Is this just gravity doing its thing (clarifying)?

[skyfire322]

I just checked my carboy this morning, and saw this:

Is this just gravity doing its thing during clarifying or should I rack into the bubbler then rack again into the carboy? It smells like wine, and there isn't any sizzling. The room temperature is about 75 (just got a carboy cooler that I'm going to put on after work).

 

[AZMDTed]

That's normal fallout, you want that. If you want to move the sediment along you can twist the carboy around a bit and knock the sediment off the sides. You're doing fine.

 

[Johnd]

I just checked my carboy this morning, and saw this:

Is this just gravity doing its thing during clarifying or should I rack into the bubbler then rack again into the carboy? It smells like wine, and there isn't any sizzling. The room temperature is about 75 (just got a carboy cooler that I'm going to put on after work).

Yes, it's just gravity doing its thing to clear your wine. When you rack, as the wine level decreases, the sediment attached to the sides has a tendency to loosen and mix with the wine and get racked to your next vessel.

Put a towel under your carboy to protect it, and gently rock it in all directions to cause the sediment to dislodge from the sides and settle to the bottom. It may take few rounds to get it all to drop, but you're better off getting it all to the bottom.

Once dislodged, if you haven't shaken it up too much, give it some time to settle to the bottom and you'll be ready to rack on schedule.........

 

[skyfire322]

Phew! That's good to know!!! I'll be putting the insulator with an ice pack in tonight just to make sure it doesn't get super warm : )

 

[Rocky]

Skyfire, this is a common problem, particularly with red wines. It used to aggravate me because some of that sediment always seems to stay in the carboy after racking. I read on this forum that the way to dislodge it was to slew the carboy right and left, repeatedly, and movement of the wine inside the carboy would "wash" the sediment off the walls. That worked but it was onerous to accomplish. I made up the jig shown below with two pieces of scrap wood and a "lazy Susan" bearing set. I set the carboy on top and easily slew it side to side until the sediment is dislodged. Works great and it very inexpensive to make.

 

[skyfire322]

Skyfire, this is a common problem, particularly with red wines. It used to aggravate me because some of that sediment always seems to stay in the carboy after racking. I read on this forum that the way to dislodge it was to slew the carboy right and left, repeatedly, and movement of the wine inside the carboy would "wash" the sediment off the walls. That worked but it was onerous to accomplish. I made up the jig shown below with two pieces of scrap wood and a "lazy Susan" bearing set. I set the carboy on top and easily slew it side to side until the sediment is dislodged. Works great and it very inexpensive to make.

That is a great, creative solution! Thank you for sharing this! I too slewed which did remove it, but I can definitely see how annoying that can be; especially if you've got a few you're working on at the same time.

 

[NorCal]

Is that a plastic carboy? On my glass ones, I can't say I've had the sediment stick to the sides like that; no internal ribs, smooth, clean glass. How long has it been since fermentation has been completed?

 

[skyfire322]

Is that a plastic carboy? On my glass ones, I can't say I've had the sediment stick to the sides like that; no internal ribs, smooth, clean glass. How long has it been since fermentation has been completed?

It's a glass carboy that's been topped off with wine two inches from the airlock (kit instructions had mentioned that). The fermentation completed on the 30th and was racked on the 1st.

The clarifying and stabilization agents provided with the kit were sulphite, potassium sorbate, kieselsol, and chitosan. For the first five days, there wasn't any sediment sticking on the sides and in the morning, it looked like that. I was concerned with refermentation since the room temp was hovering around 75 degrees and the wine temp was 73.

Since I moved the carboy around though, all of it is resting on the bottom and I got a carboy cooler to lower the temperature a little bit.

 

[Ajmassa]

Just had this happen myself with my Chilean wine. Jealous of the smooth glass. I didn't even think to shake it. I racked and transferred a lot of the sediment over as a byproduct. 10 weeks and still a decent amount of lees. I'll probably rack ahead of schedule.
Unfortunately ive got no extra lazy Susan cabinets laying around. Next time I'll have to steal and gypsy rig one of the kid's fidget spinners!

 

[Rocky]

This is what I used for the lazy Susan set up. Bought it at Home Depot.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...table-with-400-lb-Load-Rating-49548/203661089

 

[Rocky]

Note: attaching the lazy Susan takes a little ingenuity. I drilled an access hole in one of the pieces of wood that would match up with the mounting holes in the bearing. I then attached the bearing to one piece of wood, positioned the second piece of wood and mounted it with 4 screws through the access hole. The first shot is of the under side of the jig and the second shows one of the mounting screws in place through the access hole.

 

[skyfire322]

In regards to clarification, is the best way to know it's fully clarified by putting some into a wine glass or flashlight to the carboy?

 

[Ajmassa]

This is what I used for the lazy Susan set up. Bought it at Home Depot.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...table-with-400-lb-Load-Rating-49548/203661089

And even cheaper than he fidget spinner! Is that setup used solely for shifting off lees that's gotten stuck to the sides??

@skyfire332 - usually I'll be able to tell either just visually looking at it, or as a byproduct of racking or pulling a sample for testing. Some of the darker reds are still difficult to fully know even with a flashlight. Whenever I'm in doubt, I'll just wait it out.

 

[Rocky]

And even cheaper than he fidget spinner! Is that setup used solely for shifting off lees that's gotten stuck to the sides??

@skyfire332 - usually I'll be able to tell either just visually looking at it, or as a byproduct of racking or pulling a sample for testing. Some of the darker reds are still difficult to fully know even with a flashlight. Whenever I'm in doubt, I'll just wait it out.

Yes, AJ, that is what I made it for and all that I use it for. I make a lot of red wine and I have a lot of the ribbed carboys so it really comes in handy.