Hello everyone,
Yesterday, exactly 15 days after pressing, I completed my 1st racking. Unfortunately, I experienced some setbacks. Don't try to shake the hydrometer you cleaned from the thin side in order to dry it. Normally, I do the opposite, but this time, for some reason, that happened and my hydrometer broke into pieces, I spent half an hour cleaning it. The metal balls weighing inside the hydrometer were spread left and right, the glass of which was so thin that it got everywhere. Anyway, after all the equipment was washed, cleaned and disinfected, I first weighed the tare of the 500 ml (17 oz) beaker, then I took a wine sample from the faucet of the tank until it reached 500 ml (17 oz), then I weighed it and record it, then I weighed the tare of all the buckets of wine and after racking all the wine in the tank to these buckets I made some calculations and found that I had 57 liters(15 Gallon) of Merlot wine in total. I started with a total of 85 kg of grapes, now I have 57 liters (15 Gallon) of wine, so after the first racking, the ratio to grapes to wine is 67%.
The last time when I measured the gravity, was 0.994 on the last pressing day, it now reached 0.991. I did a small tasting, the taste was great, but I smelled a slight yeasty smell, which is normal at this stage.
After transferring the wine to buckets, I looked at the bottom of the tank and saw a thick layer of lees. As far as I understand, all the dead yeasts are there, so I guess that's why there may be a yeast smell during the first transfers.
I usually divide my wine into 3 buckets, but I fill the first bucket a little too much, thinking about how much will be left in the last bucket. I filled 22 liters (5.8 gal) into a 30-liter (8 gal) bucket, but when you want to pour it back into the tank, it requires both strength and the wine starts to fluctuate as the volume increases. Fortunately, very little was spilled on me. Unfortunately once the misfortunes start, they never end.
After completing the transfer, I checked the faucet and the lower plug there was no problem ( last year I had some problems of leakage but this year I changed the faucet with a better one), so I brought the variable capacity lid and left it on the wine, pumped it around 0.4 bar, checked the wine level in the airlock and left it, as I was just leaving I noticed that the wine was leaking from the point where I pumped the air on the seal, then I saw that it was leaking a lot from the edges also, I had never experienced this much before, I wiped it with a paper towel to no avail, I emptied the lid and changed the direction, to no avail, I applied lower pressure to no avail, my nerves got tense, I started to think that this was not normal at all. I have a second spare variable capacity lid, I bought it to prepare it ahead of time during transfers, I went and checked it, while looking at it, something caught my attention, the seal of the floating cover is not homogeneous, one side is 2 cm (0.8”) and the other side is 1.6 cm (0.63”). I put the longer part below, which should have been the other way around, due to this there was not enough lip on the top side to provide adequate sealing, unfortunately this was not on the manuel and I had to find it the hard way, anyway, the direction was corrected, the spare variable capacity lid was left on the wine, I started to pump until I saw the wine under the white airlock at around 0.4 bar pressure, I closed the valve and locked the pump by tightening it. This time when I checked I didn't see any leaks. Pay attention to this when installing the gasket on the variable capacity lid. The wider part of the gasket will face up.
Every stage of making wine this year has been difficult and tiring, there have been some setbacks, first of all, it is a seriously labor-intensive hobby, and sometimes you find yourself working until 4 in the morning without realizing how the hours chase each other, of course, this changes over time, for example last year it was much difficult for me as it was the first year of my winemaking. But now I have some experience which helps me to predict and plan my work.
As I finished my 1st racking, I feel very happy now and my second racking will be 2 months after this so I feel like I am on a vacation . I hope all of us have good wines this year.
Yesterday, exactly 15 days after pressing, I completed my 1st racking. Unfortunately, I experienced some setbacks. Don't try to shake the hydrometer you cleaned from the thin side in order to dry it. Normally, I do the opposite, but this time, for some reason, that happened and my hydrometer broke into pieces, I spent half an hour cleaning it. The metal balls weighing inside the hydrometer were spread left and right, the glass of which was so thin that it got everywhere. Anyway, after all the equipment was washed, cleaned and disinfected, I first weighed the tare of the 500 ml (17 oz) beaker, then I took a wine sample from the faucet of the tank until it reached 500 ml (17 oz), then I weighed it and record it, then I weighed the tare of all the buckets of wine and after racking all the wine in the tank to these buckets I made some calculations and found that I had 57 liters(15 Gallon) of Merlot wine in total. I started with a total of 85 kg of grapes, now I have 57 liters (15 Gallon) of wine, so after the first racking, the ratio to grapes to wine is 67%.
The last time when I measured the gravity, was 0.994 on the last pressing day, it now reached 0.991. I did a small tasting, the taste was great, but I smelled a slight yeasty smell, which is normal at this stage.
After transferring the wine to buckets, I looked at the bottom of the tank and saw a thick layer of lees. As far as I understand, all the dead yeasts are there, so I guess that's why there may be a yeast smell during the first transfers.
I usually divide my wine into 3 buckets, but I fill the first bucket a little too much, thinking about how much will be left in the last bucket. I filled 22 liters (5.8 gal) into a 30-liter (8 gal) bucket, but when you want to pour it back into the tank, it requires both strength and the wine starts to fluctuate as the volume increases. Fortunately, very little was spilled on me. Unfortunately once the misfortunes start, they never end.
After completing the transfer, I checked the faucet and the lower plug there was no problem ( last year I had some problems of leakage but this year I changed the faucet with a better one), so I brought the variable capacity lid and left it on the wine, pumped it around 0.4 bar, checked the wine level in the airlock and left it, as I was just leaving I noticed that the wine was leaking from the point where I pumped the air on the seal, then I saw that it was leaking a lot from the edges also, I had never experienced this much before, I wiped it with a paper towel to no avail, I emptied the lid and changed the direction, to no avail, I applied lower pressure to no avail, my nerves got tense, I started to think that this was not normal at all. I have a second spare variable capacity lid, I bought it to prepare it ahead of time during transfers, I went and checked it, while looking at it, something caught my attention, the seal of the floating cover is not homogeneous, one side is 2 cm (0.8”) and the other side is 1.6 cm (0.63”). I put the longer part below, which should have been the other way around, due to this there was not enough lip on the top side to provide adequate sealing, unfortunately this was not on the manuel and I had to find it the hard way, anyway, the direction was corrected, the spare variable capacity lid was left on the wine, I started to pump until I saw the wine under the white airlock at around 0.4 bar pressure, I closed the valve and locked the pump by tightening it. This time when I checked I didn't see any leaks. Pay attention to this when installing the gasket on the variable capacity lid. The wider part of the gasket will face up.
Every stage of making wine this year has been difficult and tiring, there have been some setbacks, first of all, it is a seriously labor-intensive hobby, and sometimes you find yourself working until 4 in the morning without realizing how the hours chase each other, of course, this changes over time, for example last year it was much difficult for me as it was the first year of my winemaking. But now I have some experience which helps me to predict and plan my work.
As I finished my 1st racking, I feel very happy now and my second racking will be 2 months after this so I feel like I am on a vacation . I hope all of us have good wines this year.
at least in my case
