Advice needed - First wine kit

[tdidona]

Hello all, first post and looking for some advice on my first kit I'm attempting. I am making a Vintners Reserve Chianti, and followed the instructions almost exactly. Primary went well, and my wine is now in my carboy and has a SG of .995 consistently. I was going to bottle last weekend after 2 weeks per instructions, as my wine was nice and clear, but thankfully tasted the wine and it still had CO2 and was fizzy. The instructions said to de-gas for only 2 minutes after adding stabilizers and fining, which I did, not realizing this was not nearly long enough. I then made what I now think is a mistake, and de-gassed again (using a wine whip), which took care of the CO2 issue, but I think I worked up all of the sediment and now my wine is cloudy again. I'm now concerned about the sediment, as it's been in the carboy almost 3 weeks, and my wine not clearing properly. Can you offer some advice for a rookie on what I should do? Do I just let it clear itself with time, and should I rack again off of the sediment? I only have 1 carboy and my primary fermentation bucket, and was worried about exposing the wine to too much oxygen, so I'm not really sure what to do. Thank you.

 

[dralarms]

Well you should hace racked it off first, but sibce you didn't letting it clear is all you can do at this point unless you want to use a fining agent like super kleer.

 

[vernsgal]

wine kits are a bit more forgiving with rackings and exposure to air. I would rack into your primary pail leaving the lees (sediment) behind. You can at this point degas some more if you think it's needed then rerack back to carboy. When racking try to make sure your tubing is right to the bottom of pail/carboy and you won't get a backsplash . If you don't really want to wait for it to reclear (after re-racking it shouldn't be long,I would say upwards of 2 weeks) you could add more clarifier.

 

[tdidona]

Thanks for the replies and insight. I think I'm going to rack back into my primary, clean and sanitize my carboy, and rack again back into that. My only other question would be should I top my carboy up to the top with a similar wine so it's not exposed to oxygen? Thanks for all of the help, this board has been an invaluable resource in my first foray into making my own wine.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Do yourself a favor, let the wine clear again and rack it off the sediment, the longer you age the wine, the better it will get.

 

[sour_grapes]

Yes, that is right: top up with a (vaguely) similar wine.

 

[salcoco]

rack of the sediment first , resting on the gross sediment can cause off odors. place back in carboy then rack again in three weeks add k-meta. rack again in three months add k-meta wine should be ready to bottle. more bulk aging will improve the wine.

 

[Bibelljim]

Do yourself a favor, let the wine clear again and rack it off the sediment, the longer you age the wine, the better it will get.

I think doing what Pumpkinman said is probably your best bet.

I had a similar problem with my Riesling, where it still had some gas before I was going to bottle. I ended up stirring again with my friend's drill mounted jammie. Worked out great!

 

[kevinlfifer]

I had problems de-gassing WE VR kits when I started and I over stirred. Those bottles are all oxidized, suitable for beef burgandy and thats it.

I think you have stirred enough, you never get to a perfectly still wine. If it cleared at all you have degassed enough.

Get it in the carboy as fast as you can, add some more k-meta, top off and let it sit. It could take a month or so but thats better than oxidation. If you see excess lees settling, re-rack after a few weeks.

Since you already stabilized you should not be in trouble with gross lees.

 

[Noontime]

I'm guessing there is no gross lees since it's in a carboy, is that correct? You racked out of your primary into a carboy, degassed, stabilized and fined your wine, and then degassed again stirring everything back up?

I would let everything settle back out and then rack again after it clears. Bulk aging in the carboy will be perfectly fine as long as it's topped up. Fining again shouldn't be necessary and might strip your wine of flavor and/or tannins. And everything that fell out before will fall out again.

Most importantly...don't worry. It will be fine.

 

[tdidona]

I'm guessing there is no gross lees since it's in a carboy, is that correct? You racked out of your primary into a carboy, degassed, stabilized and fined your wine, and then degassed again stirring everything back up?

I would let everything settle back out and then rack again after it clears. Bulk aging in the carboy will be perfectly fine as long as it's topped up. Fining again shouldn't be necessary and might strip your wine of flavor and/or tannins. And everything that fell out before will fall out again.

Most importantly...don't worry. It will be fine.

Thanks for all of the helpful advice. You are correct, there is no gross lees as it's in the carboy. I will top up with a similar wine, let it clear, then rack again prior to bottling. I was concerned I had ruined my first batch, I'm feeling more reassured now that won't be the case. Thank you again for the guidance, it's been invaluable.

 

[loumik]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice. You are correct, there is no gross lees as it's in the carboy. I will top up with a similar wine, let it clear, then rack again prior to bottling. I was concerned I had ruined my first batch, I'm feeling more reassured now that won't be the case. Thank you again for the guidance, it's been invaluable.

NOONTIME has given you the best advise but I would like to make one more suggestion. Rather than letting your wine clear, then racking to bottle. I would recommend that you rack into a clean carboy, add a bung and airlock and bulk age a minimum of 6 months and preferably 12 months before bottling. If you do you will probably see a little more sediment fall out, and aging the wine will improve it a great deal.
LOUMIK