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As to the gunk - I don't leave it in the big carboy. I transfer it into the smallest containers that I have and fill them as full as possible. Best ones for me are the Kombucha 16 oz glass containers. Tall and slender. Then a turkey baster will pull the clear liquid off the top. I also refrigerate the bottles to settle things faster. As to the 50% loss - WOW ! I don't lose that much with my pulpy-est fruit like peaches. For Peaches I will start with something around 4 1/2 to 4 3/4 gallons to get a 3 gallon wine batch. Sounds like you are rushing the job. Also As mentioned I built a little sloped stand that I set my carboys on for racking. Give them about a 20 degree tilt. ALSO very key is to move those carboys very carefully before the racking. It's very easy to stir thin finer lees up so if you can set the carboy on the sloped platform the night or day before racking then it should be settled down better.With Fruit wines with a fruit bag I wring that puppy out very thoroughly and put that wine juice into the carboy when I do the racking from the bucket to the carboy (Before my fermentation is finished.) I actually take that bag out of the bucket first and wring it out back into the bucket or over a funnel into the carboy. Since fermentation isn't over the wine is going to be cloudy for a while anyway. Then I do the racking from the bucket and put the lees that were outside the fruit bag into the tall slender bottles. IF there is too much for that I'll put it in a 1/2 gallon container and put that in the fridge for a day or two.Keep in mind I'm talking fruit wines not grape wines. Again I cannot imagine why grape wines would have a 50% volume loss. Once you press those grapes out there isn't much solid matter the liquid content vs fiber is far less in a grape than a peach or apple.
As to the gunk - I don't leave it in the big carboy. I transfer it into the smallest containers that I have and fill them as full as possible. Best ones for me are the Kombucha 16 oz glass containers. Tall and slender. Then a turkey baster will pull the clear liquid off the top. I also refrigerate the bottles to settle things faster.
As to the 50% loss - WOW ! I don't lose that much with my pulpy-est fruit like peaches. For Peaches I will start with something around 4 1/2 to 4 3/4 gallons to get a 3 gallon wine batch. Sounds like you are rushing the job. Also As mentioned I built a little sloped stand that I set my carboys on for racking. Give them about a 20 degree tilt. ALSO very key is to move those carboys very carefully before the racking. It's very easy to stir thin finer lees up so if you can set the carboy on the sloped platform the night or day before racking then it should be settled down better.
With Fruit wines with a fruit bag I wring that puppy out very thoroughly and put that wine juice into the carboy when I do the racking from the bucket to the carboy (Before my fermentation is finished.) I actually take that bag out of the bucket first and wring it out back into the bucket or over a funnel into the carboy. Since fermentation isn't over the wine is going to be cloudy for a while anyway. Then I do the racking from the bucket and put the lees that were outside the fruit bag into the tall slender bottles. IF there is too much for that I'll put it in a 1/2 gallon container and put that in the fridge for a day or two.
Keep in mind I'm talking fruit wines not grape wines. Again I cannot imagine why grape wines would have a 50% volume loss. Once you press those grapes out there isn't much solid matter the liquid content vs fiber is far less in a grape than a peach or apple.
