apple wine racking ?

[Doober]

I am making an apple wine and the recipe says to wait 30 days before the first racking? I took an S.G. reading on day 20 and it was .996. Do I have to wait that long? What is the general rule when making wines from juice and fresh grapes? Should I degass like i do with the kits?

 

[grapeman]

It probably isn't finished fermenting yet with that SG, so you probably should leave it for the other 10 days. It wouldn't be a bad idea to degas this one as well. They all produce C02.

 

[Wade E]

Are you talking about racking from a primary bucket? If so I would rack now. We usually rack at about 1.020.

 

[Doober]

no, it is in a carboy. what sg should it be at when i rack it again?

 

[Jwhelan939]

I have a batch of apple spiced wine bulk aging right now. I followed Jack's recipe, and I also waited 30 days. I did the initial rack from primary to glass after a week or so. but if im reading right it sounds like your already in glass so you already racked from plastic to glass. The apple takes a long time to clear, so if you rack now you'll just end up repeating. If i am reading right, and you have already racked from plastic to glass, I would wait the 30 days!!!

 

[Wade E]

Doober, somehow I missed this post, sorry. I would leave it in there until it is done fermenting, at that point I would rack off lees and stabilize with k-meta and potassium sorbate and degas. At that point I would either bulk age and wait for it to clear by itself or use SuperKleer as a fining agent and give that 14 days before racking into clean carboy.

 

[Doober]

at what point do i add the superkleer, and how long do i wait to bottle it?

 

[Wade E]

By now you probably have a stable SG, did you rack off the lees and degas well? If so you are ready to add the SuperKleer, you will be amazed at how fast this stuff works.

 

[joeswine]

YA,I agree wait the 30th days- rack it off and finish the process,hit it with supperkleer and wait a week and see what happens,degass as always,taste see what you haveto work with ,and figure what you need to adjust for the finish product,if ther's still haze after the final dateline then you might need pectin emzime that will reduce suppended particals in the juice,just a thought

 

[Doober]

thanks guys, i will be racking it any day now. I'll let you know how it comes out.

 

[Wade E]

If it still has a haze after all that then you might have a protein haze and that can be cleared with bentonite.

 

[Guest]

Doober...


To answer your question, there's no set point on the specific gravity level for racking.
What determins the rackingsg. would be the finished product you're shooting for. Or the recipe.
If the recipe says 30 days, there's a reason for that.
REMEMBER: If you reinvent the wheel by changing the recipe, don't be surprised if you get something different as a result (been there, done that).


What's important to note here is a couple things.


Racking moreoften than necessary
1)will introduce moreoxygen to your must than you might want or need to,
2) expose your must to a greater degree of bacterium,
3) not allow enough time for your wine to clear completly,naturally.


If you follow the directions and still have a problem with clearing, then try adding additional goodies.


How'd it turn out?

 

[Doober]

I racked, degassed, added the superkleer, 50 ppm of meta, and Ascorbic acid, and i noticed it clearing that night. I'm gonna wait the 14 days to rack again. When do u think the wine will be drinkable and at it's peak? Is there anything else I should of added? and why? Should I add more meta at the next racking?

 

[Wade E]

Are yo planning on sweetening this wine? If so, you will want to add sorbate if you have not already. Sweetening the wine will make it more drinkable now as it will hide some of the harshness of a newly fermented wine but I would give it at least a few months. Without knowing the abv of this wine it makes it hard to tell when this wine will be at its peak but I would say 1 1/2 years it would peak at unless the abv is very low then I would say 8 months, by low abv I mean under 10%.

 

[Guest]

Doober: <?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

#1 Taste, taste, taste your progress.
#2 Ditto Wade...

I've not done an apple yetbut all my research indicates that fruit wines, unlike grape wines which improve with extremeage, do not fare as well with excessive age.
Everything I've read on this particular fruit says 7 months cellaring minimum and consumed within seven months to 1.5 years.
Course, that's probebly on the safe side but 7 months should provide you a nice flavor.

As far as drinkable...
That's a matter of taste.
I like my wines right as they go into the bottle, 2 months later, and even 4 months later than that.
You're the best judge of "drinkable".
If it's bitter now, it will mellow with age.
If it's pleasing now, it may not make it to age.

Did you taste it recently???
What was your starting spec grav???
Are you planning to back sweeten??? (That will remove some tartness if it's there).

Keep us up on your progress.

 

[joeswine]

stay on course and taste your product ,don't rush it,I handle my wines only 4 times in its life spand to bottle, first time gets bentonite stirredand yeast,second time getsracked and degassed,followed up with K/met,the third ,racking gets degassing, ,forth time ,it gets K/MET,findingAGENT,AND SORBATE,Ii ALLOW IT TO SETTLE OUT AND BOTTLE ,I don't use days as a measure,of time ,when I'am in the process ,I take each stage and measure it as to its owncompletetion,if it takes longer then so be it,buy the time the wine is ready to bottle it should be a completed work,then, you can adjust and bottle//at least thats the way i do it//jp

note IF YOUR MAKING A FRUIT WINE PECTIN EMZ. IN THE BEGINING,ADES IN BREAKDOWN OF FRUIT,AND AT THE END OR FORTH STEP NOT A BAD IDEA TO DROP SOME IN TO HELP REDUCE HAZE,REMEMBER I SAID THAT A LITTLE WHILE BACK/Edited by: joeswine

 

[Doober]

my starting SG was 1.080. I do plan on backsweetening. do i use 1cup water to 2 cups sugar? i don't have any sorbate. Do i need it?The wine was made from juice, not the fruit. you guys are alot of help and i appreciate the posts.

 

[Wade E]

You definitely have to use sorbate or it will start fermenting all over again and you should use k-meta hand in hand with the sorbate. A sugar syrup is made by adding 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of boiling water and then let it cool down to room temp.

 

[swillologist]

I racked my apple wine last Thursday. It was still cloudy. I put in some super kleer Saturday and now it looks like this..

Now I have to back sweeten it. The SG right now is .998. I think I will try for an SG of 1.010. I will probably just take it up a little at time and taste it to see what I think. Edited by: swillologist

 

[Wade E]

Taste it frequently as you can not take the sweetness back out. I love that Superkleer!