personally, I try to rack it off as much as possible, but I do wait until it is under 1.010 or so usually too. It never has caused my wine to be "stuck." I will grab more if I want it to be topped up higher. Since I went commercial, I make more than fills a tank, then the extra into carboys. I try to get as much liquid off without getting any of the lees.

 

[robie]

Remember here we are talking about juice buckets, so there will be no real gross lees, as with wine fermented on grape solids. One typically does not want gross lees around during secondary.

Also, I think the idea is there are lots of "goodies" in the lite lees, which the wine needs to be exposed to during secondary. That's why some, like Tim V. of Wine Maker Magazine are now saying the wine should stay in secondary for the full allotted time, not just until the SG has not changed for 3 days in a row, like many of us always have taught. I pretty much have gone to this concept.

If all the "goodies" are left behind in the primary, about all you take to secondary will be yeast. (Yes, lite lees is mostly yeast, anyway, but there are still lots of other particulates in there, too.)

I guess it is all a matter of preference at this point. I figure the "full secondary on lite lees" idea will catch on eventually. However, what has worked for you in the past is still very important. That being said, we should always be looking for ways to improve the process and the resulting wine.

Another thought - The majority of yeast multiplication takes place early on, during primary when oxygen is present, so much less multiplication happens in secondary. This means the yeast you take with you to secondary are going to be the yeast you finish with. However, I just don't know how hard a fact this is; I figure there is some multiplication going on in secondary, just not as much as in primary.

Just consider all I have said here as nothing more than something to consider.

 

[samwisegamgeese]

You would be racking from a lidded fermenter with a large surface area to an air locked carboy with a smaller surface area to prevent oxidizing your wine.

OK I get it sorry, this is those initial days.

 

[rjb222]

No worries no question is a bad question.

 

[vinividivici]

Thanks to all who've replied. Always learning...

Bob

 

[bob1]

I like Robbie's reply as this is my belief also. I try to leave as much junk behind as far as possible but will let it set for what ever day I mark on the calender. I think the lees help a lot in secoundary. Enough will still grow and do there job without stirring up the primary.