First timer question

[schumy]

Hi guys,

Making my first wine from fresh grapes (grown in my back yard). They're Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon (if I look on wikipedia, they look more like Sauvignon). I did an acid titration test and the TA was 1.1%, so I added calcium carbonate to drop it to 0.7%.

I destemmed, crushed and primary fermented the grape for 7 days at around 17 degrees Celsius, a bit low but the FG was 1.004. Unfortunately I made the mistake of stirring the cap the night before racking to the carboy and the head was not fully formed. Since i don't have a press I had to do things manually, and unfortunately I got quite a bit of pulp in the carboy. I also read online that you should add bentonite during fermentation so I added my finning agent (chitosan) in the carboy and stirred for a good 5 minutes. In hindsight, I don't think it was the most brilliant idea I ever had but what's done is done.

Here's the carboy after 3 days in the carboy (sorry the image was too large to include directly in the post):

http://imgur.com/soeit

My question, when I rack it off the sediment, is there any way for me to extract as much wine as possible while not sucking up too much.

In case some of you are wondering, it's a slight pink because of the Calcium Carbonate.

Thanks !!!

 

[sevenal]

Get it level put some wedges under corner

Make sure the carboy is on a non slip surface, dry and let it sit that way over night. Do not place it precarious where it might get bumped by family member or pet. Might want to google carboy wedges to see?
Siphon off down to sediment, careful not to get close to Lees in bottom.
You may have to rack a couple times?
The last of the wine should be siphoned off, into a wine bottle. No worries about getting close to the sediment. Some will and can get into the bottle.
Take the bottle, put it in the fridge, loosely corked, overnight. Next day remove slowly and use a small diameter hose and manually siphon off the clear portion to another bottle. Perhaps repeat.
This , say half bottle of wine can be used to back sweeten the larger. Batch
By warming and adding sugar,letting cool and adding back. But that is another subject.
Hope this helped?

 

[ibglowin]

Interesting first post! Bentonite is not normally need on fresh grapes, they will clear on their own most of the time. Kits are more stubborn due to the processing at times but even they will clear many times without the need if you are patient. Also Chitosan is a fining agent but you were no where near the point of adding it. It should have been added after the end of secondary fermentation when the wine was completely fermented dry. Again, fresh grapes usually will clear without the need of any fining agents at all including Chitosan.

Where did these grapes come from (location wise). Cabernet is usually not known to have that high of acid so wondering what in the world happened to these grapes to push the acid that high.

Welcome to winemaking talk BTW!

 

[sevenal]

Wow

Should have looked at the picture prior to posting racking suggestions.
Still racking and reracking must be in the near future?
How is the taste?

 

[AKsarben]

The acid was not out of line. I would not add calcium carbonate directly to the must. When going to cold stabilize the acid will drop. Sometimes the acid drops quite a bit during fermentation. Bentonite is used as 2 to 4 lb per 1000 gallons here at the winery on white wines only. It is not used on red wines. The bentonite stabilizes the proteins, and are not a problem in red wines feremented on the skins.

 

[Wade E]

What did you use to test the acid as those acid test kits arent always that accurate especially when trying to read a red wine. More importantly, what was the ph?