Why not stir lees back into suspension???

Floandgary said:

There ya have it!!! You can find as many offerings "for as opposed" to a give method or process! As Dhaynes posted, you would do well to learn all you can about each and every step before striking out on your own. Good way to avoid surprises!!

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ibglowin said:

WE uses a one step fining agent. The lees are left on as this improves and shortens the clearing process. Everybody else uses a 2 step process with two fining agents. One agent reacts with positively charged proteins and the other reacts with negatively charged proteins. The lees can be racked off before hand with the 2 step fining process.

Winemaker magazine has a good article on how fining agents work

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Dhaynes said:

Kit makers have spent years perfecting their process and instructions to make them as foolproof as possible. As a result they take a different approach on some things from traditional wine making steps. Some of the differences are: 1) yeast is sprinkled on top dry instead of rehydrating in water and stirring in; 2) adding bentonite up front; 3) snapping down the lid on the primary and using an airlock (no stirring of the wine in the primary) vs. just covering the primary with a cloth or a loose lid and stirring daily; 4) not racking the wine off of the sediment in the secondary before stirring in the stabilizing and clearing chemicals and degassing. As you get more experience you will start to understand that in wine making there are almost always multiple different ways of doing each step that all work about equally well. However, there are a few not so good practices that you want to avoid. Until you learn the difference it is always better to stick to the instructions. The instructions give you the best odds for successfully making a good batch of wine from that particular kit. You will also get better support from the manufacturer if you run into problems.

I've never read anything from any of the manufactures about why they do not want you to rack before stirring in the K-meta, sorbate and clearing agent but my guess is that it is a combination of: 1) there might be a little bentonite in there that got racked over from the primary that will help with clearing; 2) when you stir the fine lees up into the wine they are a lot bigger and heavier than the fine particles suspended in the wine. When they settle back down through the wine they give the much finer particles something to attach to and get pulled down to the bottom. 3) they have already settled out of the wine once during the short period of time of the secondary fermentation. They will settle out again before the time allocated for clearing is up so there is no harm done. I could be wrong about all of the above. It is just my guess.

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Johnd said:

When you do Mosti Mondiale kits, they have you remove fruit / oak from your fermenting bucket prior to transferring to carboy to complete AF. After those are removed, most of the time, you're prompted to stir the lees back into suspension and transfer all to your carboy.

Every kit maker seems to have their own little nuances, but they follow the winemaking process. I visited NApa this past fall, didn't talk to any two wineries that do things just the same. Winemakers preference is our poetic license, staying within the proven successful process, of course. When you have a thorough understanding of the process and the science behind it, you recognize where you can afford experimentation and deviation. Your experimentation, if you take notes and compare outcomes, is the really rewarding part. At least for me.

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