Frist time bottling wine

[Mollie]

So I am bottling my wine and in the Carboy the wine is really clear but when I bottle it it comes out cloudy in the bottle. What should I do??

 

[Mollie]

Should I degas it again?

 

[Mollie]

And I used a clearing agent. I used a wine kit and it says it should be ready to bottle by now. Sorry I'm just siting here with all of my stuff ready to bottle it and I'm not sure what to do

 

[Kraffty]

It sounds like you could use more time before bottling even though the directions say you should be ready. It also sounds like you could have racked one more time and left the fine lees behind before bottling.
Mike

 

[Mollie]

This may be a stupid question but by racking do you mean put the wine into a new carboy and throw away the setament at the bottom of the original carboy

 

[Mollie]

Would it hurt the wine if I degassed it at this stage? I think it may still have gas. When I poured the wine back in it bubbled

 

[cintipam]

Yes, racking is moving the wine from one carboy to another. If you use a clamp or clothespin (new and sanitized) to hold the siphon up so it doesn't touch bottom you get a much clearer wine in the new carboy. But you don't have to throw away what is left in the old carboy. Put it into a wine bottle (or whatever size bottle it will fit into) put an airlock on top and in a couple days it will start to compact the sediment to the bottom leaving the top portion clear enough to top off you other carboys.

You really should not be trying to bottle any wine that is not totally clear and degassed. In fact, wine has a hard time totally clearing until most of the gas is gone. That gas holds the sediment in suspension. A lot of us keep our wine in carboys for 6 months to a year, racking every 3 months and adding 1/4 tsp Kmeta to keep the wine safe. That way the wine degasses itself, and becomes crystal clear and ready to bottle.

Pam in cinti

 

[Mollie]

Thanks for the reply! I read that if the wine is too cold it may take longer to clear. Is this true?

 

[Floandgary]

This may be a stupid question but by racking do you mean put the wine into a new carboy and throw away the setament at the bottom of the original carboy

Yepper!!! that's the ticket. PLUS ,,,,,, be sure your racking cane (the plastic tube that reaches to the bottom of the carboy) has a guard on it to prevent sucking up any sediment! How many bottles have you filled??? At the expense of a few corks, you may want to pour them back into the carboy and let the sediment settle out. Take your time with each step and you'll be rewarded

 

[BernardSmith]

Thanks for the reply! I read that if the wine is too cold it may take longer to clear. Is this true?

Hi Mollie. That is in fact very true. The colder the wine, the more CO2 it can hold, the warmer the wine the less CO2 it can hold. If you warm the wine it will be forced to expel some of the gas that is absorbed in the liquid. So you may want the ambient temperature to be about 70 F if you are planning on degassing.
What you might also do is simply rack (transfer by siphon) the wine from one carboy to another but in siphoning you allow the wine to run down the inside wall of the target carboy. That action means that you are increasing the surface area of the wine and that will also help force out some of the CO2.
Good luck!

 

[Mollie]

Thanks for the replys! I'm using the fastferment so it's all in one carboy with a collection ball on the bottom. I emptyed the ball and put it back on to see if anything settles. I only did one bottle and I put it back into the carboy and I poured it back in it bubbled alittle. And the airlock had a little action when I put the cover back on (it stoped after a few minutes, just two or three little bubbles) Do you think that I could have not degassed it enough? I degassed at the end of the primary fermentation. Would it be ok to degass again to make sure that it's all degassed? The wine tastes good and is clear in the carboy but cloudy when I bottle it.

 

[StBlGT]

Sounds like it isn't ready to bottle. How long has it been sitting? If you follow the kit instructions on when to bottle, then you will most likely have sediment in the bottles. Depending on what wine and kit level, i would wait at LEAST 6 months before bottling.

You can absolutely degas at this stage. If you think you still have co2, then that it possibly the reason why it is still cloudy.

 

[drainsurgeon]

Sounds like gas to me. Are you sure the cloudiness you are seeing in the bottles aren't little bubbles? Or possibly your cane was at the bottom of the carboy picking up some lees. How did you de-gass? Did you just stir with a spoon or use a drill and a whip. Kit wines are really designed to bottle early (usually 4-6 weeks) but you have to make sure it is clear AND de-gassed sufficiently. I use a whip and a drill and de-gass (in step 3) for 6-8 min total. I wait the 12-14 days, what ever the kit recommends, but instead of bottling I rack one more time a wait another week or two. If clear and no more lees on the bottom, I bottle. Again, make sure you're de-gassed before bottling or you may end up with bottle bombs. A good way to check is fill a bottle 1/2 full and put your thumb on the end and give it a good shake. If you get a "poof" of air when you release your thumb and a bunch of bubbles rising (and maybe even a little foam on top), it's not ready and still has gas.

You can certainly wait longer and many here are in the camp of waiting 6-12 months or even longer. My experience with kits is that you can bottle much sooner without additional lees forming in the bottle.

 

[jgmann67]

Mollie - it's unanimous. Your wine is not yet ready to bottle. And, it's your wine that decides when it is time... not the instructions or your want to have the wines in bottle and ready to drink.

Degas... wait... degas... wait... degas some more.

Taste your wine - I didn't see in this thread that you've done that yet. What's it taste like? If it's sharp or acidic, it's still gassy. Bottle your wine when it tastes like it's done.

It's normal to have a wine aging in a carboy for 3, 6, 9 or 12 months. Again - It's ready when it's ready. And when it is - rack, dose, let it sit overnight, then bottle. Always, always, always bottle clear wine from a clean carboy.

Good luck and be patient.

 

[Scooter68]

Remember that Cooling or Cold Stabilization can also help clear a wine. So while chilling may not promote full gassing off, it can help clear the wine. You may find that a period of normal temps AND a Chilling period will, in combination allow 1) Gassing off and 2) Better clearing. And of course you have plenty of aging time to do both. Chilling the wine at the end might be the best way to finish the clearing process. My wines have, for the most part, cleared well in our basement which is now down to 55 degrees. I probably won't be bottling while they are at that temp but will wait until warmer weather and bottle them at a normal room temp of 65-75 degrees. That way there is less likely to be a pressure build up due to temps.

 

[NorCal]

I've never had a wine that was clear in the carboy, yet cloudy when bottled. Is it racked clean, meaning are you trying to bottle from a carboy with sediment in it? Did you clean the bottles out? You can check if you have too much co2 by filling a bottle 1/3, put your thumb over the top and shake hard for ten seconds. When you release your thumb, you will know. Note: do outdoors.

 

[heatherd]

I have had a batch that was clear in the carboy and then cloudy in the bottle. It was gas.

 

[NorCal]

Ok, just to satisfy my curiosity. I snagged some clear Chardonnay I made from grapes a few months ago. I know it is full of CO2. Clear in the carboy. I vacuum pulled into a clear bottle and sure enough it was cloudy until I vacuum transferred a few times and took the co2 and cloudiness away.
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