WineXpert Clarified to early?

[merlot]

We are working on our first wine kit - Luna Rossa. I'm afraid we might have gotten impatient syndrome.... today was 10 days in secondary firmentation. We checked the specific gravity it was 1.0 - we started at 1.09. Instead of waiting, and checking again tomorrow, (inpatient) we decided to go on to adding the ingredients for clarifying and proceeding with the degassing step. We used a drill attachment and produced a very nice head of foam. Did we screw up by not waiting longer for this step? How does all that C02 get out, if you put the bung back in when the head is still visible? Do we degass again, before the recommended 8 days go by? The wine tasted very nice, not "fizzy" at all. Very fruity, a little flat as far as tannins. It has been kept at a constant 72 degrees through the entire process so far.

 

[Angell Wine]

You'll be fine. Not recommended but fine the same. You might degas again aftera couple months when yourack it offthe sediment. Edited by: Angell Wine

 

[merlot]

I'm confused. According to the wine kit instructions - I would be racking in 8 days or so and then bottlingafter 14 days or so- should I wait longer to bottle? Or, should I degass again before racking?

 

[bmorosco]

Are you doing this in a barrel? You have an airlock right?

 

[jobe05]

Merlot:


In rare occassions, it is ok to deviate from the instructions, and you are at a point were you can deviate by waiting extra time before rackings. just did a similar thing with my Reisling. I went through all the steps, it cleared nicely then I found the F pack that had to be added. So I added it and topped up with some of the lees thinking they will be needed if I have to add a clearing agent again. After setting for 8 hours, it's starting to clear nicely again, but will take a few extra weeks. Patients My friend.

 

[Angell Wine]

The S.G. Readings are more important than time.Since you have stabilized the yeasthas stop fermenting . The thing to do now is wait until it has clear up before doing anything else. Once it's nice and clear; rack off the sediment then degas again. If you want to bottle it after degassing then go ahead or start bulk aging.

 

[merlot]

It's in a carboy, and it does have an airlock - silly me - of course, that's how the gas will get out!