Checking a Red for Clear

[bkisel]

Hi,

How do you go about checking a red wine that is in a carboy bulk aging as to when it has cleared? Could I use a wine thief to steal some, look at it in the tube and then return it to the carboy so that I don't have to do more topping off?

[I'm on my third RJS kit a CC Winery Series Washington Merlot. My first RJS kit was a low end end red and I simply followed the instructions with no thought of checking for clearing. My second kit was a Pinot Grigio so being a white wine it was abundantly obvious when the wine cleared.]

Thanks...

 

[derunner]

I shine a bright light through the carboy. if there are a lot of suspended particles in the wine still, it will diffuse the light and the whole carboy lights up. If it is clear, the light beam should shine through and the carboy should not light up. you could also take a glass full to double check if you want.

 

[JohnT]

The traditional route is to use a candle.

 

[tonyt]

I thief some out to a large wine glass, swirl it around and hold it up to daylight or a bright light bulb. Then I return it to the carboy.

 

[robie]

All of the above works.

Me? If you take a look at the clearing red wine on a regular basis, you will notice that the color gets deeper and deeper as the wine clears. A non-clear wine has a milky look to it. If the wine is a dark red variety, it will eventually become a deep, crisp black in the carboy, no cloudiness or milkiness. When that happens, it is obvious to me the wine is clear.

At that point it "looks" clear. That doesn't mean it won't continue to drop small amounts of sediment for several more months. The true long term test is to have that deep dark color followed by no new sedminet dropped for 3 or 4 weeks in a row.

 

[BobF]

laser pointer works good even with really dark reds. look for diffusion in unclear wine.