going away on vacation

Hello, I'm thinking about making some strawberry wine soon, but I'm going away on vacation in about 3 weeks.
is it okay to leave the wine for about 3-4 weeks when using chemicals to clear it?
Or should i leave it standing after degassing then clear when i come back?
or just go straight to clearing it naturally which probably fits my time frame anyway?

I would ferment to dry, rack to a carboy and add k-meta and then just let it sit.

thank you for your answer, how long do i dare too leave it? I've noticed that for sometimes it ferments really fast.

You say you are leaving in 3 weeks so I would get the wine going ASAP, ferment to dry (i.e. SG = 0.995 or so), add k-meta and fining agents (or let it clear without fining agents) and let it sit while you are on vacation. I recommend an S type airlock (they lose their liquid at a slower rate) and keep it under airlock until you return. It should be fine.

To be clear, the only part of that process that is somewhat time-sensitive is stabilizing, which is when you rack and add kmeta. The rest can happen anytime as long as you keep it under airlock. With wine making more time is nearly always beneficial, which is why it's called a procrastinator's hobby.

heatfire said:

thank you for your answer, how long do i dare too leave it? I've noticed that for sometimes it ferments really fast.

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This is what I do. I ferment in a primary bucket to 1.010 or there abouts, I then snap down the lid and let it ferment to dry in the primary, once fermenting is done, I rack to carboy and add k-meta. At this point, I now only rack and kmeta every 3 months.

You are fermenting strawberry which makes a very good base for skeeter pee. Since you are going on vacation after y ou rack to your carboy save the lees that are in the primary bucket. Put them in a acontainer and freeze them til you get back. Go to Lon's website Skeeterpee.com and look up the recipe. When you get back, thaw out your lees, add a bottle of lemon, sugar, water, and the rest of the ingredients. Only use part of the nutrients to start, add the rest later as the ferment continues. Should take off fairly quickly. If you wern't leaving soon I would just throw the ingredients on top of the lees in the primary bucket after you rack. It takes off almost immediately after you put the ingredients in, that is a few hours or maybe even a day or two. Should give you a decent hint of strawberry with the lemon. Arne.