RJ Spagnols A few questions

[Wild Duk]

I've got a Grand Cru Petite Sirah that is more or less ready to bottle. This is my first kit, and it been clearing in a carboy for about 3 weeks. I have a few more questions....


1. There is some sediment, lees, that have fallen out while its been sitting, so can I rack to another carboy, let it sit for another week or so, then bottle. It would seem that this would help and keep some of that sediment out of my bottling bucket.


2. If I do transfer again, does it hurt to degass it more, being that I might not of gottlen all of the co2 out.


Thanks

 

[PeterZ]

1. Yes. I never bottle from a carboy with visible lees on the bottom.


2. Better to over degas than under degas.

 

[Wild Duk]

Thanks for the quick reply. Another question. Right now the wine is sitting in a garage at fairly constant 60 degrees. I know that in order to degass effectively, it needs to be around 74-78. Should I throw the brew belt on it after I rack, let it warm up first, degass, then cool it off again

 

[smurfe]

You could do that or just bring it in the house and let it get to room temp before you degas. It is desirable to keep fairly consistent temps like you have been doing but warming it up will be just fine to degas. It will probably be holding abit of CO2 if it has been sitting at 60 the entire time it has been in secondary.

 

[Wade E]

If you used a fining agent in those temps i would beware that it may drop more lees as fining agents do require warmer temps as does degassing. If using just time to clear a wine then cooler temps are better.

 

[Wild Duk]

I just followed the directions for the kit. After adding the Sulphite and Potassium Sorbate, it says to degass again, then store at 59-66 degrees for 2 more weeks. Its been 2 weeks at 60 degrees, so should I rack again, degass and store in the same spot, or store it inside for a bit.


Duk

 

[Wade E]

They must have changed their instructions as i went on to their website to verify what you just posted and you are right about the temps which is weird cause up till now I have heard that all fining agents required warmer temps. But anyway, rack off of lees and store where you have it. You could try degassing if you feel that you didnt do a good job the first time.

 

[PeterZ]

The rate at which particles fall out of a liquid is a function, among other things, of the difference between the density of the particle and the density of the liquid. Increasing temps decreases the density of the liquid but has no effect on the density of the particle, so a particle will settle faster in a warm liquid than in a cold liquid. The action of the fining agent, which is to agglomerate small particles into larger particles (that's one of the other factors - large particles settle faster than small particles) is not significantly affected by temperature. So fining at lower temperature will work, it just takes longer.