Should I rack again?

[WineYooper]

I have 5 gals of raspberry and 5 gals of blackberry that went into the secondary last August (Rasp) and last Sept. (Black). I racked both again on Jan 24th and added 5 campden tabs to each at that time. Both of these have cleared nicely and I have sampled and found them both very good for my first tries. There is some sediment on the bottom but not much. I am considering racking again but am not sure if I should. Also from what I have read it looks like I should add more campden at every other racking but I have also read that after 3 months you should be adding more. This would probably be my last rack before bottling in late June or July. The question I need help on is should I rack again because of the sediment or can it sit on the little that is there, and should I add more campden to control oxidizing? This is going to be my first bottling experience coming up so the excitement is building.

 

[xanxer82]

Could you post photos? If you don't have a test kit for free so2, add 1/4 tsp of kmeta or about 4 campden tabs crushed and dissolved in some of the wine.

 

[Torch404]

Fine lees are ok for the wine to sit on, unless there are a lot. You should be fine with out racking till you are ready to bottle.

 

[Tom]

I have 5 gals of raspberry and 5 gals of blackberry that went into the secondary last August (Rasp) and last Sept. (Black). I racked both again on Jan 24th and added 5 campden tabs to each at that time. Both of these have cleared nicely and I have sampled and found them both very good for my first tries. There is some sediment on the bottom but not much. I am considering racking again but am not sure if I should. Also from what I have read it looks like I should add more campden at every other racking but I have also read that after 3 months you should be adding more. This would probably be my last rack before bottling in late June or July. The question I need help on is should I rack again because of the sediment or can it sit on the little that is there, and should I add more campden to control oxidizing? This is going to be my first bottling experience coming up so the excitement is building.

I would rack at least one more time. reason is you will get some floaties when bottling. I would suggest if you have a filter to use it on fruit wines. These wines can be fard to get and stay clear.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Fine lees are okay and can enhance some wines. You do have to be careful when bottling so as not to suck them into the bottles.

Either be careful siphonong or as Tom said rack 1 more time.

 

[WineYooper]

I will probably rack again after looking at wine with better lighting nearby. The skeeter pee is the orange looking, really it's more pink from blacberry slurry. It's two weeks old now and will add sugar today. The blackberry is in the glass bottle with the vertical ribs, raspberry is in better bottle, and cranberry is in 6 gal bottle.
In 3rd pic pee is first, black, rasp, cran, black. The first two are what I will probably rack.

 

[Torch404]

You don't have a lot of lees so you should be fine. I forgot to include in my reply that I usually rack once about a week before bottling that gets most of the sediment out of the carboy and gives it some extra time for the last bits to settle. There is no major reason to rack before then.

 

[Wade E]

I agree, there isnt any crucial amount of lees there that would warrant racking off accept for the purpose of bottling so as not to disturb the wine and like Torch said rack it about a week or 2 before bottling so that if you do disturb it it can have enoy=ugh time to clear before bottling.

 

[WineYooper]

Well I did rack this morning after I had posted the pics and before I saw any replies. Not a big deal and you are right, there was not that much sediment, it sure looked like more from outside the bottle before I racked. Something learned for the future. Now I will leave till bottling and have that much less to contend with on the bottom. Thanks to all!