After de-gas what should it look like?

[artieandgumbo]

I topped it off to two inches, per instructions, but there's about an inch of 'junk' at the top. Is this normal?

 

[smurfe]

Refresh me what you are making? Is it a Wine Expert kit? If so, yes, you stir up the Lees (sediment) when you stabilize and degas. The sediment actually helps clear the wine as the clearing agent adheres to the suspended sediment and as it falls takes other suspensions with it. Once the wine has cleared, you will need to carefully rack it again. This racking will help polish the wine.

If you do a good job you will have little to just a dusting of sediment in the bottom after that. Once it has cleared again, you can bottle, or filter or rack again to bulk age. Make sure that after you have stabilized the wine that you keep it topped up to an inch or two from the bottom of the bung. You can add up to a liter of water to a Wine Expert kit which many feel waters the wine down but in reality the manufacturer has adjusted the concentration of the juice to allow this. This is normally added during the stabilization and degassing phase to top up.

After that, you should use a like type wine to top up with. I make mainly dry wines so I normally use a Cabernet for topping any red and a Pinot Grigio to top the whites. I made a couple Vintner's Reserve kits a while back that didn't WOW me, so I use them to top up with. You don't have to go buy an exact bottle of wine to top with. When I had to buy a wine, I normally got the cheapest brand I could find. It will blend with the kit wine and balance out.

Smurfe

 

[artieandgumbo]

Yes, Wine Expert kit. OK, then the sediment at the top is normal because it is supposed to fall.

 

[FentonCellars]

After you degas using drill attachments, your wine will appear very cloudy, since you just mixed the sediment and wine back together. After you do this, I wait at least a week to let it settle again before I move onto the next step. Keep checking it after a few days to see if it is clear again. Does your kit have clearing agents?

 

[artieandgumbo]

Yes, it has the agents. I'm just being a little to impatient. Thanks for the tips.

 

[smurfe]

When you degas a Wine Expert kit you need to add the appropriate packets per directions at that time. If you just stir the wine without adding the packets at that time, you stirred for nothing as the wine will still produce CO2 and the stirring probably will just regenerate it. You need the sorbate to stop the yeast from fermenting, you need to K-Mata to emit SO2 to protect the wine from oxidation and you need the clearing agent to be stirred into the mixture to allow the suspended Lees to adhere to them and fall to the bottom in a compact manner which will enable you to rack easier. If the lees aren't compacted, it is much easier to suck up sediment.

Now, in reality you do not even need to add these packets except for the K-Meta. You wine will eventually degas itself if it sits long enough. The lees will eventually all fall but it will take numerous rackings to clear your wine and either the use of smaller containers as you loose liquid during racking or lots of topping up which unless you are using the same varietal of wine will eventually affect the characteristics of you wine. The sorbate is just a safety measure to assure you will not have a re-fermentation after you bottle and find you are blowing corks.

I can't stress enough with the kit wines. If you are new to winemaking, please follow the directions to the letter until you have a grasp of the entire winemaking process. These directions have been field tested over a multitude of variations until the most efficient modality was discovered that gave the true characteristics of the varietal of wine you chose. You chance ruining your wine or more likely producing a sub-par product not to your liking.

If you really want to experiment, buy a few books, the proper equipment, and I stress the proper equipment and make country wines from fruit or what have you. There are steps to tweak kit wines but it takes careful steps to follow. A kit wine is manufactured to produce a wine similar or better than the average commercial wine you buy at the package store. Appreciate the hard work that went into their development and enjoy the ease of production that has been developed for you.

Smurfe