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derekjames100

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I added my sulfite and stirred it in to prep for bottling....but now I can't bottle because I agitated the lees? How long do I wait? Do I need more sulfite if I wait a week?
 
I added my sulfite and stirred it in to prep for bottling....but now I can't bottle because I agitated the lees? How long do I wait? Do I need more sulfite if I wait a week?

You'll need to wait for the lees to settle and your wine to clear. Best practice is to rack off of the lees to a new carboy, sulfite in the new carboy, and bottle from there.
 
You'll need to wait for the lees to settle and your wine to clear. Best practice is to rack off of the lees to a new carboy, sulfite in the new carboy, and bottle from there.


Ugh....makes sense


Do you mean 3 months? Did I just undo everything?
 
What wine is it??? How long has it been in the carboy??? How many rackings/sulfites has it been subject to??? With patience and enough rack-overs, You'll be able to bottle without worrying about lees or any other sediments!!
 
Ugh....makes sense


Do you mean 3 months? Did I just undo everything?

Typically, once the lees have settled and you disturb them, they settle back more quickly, but I can't tell you how long it'll take. Don't bottle cloudy wine!! Just let it be a lesson that you'll survive, and get some additional age on your wine before bottling.

Even when your proficient at racking, bottling out of a carboy with lees is a risky proposition if you want nice clear wine.
 
Typically, once the lees have settled and you disturb them, they settle back more quickly, but I can't tell you how long it'll take. Don't bottle cloudy wine!! Just let it be a lesson that you'll survive, and get some additional age on your wine before bottling.



Even when your proficient at racking, bottling out of a carboy with lees is a risky proposition if you want nice clear wine.


Seems so obvious now! I was trying to save a step...
 
To speed up the process you could try fining with bentonite, it's not a bad idea before bottling anyways.
 
I always rack before bottling - I want to basically be able to read through it in a wine glass before I bottle. A long time ago in a not so far away land.....well.....anyways I tried to skip a step and I bottled a cloudy wine. All I have to say is once you do bottle a cloudy wine, realize what you did...you'll never do it again.
 
I always rack before bottling - I want to basically be able to read through it in a wine glass before I bottle. A long time ago in a not so far away land.....well.....anyways I tried to skip a step and I bottled a cloudy wine. All I have to say is once you do bottle a cloudy wine, realize what you did...you'll never do it again.

+1 on the never bottle cloudy, nothing like picking up a bottle of wine and having it blow up in your hand lol, luckily I had a hold of the neck with the bottle down by my leg and didn't get cut with any shrapnel but I did one heck of a mess to clean up.
 
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