Bottling from Secondary Fermentator

[Vinman]

I'm about to bottle my first kit. The wine has been in the secondary fermenter (glass carboy) for 15 days and is crystal clear.

The kit says to bottle after 14 days if the wine's clear. Is there a general rule of thumb, people use to go from the secondary fermenter, into a bottle?

Thanks very much! This site is great!

 

[Tom]

More info needed
What brand,what kit, When did you start, whats the gravity, When did you add all the chemicals...etc

 

[xanxer82]

I would let it sit a few more days in case there is any hidden sediment. I regret not letting it sit longer when I did my first kit.

 

[cbw]

Rack your clear wine from the secondary into a clean, sanitized carboy and let it sit another two weeks.

You won't regret it.

It's almost impossible to bottle from a secondary fermentation vessel without disturbing the lees.

Rack your "clear wine" off the lees now into another carboy. You'll be happy you did ... and amazed as how little motion disturbed the lees in your secondary vessel.

 

[Green Mountains]

Rack your clear wine from the secondary into a clean, sanitized carboy and let it sit another two weeks.

You won't regret it.

It's almost impossible to bottle from a secondary fermentation vessel without disturbing the lees.

Rack your "clear wine" off the lees now into another carboy. You'll be happy you did ... and amazed as how little motion disturbed the lees in your secondary vessel.

Absolutely agree, I've only got 8 kits under my belt but would never imagine bottling so soon.

Vinman, I'm guessing it was 7 days or so in the primary fermentation and now just 14 days in secondary. Another week or two is a short price to pay for the difference between a good tasting wine or a less than good tasting wine.

Let us know which direction you choose and the results.

 

[NSwiner]

Did you plan on filtering it ? If so go ahead ,if not wait like the others said .Even if you filter it goes into a clean carboy before bottling .

 

[Horkalugi]

yep, cpw nailed it. Only other thing I usually after degassing and adding all the clearing agents is to put it in a cooler area (45 degrees) and forget about it til I need the carboy.

 

[Wade E]

Have to agree here, never bottle from acrboy with lees in there, you will disturb them right in the middle of bottling and then be screwed unless you want to dump all the bottles back or have many differnt size bottle that the rest of your cloudy wine can go in until it clears. Follow the advice above, it is very wise. I always bulk store my wine way beyond what instructions say though cause youd be amazed how much more can sometimes fallout of suspension.

 

[Vinman]

Just racked into a clean carboy

Just racked the cab and there's a bunch of space between the bung and top of the wine. What should I do? This is the second racking and the third vessel the wine has been in.

 

[cbw]

Top it off with a bottle or two of "like" wine.

Sounds expensive to buy a bottle of wine just to top off your homebrew, but remember ... you'll get the top-off wine back at bottling

 

[Wade E]

Like said in the other post, once you have some more of your own wines made youll be able to use that. Another thing to think about is to make sure you get all you can, tale whats left of the sediment and put that in a smaller bottle and wait for that to settle out and youll likely get some out of that. Im very careful about racking wines and making them within the sg range when started but also to get a little extra out of it, in otherwords, if Im at the high range of the sg when starting Ill bring it down a little and get a little extra out of it so I dont ave to top up so much later, I dont bring it down to the bottom range, just in the middle.

 

[gawine]

I have a new kit and only one carboy. could I rack to the primary fermenter, clean the carboy and then place it back into the carboy to settle some more?

 

[xanxer82]

I have a new kit and only one carboy. could I rack to the primary fermenter, clean the carboy and then place it back into the carboy to settle some more?

Yes. I had to do that when I was doing my first two kits.