the peach wine with the stuck fermentation (that i posted last week)
> is going excellent now!! i just racked it to the secondary fermenter
> today. it actually tastes pretty good already even with the yeastie
> taste so i cant imagine in 6 months to a year!!
> i have a question to see if anyone else has done this before... Add
> boiled water (still hot to kill off the yeast)to the left over
> sediment/lees from first racking then let settle and siphon off the
> clear liquid (keeping it in the frige)for to top off on my next
> racking(s) instead of using just plain boiled water (cooled of
> course)??
> thanks
> Deanna
I don't know that I would do it either. Typically, I try to make more to top up with. With my last batch however, that didn't work. So, I took the "not quite clear" leftovers, put them in a small container (covered) and put them in the fridge. As of today, I have clear liquid (1/4 -1/3 cup) above the yeasty mess - I will draw this off and use as top up for the next time I rack this wine. Goodluck. Darlene
Yech! Why would you want to do that?! Please understand, you are suggesting, essentially, to try and make the proverbial silk purse out of a pig's ear. Or some other such nonsense. You really don't want to add water, boiled or not, to the _sludge_ at the bottom of a carboy to have something to top off with. There is nothing that you can get out of sludge except some really interesting off odors which will subvert the reason you started to make wine; to make a good, drinkable product. If you want topping wine for your fruit wine, try a commercial Sauvignon Blanc or a nice Riesling. Both will add to the vinosity of your wine. Otherwise, in the future, try to make a little extra wine so you will have something to top off with. Another point, you can dispense with the 'boiled water thing'. It is an old standby from when we didn't have a chlorinated water supply. Now that we have wonderful things like Camden tablets or Pot. Meta bisulphite and the alcohol that the wine itself produces, I really wish that some of these older winemaking books would be revised for today. Unless you have an unsafe water supply, then you would want to boil it. As for mineralized water, don't worry, yeasties like lots of junkfood to eat. Unless your water supply has lots of iron in it. Then I would suggest drinking water that you can purchase at the store. Joanne
Dave, I guess we have to define how cloudy and gunky the lees are. I've done a lot of different things to get that last little bit of liquid for topping up, including coffee filters, but they get clogged up pretty quick. We've had some good discussions on this site about different ideas. With really cloudy lees, I've found that cooling the lees works overnight. Yesterday, I drew off about 1/3 cup + of clear liquid and transferred to another container for topping up. I think that as long as whatever clear liquid you do get, doesn't site on the lees for very long, you'll be okay about avoiding off-flavors and such. Darlene
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.