Cellar Craft Lesser of two evils?

I have one of the last of the CC Showcase Red Mtn. Cabs currently brewing, but I have a small problem.

I pitched yeast on this on 12/6/15, and moved to "secondary" on 12/14/2015. In my estimation, it is time to rack off the fine lees, add k-meta (and possibly fine and degas) for bulk aging. However, I do not have an empty carboy. Moreover, I am leaving town for two weeks. Ordinarily, I would bottle my oldest wine, and use that carboy, but I simply do not have the time to bottle before leaving.

As I see it, I have two choices: (1) add k-meta and leave the wine on the fine lees, or (2) rack wine into bucket, add k-meta, then rack back into carboy (and optionally degas and fine).

Which do you suppose would be less likely to harm this wine?

I'd mix 1/4 tsp Kmeta with 1/4 cup water, put it into the bucket and rack into it, no splashing. Clean the carboy and rack back in. Kmeta should protect it adequately for the double transfer.
You're probably gonna bulk age anyway, it'll get started degassing and settling while you're gone, finish it up when you get home........
I like the oxidation chance, which I think is remote, better than the other.

I'm not sure I see much difference between the two. I would probably rack into the bucket and back with the kmeta.

Top it up and leave it until you get back.

Seems like a dealers choice to me. The little bit of oxygen exposure from racking to the bucket and back should be minimal but it's a lot of extra effort when you are trying to get ready to leave town for two weeks. I wouldn't expect that two extra weeks on the fine lees from a kit would cause any problems either. If it were me, I would leave it alone until I got back and focus my time and energy on getting out of town.

I would leave it as it until you come back. Letting it sit on fine lees may not be such a bad thing.

What Julie said. If there isn't too much sediment, I'd leave it. I've had wines in 'secondary' for a month+, and they've been fine. If you're topped up, I don't see much downside, unless there's a lot of sediment.

Of course, none of us have mentioned what is obviously the best course of action: go buy a carboy!

PS: you said 'in my estimation' its time to rack/stabilize. Have you confirmed that with your hydrometer?

rack and add k-meta. if the wine has not been racked at all since end of fermentation you are still subject to H2S from the lees. get wine off lees and bulk age.

I agree that if it's just "fine lees" there should be no harm in leaving it for a couple of weeks. But if you prefer, racking back to the bucket, clean carboy and rack back with K-meta will not hurt anything. The plus side will be that you can enjoy your trip and not think about LEES!!!

sour_grapes said:

However, I do not have an empty carboy.

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Carboy $20
http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/hsh/5384723620.html

Have a good trip! Attend to your wine when you return and check out that $20 carboy.

Thanks, all. Sorry about being slow to reply. Super busy! Thanks for the advice, everyone.

Boatboy24 said:

PS: you said 'in my estimation' its time to rack/stabilize. Have you confirmed that with your hydrometer?

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Thanks for the reminder, Jim. It is 0.995. I topped the carboy off and will let it ride for two weeks. (Last time I made a Red Mtn Cab, it also stopped at 0.995, whereas all but two other wines finished below that.)

Thanks for the help, everyone!

Just an update. I racked this one (one of the last CC Showcase Red Mountain Cabs) off of the finings today, for bulk aging. It was pretty solid even now. I decided to add 3 g of Tannin Riche Extra to up the ante a bit.

Paul, you must really be conflicted... looks as if you've given, so far, a "Like" to every post!

bkisel said:

Paul, you must really be conflicted... looks as if you've given, so far, a "Like" to every post!

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Well, Bill, think of it as a "Tip of the Hat" for the help, moreso than an endorsement of the advice.

If you are , there, I just gave you one, too!

sour_grapes said:

Well, Bill, think of it as a "Tip of the Hat" for the help, moreso than an endorsement of the advice.

If you are , there, I just gave you one, too!

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No, I'm more into the and sports... But not at the same time.

You should not did it at the same time...