Racking questions

Lamarkeiko · Apr 23, 2014

I'm 6 months into my first wine making batch of 4 gallons of wild grape wine. Before I present my questions, I'll give a rundown of my wine receipe I came up with.
In early October I picked 21 lbs of stemmed wild grapes. I don't know what kind, but they were fairly large, almost black, and fairly sweet. After mashing I had 2.25 Gal. To this I added 2 gal of water, 10 1/2 cups sugar to adjust my SG to 1.09. Acity tested at 0.6. I added 3 1/2 crushed campden tablets and let set for 24 hrs before adding yeast. Got active fermenting for about 5 days in bucket, and when my SG was 1.022 I squeezed the juice from the must and filled a disinfected 3 gal carboy and a 1 gal jug and placed fermentation locks. The secondary fermenting lasted for exactly 1 month until very little signs of CO2 activity was present. Tested the SG at 0.992. My first racking 11/18/13 I siphoned the wine into a sanitised 5 gal bucket, leaving most lees behind. I cleaned and resantized my carboys and siphoned the wine back from the bucket. Had to add three cups to top off carboys before installing my air locks. I used water and Carlos Rossi Blush wine for topping off. Very little if any activity in the wine was showing. I racked the wine again on 1/6/14 the same way as first racking. Tested the SG again and it was still at 0.992. I added 1 1/2 campdon tablets at this time, and topped off with santized marbles before replacing the airlocks.
My wine is still setting in the carboys now about 3 1/2 months since last racking. This is where I have racking questions. I was not aware of the oxidation issue before, but now I'm wondering if I have been ok doing my racking into a bucket, then back to the carboys, or am I running the risk of oxidation this way? I have been carefull not to cause any splashing while siphoning. My wine in the carboys now looks very red and clear with what appears to be a slight dusting of lees showing in the 3 gal carboy. I plan to do ageing in the carboys a few more months before bottling. Should I rack again now, or should I leave the wine set as is?
Thanks for any help.
Lamar

bkisel · Apr 23, 2014

I will often rack from after dry, whether that is a bucket or a carboy, into a bucket to start my stabilization, degassing and clearing and then right back into a fresh carboy for bulk aging. I will often rack from carboy to a bucket and then bottle from the bucket just to get the wine off any very fine sediment that might have settled. The wine is only in the bucket for a short period of time which is why I guess I've never had an oxidation issue. Also, with the rack to a bucket for degassing your wine, I guess, is somewhat protected by the CO2 in the wine - until of course most has been stirred out. But then you're back into a carboy.

If I've read correctly I would add maybe 1/8 tsp. of k-meta and rack again. You can just dump the k-meta into the fresh carboy and rack away.

Lamarkeiko · Apr 23, 2014

Thanks Bill for the reply back. It sounds like I shouldn't be having any oxidation problems with my racking into a bucket. I believe I will rack one more time and then bulk age the wine in the carboys a few more months before bottling. You mentioned adding k-meta into the carboys. I'm not familar as to what k-meta is. I was thinking of putting some crushed campdon tablets to the carboys. Also, what is degassing?

Lamar

user 31015 · Apr 23, 2014

K-meta is an active ingredient in campden tablets. Google "k-meta campden conversion" and one of the first couple of links will explain all. Would find it myself but am on phone.

JohnT · Apr 24, 2014

Lamark,

It seems to me that you are doing everything properly. You red wine has tannins and you have been adding campden tablets (k-meta) that will help protect your wine against what little o2 your wine has come in cantact with.

Advice:

Just ensure that you are keeping your carboy as full as possible.

I would re-test the acid at this point. If below .6 gpl, I would adjust up to .65.

Go ahead and rack again. performing a min of 3 rackings is SOP for me.

Lamarkeiko · Apr 26, 2014

I racked my 4 gallons of wine today. The SG tested at 0.992, which is the same as it was in January and November. I did an acid test, and I came up with between 7 & 8 % acidity. I tested after adding 4 crushed campdon tablets. I hope that wasn't a mistake. The wine is very clear and actually tasted fairly good. I plan on ageing the wine another 3 months before bottling.

Lamar