If I'm doing my 2nd, 3rd or 4th racking of the same batch of must, should I add crushed Campden tablets to the must each time?
I'm in the process of messing up (judging from the taste so far) my first attempt at this hobby, but we'll see how this works out down the road....=:o)
We have a saying, "It will turn out fine in spite of what you do to it..." Wine is hard to mess up if you are careful about sanitation and are patient.
I don't like campden since you have to crush it first, but you can use it. It depends on how much wine you have in the container how much you use. If this is one gallon, one campden per rack is too much, if 5 gallons, I would use two tablets each rack. You really don't have to rack 4 times most of the time.
1st Rack: Ferment to completion, let it settle down for a few days and rack.2nd Rack: Wait until the wine at the top of the container and at the bottom look similar when shining a flashlight through the wine (if it's a glass container). Look at the beam to see if particles are suspended. If you can get the wine really cold for a few weeks (35 F to 25 F) any excess tartaric acid will fall out too, you can get all of that at one time. The second rack can be months after the first. Justsmell the wineat least every few weeks and make sure the container is topped and sealed properly.
3rd Rack: If you see more lees, rack.In other words, just rack when you have to. There is no schedule. All of this is cast in mud by the way, different styles of wine can actually benefit from leaving them on the lees, there are many ways to make wine. And most even though different, are correct.
Joe
. SubTr> If I'm doing my 2nd, 3rd or 4th racking of the same batch of must, should I
Dear SubTropical
I wouldn't worry too much. I add 1/4 tsp of sulfite at each racking, if my memory serves me correctly that's about 30ppm each time around (don't quote me on that tho', let me stick my foot in my mouth). There are means to test the sulfite levels in your must if you're worried.
The other thing tho' is a young wine doesn't necessarily taste good so I'd give it some time. What kind of wine is it?
Chris
It's more than that - 1/4 tsp is about 50ppm for 5 gals or 40ppm for 6 gals.
Pp
Chris - it's blackberry (from a kit).
Thanks to ALL for your help - I'll keep at it......
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