Unique Carboy question

[dkenney919]

Lately I've been making wine from the raw berries in 1 gallon batches. The other day when I was racking it, leaving some of the wine on the bottom of the first carboy seems like such a waste. Granted you don't want to pick up any of the sediment while transferring, but it seemed like an excessive amount of wasted wine. Then an idea hit me, and I thought I'd ask you all if I'm out in left field on this one.

Being that I'm only doing 1 gallon batches, is there a container that could be used with a conical bottom? With a conical bottom the sediment would settle right to the tip, allowing you to siphon off as much of the wine as is possible. I'm thinking I'm not the only one who has had this idea, and was hoping for some feed back on this.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Another thing you can do is pour the leas into a smaller bottle and let it settle for a few days and and pour off the clear wine.

 

[JohnT]

I agree with BWS. Take the lees, and pour it into a smaller jug. I would think that a 750ml wine bottle or 350ml "split" bottle would be good for you, since you are only doing 1 gallon.

Note: you should expect some loss due to racking. Although it is painful to see it happen, your sacrifice will be rewarded!

 

[Thig]

I read Jack Keller's blog a lot and he says to put that pulp, lees, wine mixture into something tall and skinny and it will settle out faster and you can recover some of that wine. Not sure what would be tall and skinny other than maybe wine bottles as some suggested. I think maybe the weight of something tall compresses the lees better toward the bottom.

 

[Runningwolf]

I use wine bottles to do this.

 

[rhythmsteve]

then you can save the lees and put into a 2 quart plastic bottle and freeze it and use it for your next batch of Skeeter Pee

 

[Rocky]

There is a piece of laboratory apparatus called a separator flask. They come in various sizes. They are fairly pricey if you buy them new, but you might be able to find one on eBay.

 

[olusteebus]

That is why racking canes have tips on them that only picks up wine about 1/2 inch from the bottom. However, sometimes the lees are deeper than a half inch. You can tip the carboy and sometimes the lees will go to one side of the carboy

During my racking of two carboys of white wine lately I was very careful but I stirred up the lees and it got very cloudy. I put all that into a carboy again and bottled the next batch. I did notice that I had some sediment on the one I bottled.

So, I say the heck with it. I am going to leave some wine in the carboy so that I don't pick up any lees. After bottling that "clean" wine, I will rack the remaining wine from the carboy carefully and will make sure that bottle is for me.

I do need my fiber.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

If you got a 5 gallon carboy you would loose less in relation to the size of the carboy when you racked, the only real extra work between a 1 gallon and a 5 gallon is bottling the extra 20 bottles of wine you get from a 5 gallon carboy! WVMJ

 

[dkenney919]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts on this! And as much as I'd like to get a good winemaking operation going here, I'm trying the smaller batch sizes to experiment with various recipes. That way if one is really bad, I hav'nt lost much other than my pride and a little bit of my time. Not to mention I dont have a whole lot of room in the basement suite I currently reside in with my partner. I'll have to take some pictures and record some notes as I get along a little further.

 

[ibglowin]

I posted about using a sep funnel once upon a time. This is a 2L so it will hold quite a bit of lees for settling.

 

[spaniel]

I just pout it in a large glass, let it settle out, pour off the top and drink to check on the wine's progress.

 

[saramc]

I read Jack Keller's blog a lot and he says to put that pulp, lees, wine mixture into something tall and skinny and it will settle out faster and you can recover some of that wine. Not sure what would be tall and skinny other than maybe wine bottles as some suggested. I think maybe the weight of something tall compresses the lees better toward the bottom.

Jack uses a tall Rubbermaid-type spaghetti noodle container, from what I recall, with an airtight lid which he put a hole in to which he fit an airlock. A few weeks in refrig and he could decant off the lees and have topping up liquid.

 

[btom2004]

I have started making gallon batches. I want to build up a nice variety of wines and not 30 bottles of the same thing. Once I make one that I really like, I may scale it up to five gallons. If you use that racking cane correctly shouldn't be a prob.

 

[Runningwolf]

I have started making gallon batches. I want to build up a nice variety of wines and not 30 bottles of the same thing. Once I make one that I really like, I may scale it up to five gallons. If you use that racking cane correctly shouldn't be a prob.

I felt the same way but since 5 gallons was just as easy to make as 1 gallon (and more forgiving) I decided to go that route.

 

[Runningwolf]

I posted about using a sep funnel once upon a time. This is a 2L so it will hold quite a bit of lees for settling.

Mike I also have one of these and have not used it. Honestly...does it work?
The reason I ask is when I put water in mine a very small pin point stream came out that would surly plug up. Also when I rack large tanks from the bottom that have sediment, a small portion of the sediment by the valve comes out first then a funnel type effect happens allowing the wine to come through without disturbing the rest of the sediment.
What is your experience with this? I remember us talking about it several years ago and thats what made me buy this when I saw it at a give away price.

 

[derunner]

you could probably get a range of graduated cylinders

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...=2jkgUZ72I8yJ0QHA8oH4Bw&ved=0CEwQ9QEwAg&dur=1

 

[Runningwolf]

you could probably get a range of graduated cylinders

I like the way you think

 

[sipnwine]

A centrifuge works well to. More breweries are starting to use them so they can get more beer out of a tank. The guys that make bio oil have posted lots of videos because they need to separate and filter much the same as we do and offer instructions on how to construct one. I was able to find a centrifuge second hand and love it. This year I'd like something larger and am using the transmission and motor from a washing machine for the build. I've also thought some types of juicers may work for this as well but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Tripplett]

Depending on how much lees I have left I rack it into a clear wine or beer bottle. Attach airlock and then rack that off after settling. I probably loose less than 1/2 measuring cup per racking this way.