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Racking Difficulties

Making a 6 gallon kit wine.

The first time racking from my primary to secondary didn't go as well as I had hoped. Got the sediment stirred up just enough to clog up the tube with a couple of oak chips. That slowed the racking down a lot. A nervous twitch of the arm pulled the hose out for a second, causing air to get into the system. The end result is I left behind a bit more wine than I hoped and got a bit more sediment into the secondary than I wanted.

So I am wonder if this plan makes any sense. I will let the primary settle down for a couple of hours. Carefully pour off wine into a pitcher and pour that into the secondary. Then in the morning rack the secondary into another secondary. Then on with the show.

Does this make any sense at all. I'm thinking the second racking will get eliminate sediment. I'll certainly leave some wine behind in the process. Will there be a net gain or loss of wine volume? Probably not a significant amount either way. Or should I just accept the fact that I have extra sediment and less wine and get on with the show? The kit directions indicate that I'll be racking twice more, so perhaps it's not a big deal.

Your advice would be valuable!

Dave

Reply to
Dave
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Hi Dave,

If you want a better yield, it's OK to use the pitcher to take off as much wine as possible.

Next time you could try using a nylon jelly bag for the oak chips to keep them out of the tube.

If you are planning to use the kit fining packs, DO NOT RE-RACK the bulk. Those packs are intended to work best when there is some sediment (called fine lees) to make nice big lumps that sit on the bottom when you rack later on.

Tip from siphoning in chemistry lab: Put the bottom of the siphon tube about 6" into the wine. Drop it slowly as the level of wine goes down. You will disturb the bottom the very least possible this way. And if you start with the bottom on an inclined board, you will get maximum yield.

--Irene (who has done all of this)

Reply to
Irene

Irene,

Thanks. That all makes sense. The most impressive thing is that you understood what I wrote. It was late and I'm from Boston ;-)

Seems as though I'll have to work on my siphoning skills.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

You can do that, I usually throw the light sediment in a bottle and let it settle over night. I rack it in though. I rarely pour anything. I always try to keep things topped up completely (withing 1/2") once the wine has fermented completely. The pitcher idae seems a little open ended for my taste, but maybe cover it with Saran wrap if that is all you have. Regards, Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

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