Racking to secondary

[Mike1]

Is it better to be a little early or a little late when racking to the secondary? I've got some blackberry in the primary and the SG yesterday was 1.070 and today it is at 1.050. The directions say to rack to secondary when SG hits 1.040, which will probably be tomorrow. But, I know I won't be able to do anything tomorrow. So, would it be better to transfer today, or wait until Wednesday?


Mike

 

[scotty]

im a newbie but i have found waiting always to be best with this wine thing.
But ill bet it wont make any diference really.


Wait for replys from more experienced folks please.

 

[NorthernWinos]

If you rack too early it might foam up and overflow or go into the airlock...been there...done that!!!! Wait for a couple days...

 

[James]

Hey Mike - From past conversations I have gathered that you don't want to leave your wine in the primary a real long time past due, though I don't think a day or so will matter. A stable (2 days in a row) SG reading is what you're shooting for. However, I agree with Scotty and you should trust the replies of the more experienced.


I can't believe I'm giving advice. I just finished my 7th kit and I still manage to spill wine everywhere.


Good Luck!


Jim

 

[Wade E]

You want to leave in a little longer than shorter. Although if you have
fruit in there youll want to get them out after about 5 to 7 days as
they can go bad. You can wait longer. I usually wait until
1.030.You dont want to do it to early. Time is on your side.

 

[PolishWineP]

Yes, wait the extra days. We've done both and really, you don't want to do it early. As Northern said, it does make a mess. I had to move my beet wine to the carboy sooner than I wanted to b/c of alternative life forms that appeared to be starting on the side of the primary a few days after I removed the pulp bag.

Oye! What a mess I had for several days!

But, the mess beat the chances with the alternative life forms.

 

[Waldo]

I am an advocate of getting it to glass as quickly as possible but with your starting SG I would have to agree with the rest. Leaving it another day or two will not hurt it.

 

[Angell Wine]

Yes, wait the extra days. We've done both and really, you don't want to do it early. As Northern said, it does make a mess. I had to move my beet wine to the carboy sooner than I wanted to b/c of alternative life forms that appeared to be starting on the side of the primary a few days after I removed the pulp bag.

Oye! What a mess I had for several days!

But, the mess beat the chances with the alternative life forms.

I hope Rosie O'Donnell doesn't read that.

 

[daveb50]

 

[pkcook]

Although leaving it in the primary a day or two longer won't hurt, early to glass if better than late for the potential oxygen exposure in the primary. As long as there is a strong fermentation going, the head space in the primary will fill with S02 and protect it. When this gets low then you are at risk for oxygenation. With the narrow opening (throat) of the carboy, you don't have to have a huge volume of S02 to protect it as you have very little surface area of the wine to protect.


Sorry so long.

 

[Wade E]

At that SG though I dont think there is a problem.

 

[pkcook]

Well, SG can be deceiving! If a yeast has petered out early and slowed to a crawl, then leaving it in the primary would expose it to oxygen. I've had wines stop at 1.020 and for most wines this would be fine to leave in the primary for a while, but in this case, I saw that the air lock had practically stopped yet the SG was realitively high (this was a mead), so I opted to rack to glass and the SG finished at 1.010!


Bottom line is this, if the fermentation is still active at 1.030 then you would be fine for a few days in the primary, but if you have a sluggish fermentation at 1.040, I'd opt to transfer to glass as soon as possible.


In this case, everything should be fine. This is what makes winemaking fun; you have judgment calls to make that can make it really good, average, or terrible! I LOVE IT!

 

[Mike1]

I decided to wait because I was worried that I'd get foaming, and really while I could have racked on Monday, it wasn't the best time for me. I did rack last night and the SG was down to 1.010. But, it was still vigorously fermenting, so I think I'm okay with oxidation concerns.


Being that this is my first fruit wine, it naturally has to come with a learning experience. I followed the directions on the can and it said to add 7 lbs of sugar. I did this all at once and ended up with a starting SG of 1.110, for probably about 15% abv.


When I tasted last night, it definitely had a high alcohol taste. But, because I made it at the 3 gallon batch, I felt like I would probably be okay to add some water after racking. I added some, but not enough to get to where I would have prefered to have the finished alcohol.


It did have a good taste, but I really couldn't taste much oak. I had some medium toastFrench oak chips in the primary. I'm not going to add any oak to the secondary. That's a test for another batch.


Mike

 

[Wade E]

Never add sugar to the amount that anyone puts down. I always add with
my hydrometer handy to keep checking until I'm satisfied. Took me a few
batches to learn that.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Very true...the S.G. of my fruit juices vary from year to year...so measure S.G of the juice before you start adding sugar....

 

[Mike1]

How do you go about adding your sugar? I dissolved the sugar in water before adding. If I had stopped short of the amount of sugar on the recipie but needed more, would it be best to make another syrup, or add the sugar directly to the must and stir like crazy?

Mike

 

[Coaster]

I mix my must up to the 5 gal mark (assuming a 6 gal batch). Then I use a hydrometer that has oz of sugar in gals of water marked on it. I measure the must (say 1.060) and read the oz/gal (in this case it might read 1lb 5 oz). Now I know I want to start at 1.090 and the hydrometer tells me that would be equal to 2lbs per gal. So now I know I need 11oz per gal plus sugar for the gallon of water I am going to add. Therefore I would need 11 x 5 (11 oz per gal, 5 gals) plus 2 pounds (for the missing gal of water. That is 4 pounds and 7 oz. I bought a $20 digital kitchen scale from the local store to measure pounds and oz. I then add that to a gal of water I am warming on the stove (I actually would do it in 2 parts because my pot is just about a gal in size and it's easier to mix 2 pounds into 1/2 gal). I take one more reading with the hydrometer and if I am low I read how many oz of sugar I need to add and I pull some of the must out (using a sterile measuring cup) and mix up the missing sugar and dump it back into the primary. If for some reason I am high I usually don't worry about it because I know I can dilute it a bit with water when topping up (if I don't want to dilute it I will use another wine or the marbels to top up).


Hope that made some sense.


You can do the same thing with the table from Jack Keller
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp

 

[Wade E]

I'm no where near that scientific. I also make the one gallon of warm
water syrup . I bring the must up to five gallons and add the syrup in
intervals stirring in and checking with the hydrometer in there. if
reach SG before finishing that gallon I add a little more and dilute
back down with straight water. No science here, just plain and simple.