Hippie and other old Hands, Help Needed

[TNFISHRMAN]

I have been reading some old posts and I think that I may be messing up in my wine making process. I learned to make wine this past spring and have been doing everything the same way with the exception being the wine kits. For Scratch wine as Hippie puts it. I add ingredients to primary stir well let sit a day stir well and pitch yeast on the third day. When S.G reaches 1.05 - 1.03 (usually closer to 1.03 or little less) Rack intoclean Secondary (carboy). Let Batch continue to ferment until .996 or less. Rack again into clean Carboy add sparkaloid. Let clear for upto a month. Filter with #2 filter pads, add Sorbate, and 1/4 teaspoon of sulfite let sit a day or two then sweeten and Bottle or Bulk age. Is there any problem with this schedule? Please drop any hints as needed. Thanks Lynn

 

[Hippie]

Sounds good, except I don't use any finings except as a last resort.I guess it is ok to use if you are in a hurry to get the wine into bottles. No need to rack more than a month apart usually, unless you get so much sediment you need to.

 

[MedPretzel]

Sounds good!





Personally, I can never wait 3 days to pitch the yeast, but it depends on what you make your wines out of. If I put boiling water over the must, I usually wait overnight to add the yeast.





I also don't solely rely on SG to tell me when to rack (once it's in the secondary) - I usually look at how much sediment falls. If it's about 3/4 of an inch, I rack.





I have started to use fining agents for my wines, but to different sucesses. I would probably just let it clear on its own.





But to me, the process sounds A-Okay!