Queston on racking ...

[lizardskeep]

Aug. 5 will be the first racking we make out of a secondary. We are making plum wine in a 3 gal. Better Bottle.

The question is how much of the sediment do you try and leave. Right now there must be 4 or 5 inches of sediment on the bottom of the bottle. Not sure if it's just caked up on the sides are if its level across the bottom.

Surely you don't stop at the top of the sediment and waste all that wine .....

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Lizardskeep, For what it's worth, here's what I do. I would rack from above the lees. That way you are going to get a cleaner wine that will clear more brightly. I would not , however, toss out the lees. Rather I would transfer them into a suitably sized container, cap it and place it in my fridge. After a few days the liquid will separate from the solids (the cold temperature acts to "cold crash" the yeast and other particulates and they tend to drop out of suspension) and I will either transfer that liquid to the carboy with the remainder of the wine or I would simply rack the liquid into a still smaller container and continue to refrigerate it. Depending on the quantity, I might use the excess liquid to either top up the carboy next time I rack or I might simply use it as the basis of a flavor pack if/when I back sweeten the wine.

 

[lizardskeep]

Hi Lizardskeep, For what it's worth, here's what I do. I would rack from above the lees. That way you are going to get a cleaner wine that will clear more brightly. I would not , however, toss out the lees. Rather I would transfer them into a suitably sized container, cap it and place it in my fridge. After a few days the liquid will separate from the solids (the cold temperature acts to "cold crash" the yeast and other particulates and they tend to drop out of suspension) and I will either transfer that liquid to the carboy with the remainder of the wine or I would simply rack the liquid into a still smaller container and continue to refrigerate it. Depending on the quantity, I might use the excess liquid to either top up the carboy next time I rack or I might simply use it as the basis of a flavor pack if/when I back sweeten the wine.

Thanks for the come back .....
Should we top up the secondary after racking or will the co2 build up and protect the wine from oxidizing?

 

[shmel]

You should top up with cooled boiled water because the CO2 build up is slow in the secondary and you risk oxidation in the mean time.

Since you said that you had quite a lot of lees on the bottom, you may want to rack to a smaller carboy, possibly gallon jugs since you would be adding quite a lot of water to make up for that space.

 

[lizardskeep]

That's a thought ....
I have 2 one gallon jugs I could use.

How far below the bung should you top off?

 

[Thig]

Don't add water, it will just dilute the wine, rack to a small enough bottle to leave little air space, maybe an inch from the top.

 

[lizardskeep]

Sounds like a plan to me ......

Now to inventory and see if I need to get some new toys.

 

[cajunlte]

So when racking to secondary and racking any time after the best option is to top off up to the very top of the carboy and airlock?

 

[djrockinsteve]

I seldom use a secondary. However in your case if the wine is thru fermenting rack off the wine to stabilize and clear. If you have 3 gallons or less pour the lees into a container and add an airlock. Add sulfite and allow it to rest a few days. That sediment will separate from the wine giving you a little more wine needed to top off after the wine has cleared.

Use various sizes of containers (glass) even wine bottles to keep everything topped off.

If your wine is still fermenting leave it alone or stir it and let it finish. I don't stir the last 2 days, 1.000 and below to allow some sediment to drop out.

Never add water. As mentioned earlier you will dilute your wine.

In future ferment in a bucket with adequate nutrients and energizer. You wine will be ready to rack in a week

 

[cintipam]

Hi

you need to have the wine level come up to the point where the neck narrows the most to leave as small an area as possible exposed to oxygen. You do need some room tho since this is your first racking into secondary container and it may still foam up a bit with temp changes etc. So first time I leave an extra inch, inch and a half for a few days till I'm sure it has finished being active. That also gives the leftovers I put into the fridge a chance to drop sed to the bottom and I then use the clear on top to pour into the carboys to reach the optimum level.

Pam in cinti

 

[bkisel]

Maybe its just me... I've never topped off for "secondary" and have never had an issue. With the kits I've done that have instructions to rack to secondary (as opposed to going to dry in the primary bucket) have never instructed to top off secondary. When going to dry in the bucket I simply airlock @ approx. SG 1020-1.000, which is generally around day 7.

 

[Tom_S]

It depends on how much fermentation there is left to do. Personally, I think at that point, even if the yeast isn't creating a lot of CO2, there's still a lot of CO2 left in the wine which is slowly degassing and leaving a CO2 layer on the surface of the wine.

Usually what I do is try to save some juice back when I start the wine and use it to top up with. If there's still a little bit of fermentation happening, the yeast will eat the sugar in the juice. And it doesn't dilute the wine like water will.

 

[richmke]

The question is how much of the sediment do you try and leave.

I leave the sediment.

I then filter the sediment through a reusable coffee filter, and let the rest settle in the fridge. After a few days, the relatively clear wine sitting on top is my sample.

 

[lizardskeep]

I'm going to rack into gallon jugs I think and see how this plays out. It's our first attempt at wine making and we want to get the knowledge base down.

At this time the wine is a nice deep plum color. Looking through the 3 gallon Better Bottle I can just see the shadow of my hand through the wine and there is almost no fermentation going on. Wish I could post a picture, don't know what it will taste like but it looks wonderful.

For our next try I've got some fine meshed nylon Hop boiling bags to put the fruit in. Maybe this will help eliminate a lot of the lees next time.

 

[lizardskeep]

We went ahead and racked it a little early due to a scheduling conflict and I think it came out okay. At least it didn't smell or taste like vinegar.

Got two full gallon jugs and maybe a 1/3 of another one. The 1/3 full jug I put in the fridge but I don't think we will salvage much out of it since it is just about all lees.