WineXpert When

[Vlabruz]

If it racked out of my primary to secondary following kit instructions but want to bulk age should I follow the 2-3 month re racking? I added the fining and stabes when I racked after fermentation completed. There's a good layer of fine lees now.
Maybe rack to get off lees than start w-3 month schedule? If I rack should I add k meta its been a few weeks

 

[Rice_Guy]

Oxygen is the enemy of your wine!

I try to rack (mix air in) all wines three times. * off primary, * off the gross lees, * when getting ready to bottle. This means that the five month apple cyser bottled this week got its third racking as well as a choke cherry that has been in a carboy for two years and now will bottle age for five.

When I deviate from this I say what good will be done? Example I treated a white with Reduless so it was racked after five days. or am I treating a problem with egg white or gelatin

 

[Vlabruz]

Oxygen is the enemy of your wine!

I try to rack (mix air in) all wines three times. * off primary, * off the gross lees, * when getting ready to bottle. This means that the five month apple cyser bottled this week got its third racking as well as a choke cherry that has been in a carboy for two years and now will bottle age for five.

When I deviate from this I say what good will be done? Example I treated a white with Reduless so it was racked after five days. or am I treating a problem with egg white or gelatin

Thank you. So I may rack it then and leave till I bottling before I touch it again. It's pretty clear now from the chitosan and keisesol

 

[Old Corker]

Maybe rack to get off lees than start w-3 month schedule? If I rack should I add k meta its been a few weeks

I speak strictly to kit wines bc that’s all I do. This is more or less the schedule I follow except I don’t use the fining agents. If you added the stabilizing packets at the end of fermentaion you probably don’t need to add more Kmeta after a few weeks. Without the fining agents the fine lees tend to take longer to drop out but the bulk aging takes care of that. By 6 months there is very little left to drop. I use an AIO pump to rack so I’m not concerned about mixing oxygen then racking or degassing. That racking at about one month off the heavy lees gets the wine pretty clear and that is also when I add the oak cubes. Rack again at 3 months is the first time I add what I consider maintenance Kmeta (1/4 tsp).

 

[salcoco]

rack off of the fine lees now. if k-meta not added do so know 1/4 tsp for 5 gallons. rack again in three weeks add k-meta again and every three months thereafter until bottling.

 

[Old Corker]

@Vlabruz There you have it. Ask 10 wine makers how to do something and get 11 answers. There are many right and wrong ways to do this. We tend to develop our practices on the science involved in the process influenced by individual appetite for risk shaded by personal experience and balanced by how much time and money we want to dedicate to it. I’ve been doing this for a few years now and am still learning and developing my skills and opinions.