Am I the only one....

[Joanie]

...who hates to leave that last little bit in the carboy when racking? Is it greed that makes me want to squeeze out one more bottle?

 

[Wade E]

Good lord get a grip on yourself girl, you just got 30 bottles out of it. getting 31 is like getting blood from a stone!

 

[Joanie]

LOL Not just this latest batch..and I only got 29 bottles and a couple of glasses worth! ~~~~~~~~

I just hate to throw out that slightly hazy stuff, ya know? I figure I can save it. It's how I am with almost dead houseplants too!

 

[Wade E]

Bottle it and use it to top off other batches!

 

[Waldo]

Make an exotic blend from all the different wines you make. I did that and it actually turned out really good.

 

[smurfe]

I stink at racking. If I get 25 bottles from a batch I am tickled. I normally get around 27-28 bottles but if I get 25, I am happy. I have only got 30 bottles off of 3 kits. I was so proud of myself in my racking. It don't happen that often for me though. My hand always slips and in the lees I go.


I do not see how anyone can set the tip of the racking cane on the bottom even with the extender on it and not rack up gunk. I had one kit I had to rack 2 extra times to get a lees free bottom. I have two more right now that should of been ready to bottle that I have a deposit on the bottom and need to rack again. Someday, I will get it right!


Smurfe

 

[sangwitch]

I always try and squeeze the last drop as well!


I like Waldo's idea of an exotic blend.

 

[rshosted]

I agree. I hate it when you rack and leave gunk at the bottom, then pick up the carboy to see it roll around. Over half of that it good wine.

On a batch recently, I was upset becuase it had about two inches of 'gunk' at teh bottom. So I racked it into a gallon batch and put it in the cold weather (30*F) and let it sit for a week. It settled down to half of the gallon batch and I was able to save at least 1/2 gal.

I also have a filter. I've thought of just filtering that gunk to see what I wuld get (after filtering the clear stuff, of course).

 

[Coaster]

I am getting better at it but I still need work. I've started making sure my primary is a just a little overfull and I rack the extra (if any after leaving the lees in the primary)into a 750ml bottle wrapped in foil with an airlock, then when I go totop up I don't have to add as much water/commercial wine/marbles. This works really well when I am making my own wines (Welch's) and I am very careful to not over do it with a kit wine (so far I average 1/2 to 3/4 of a 750ml bottle extra).

 

[daveb50]

I always get 28-30 bottles,after fermentation and stabalization, I rack into a 5 gallon carboy for aging, and bottle the rest(4-5 bottles). Those bottles are used for "taste testing", and topping up another kit, if needed,during stabalazation andclearing. I rack all liquid, even if that means getting some of the cloudy wine. After 3-4 rackings, it will be totally clear.
DaveEdited by: DaveB50

 

[scotty]

I just racked a raspberry from a secondary fermentation. And when the siphon stopped i took a large funell and poured whatever was left in the carboy into a 1/2 gallon jug under lock. Boy what murky junk but after 3 days it has settled out. I'll wait a day or 2 more and rack off the lees into another 1/2 gallon jug. I'll shake it to release some co2 and then put an airlock on it to see if it drops any more lees.
NO YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE

Edited by: scotty

 

[merlot]

If I am reading this correctly - at some point are you supposed to rack the sediment to the next carboy? Our first kit was a Luna Rossa. Any time the instructions called for racking, we were very careful NOT to get any of the Lees (same as sediment?) The good news is, the wine is beautiful! We were able to get 30 bottles, but we did top off with about half a bottle of wine during the earlier stages. Since the last bottle was "the bottom of the barrel" I kept that one, and drank it that day - it was actually very good already - very little carbonation, but lots and lots of flavor - it is going to be awesome in a few months.


So, I am trying to understand - the whole Lees deal. We just racked a shiraz yesterday, after clearing that had about an inch of hazy white sediment on the bottom. Again, we were very careful not to take any of that over to the new carboy.


Oh, I have a corker that came with our initial kit. It works really well, except - no matter how careful I was in placing the cork - I always got just a tiny ridge on one side or the other of the cork - it was never totally flat across the top of the bottle - how do i remedy that?

 

[scotty]

If I read your post correctly.
We are talking about any wine where after we rack, there is some murk left on the bottom. We transfer the goop to a smaller container and let it settle to see if we can scrounge some more clear juice.

Some folks filter it if i read correctly.

I also believe that nothing in this thread is meant to contradict any instruction in any kit.

 

[sangwitch]

merlot - when racking from primary to secondary don't be worried about taking sediment along for the ride. Your main concern during that first racking is to get as much liquid as possible. Later on, the fining agents will need the solids to help clear the wine. Whenthe wine is clear and you do further rackings that's when you want to be very careful about transferring sediment.

 

[bmorosco]

I know the feeling Joan....We should start group therapy for this.....

 

[Wade E]

Merlot, as far as the corker goes, Im afraid there is noyhing you can
do about that except buy a much better corker. I'm in the same boat as
you.

Anyone who has a floor corker, do you get those ridges on one side or
the other or all around or is it the nature of not having a commercial
machine?

 

[grapeman]

Are you guys talking about the cork sticking out just a little above the neck, or a ridge left around the plunger? If it is a little high there might be a depth adjustment that you can set to get it slightly below the neck. I've used both kinds andneverthe problem with my floor corker but did with the double lever hand corker.Edited by: appleman

 

[Fly boy]

After bottling, I have been putting the little bit of wine and sediment in a wine bottle with an airlock on it. After about a few days to a weekthere is a clear amount of wine. Siphon to another bottle or glass and sampling starts again!

 

[Wade E]

More like dent in the middle as the Iris I guess does not cover the
whole cork. So it puts a slight dent in the middle or on one edge if
you dont get it perfectly centered which is near impossible with a hand
corker!

 

[rshosted]

I've read of people putting a dime or nickel on top of the cork to prevent indentations. Maybe that's an idea.