in a pickle

[BenK]

I made a rjs baco noir kit and am currently at step 2 racking. my autosiphon broke with 1 gallon left in primary. and im racked into a 6 gallon carboy that needs at least another gallon to eliminate headspace.It looks like I have a few options. I have already clarified the 5 gallons

1 run to the store for another siphon
2 buy a bota box or two to fill headspace
3 strain the gallon with a cheesecloth into a bottle bucket and use the spigot to bring the remainder into primary
4 buy a new siphon and 5 gallon carboy and rerack again today

edit: #4 will result in wife complaining about the new hardware

Opinions?

 

[mainshipfred]

I made a rjs baco noir kit and am currently at step 2 racking. my autosiphon broke with 1 gallon left in primary. and im racked into a 6 gallon carboy that needs at least another gallon to eliminate headspace.It looks like I have a few options. I have already clarified the 5 gallons

1 run to the store for another siphon
2 buy a bota box or two to fill headspace
3 strain the gallon with a cheesecloth into a bottle bucket and use the spigot to bring the remainder into primary
4 buy a new siphon and 5 gallon carboy and rerack again today

edit: #4 will result in wife complaining about the new hardware

Opinions?

Not sure what Step 2 is but I assume it's racking to secondary. If so your 5 gallons is not really clarified. You need a siphon for future rackings so I think that is important to get one. If you can't get one right away the cheesecloth would be fine. You're just trying to get the gross lees out of the wine. If you don't or didn't disturb the lees very much you could just carefully pour it into the secondary carboy. Again, at this point there will be several more rackings before it is clear. Good luck.

 

[joeswine]

Buy another auto syphon you'll need it anyway.

 

[BenK]

i washed and sanitized a strainer and strained it into a smallerbucket and put it in the fridge. Im debating now whether to add it into the primary or not. The guy at the lhbs said if there would likely be a little co2 protection before the sorbate stopped fermentation and just to bottle early if i didnt want to add it back in.

Edit: Did buy a siphon

Thoughts?

 

[mainshipfred]

i washed and sanitized a strainer and strained it into a smallerbucket and put it in the fridge. Im debating now whether to add it into the primary or not. The guy at the lhbs said if there would likely be a little co2 protection before the sorbate stopped fermentation and just to bottle early if i didnt want to add it back in.

Edit: Did buy a siphon

Thoughts?

Ben, it's been a while since I did a kit but I just pulled out an old set of instructions. Mine says Step2 is just to rack to a secondary carboy. Step 3 is stabilizing and clearing. It sounds like you're already doing Step 3 if you said you are clearing. With that you added your metabsulfite and sorbate. Chances are you stopped your fermentation and no more CO2 will be occuring have you checked your gravity? Sorbate doesn't stop fermentation it only prevents it from reoccuring if there are any sugars left. The metabisulfite stops the fermentation. As long as you are able to keep the carboy topped up you should be fine. Please don't bottle early it's absolutely the wrong thing to do.

Keep me posted!

 

[BenK]

Ben, it's been a while since I did a kit but I just pulled out an old set of instructions. Mine says Step2 is just to rack to a secondary carboy. Step 3 is stabilizing and clearing. It sounds like you're already doing Step 3 if you said you are clearing. With that you added your metabsulfite and sorbate. Chances are you stopped your fermentation and no more CO2 will be occuring have you checked your gravity? Sorbate doesn't stop fermentation it only prevents it from reoccuring if there are any sugars left. The metabisulfite stops the fermentation. As long as you are able to keep the carboy topped up you should be fine. Please don't bottle early it's absolutely the wrong thing to do.

Keep me posted!

I added the strained juice into secondary and topped off the remaining amount. Im pretty terrified that with all the messing around I did that i contaminated the wine. Time will tell and Ill rack again in a few weeks after its has dropped sediment and update.

 

[mainshipfred]

I added the strained juice into secondary and topped off the remaining amount. Im pretty terrified that with all the messing around I did that i contaminated the wine. Time will tell and Ill rack again in a few weeks after its has dropped sediment and update.

You're going to be fine. I know it's hard just try not to rush the bottling.

 

[BenK]

You're going to be fine. I know it's hard just try not to rush the bottling.

that is the plan. Will rack again and bulk age a few months at least.

 

[meadmaker1]

Dont forget
All you realy need is a hose to siphon with

 

[Ajmassa]

Surprised no one else has said this. It’s only primary to carboy racking. You don’t need to be worried about anything. My family would just pour buckets through a funnel with cheesecloth into the glass. For many years. No biggie. Your cool.

 

[winojoe]

I agree, it is only the secondary and some fermenting will still happen. I would just use a funnel (sanitized of course) and pour it into the secondary whilst trying to leave as much sediment behind. Let it finish up, then rack it again.