WineXpert how long to clear?

[onin24eagle]

I have a Vintners Reserve White Zinfandel that was sitting in a carboy very clear. I racked to a primary in anticipation of bottling from the primary's spigot. It has now been a couple of days and what used to be clear is now cloudy. How long should it take for a wine that was clear to clear again? Is there something I should do to help it along? I figured I could move the clear wine to the primary and bottle the next day, but I guess not...

 

[masta]

The only way the clear wine would be cloudy now is that some lees were sucked up during the racking. It doesn't take much to make this happen and you need to get this back into the carboy and top it up under an airlock. This will prevent exposure to the air in the head space in the primary bucket. Unfortunately you will have to wait until it clears before racking again for bottling which could take 2-3 weeks.


This has happened to many of us at least once since that final racking can be tricky.Edited by: masta

 

[onin24eagle]

The only way the clear wine would be cloudy now is that some lees were sucked up during the racking. It doesn't take much to make this happen and you need to get this back into the carboy and top it up under an airlock. This will prevent exposure to the air in the head space in the primary bucket. Unfortunately you will have to wait until it clears before racking again for bottling which could take 2-3 weeks.


This has happened to many of us at least once since that final racking can be tricky.

Oh oh, so waiting 3 days for it to clear was wasting my time. Do you think having it in the primary for 3 days has given it too much oxygen? How do you know if it has? I'll put in back into the carboy tonight after work. What a bummer. Thanks Masta.

 

[fish1onthefly]

OK I guess this may seem like a silly question but why wouldn't you bottle straight from the carboy?.......yes I am new at this.

 

[onin24eagle]

OK I guess this may seem like a silly question but why wouldn't you bottle straight from the carboy?.......yes I am new at this.

Well, I'm new as well, and that is not a silly question. I figure it's just easier to bottle from a spigot, so I racked into the primary. The mistake was putting the racking cane too deep into the carboy and sucking up sediment. I"ll be honest, I was not trying to not get sediment because I figured it would settle out in a day or so. Apparently I was wrong and it would have never cleared?


Anyway, I just put it back into the carboy, topped it off with water, and we'll see how long it will take to clear again. Next time I will be careful not to rack any lees.

 

[onin24eagle]

Forgot to ask. I racked back to the carboy, but should I degas again? There were a bunch of bubbles, but they quickly disapated.

 

[Wade E]

If you think it needs to be degassed better then by all means do it as once its in the bottle the only way to get the gas out is to decant the wine for awhile. Did you add the extra Metabisulfite to the wine for aging or are you going to drink it all within a year?

 

[onin24eagle]

If you think it needs to be degassed better then by all means do it as once its in the bottle the only way to get the gas out is to decant the wine for awhile. Did you add the extra Metabisulfite to the wine for aging or are you going to drink it all within a year?

I'm sure I'll drink it in less than a year.

 

[masta]

I don't think there will be an issue with it being in the primary for 3 days before putting it back into the carboy and topping up.


Bottling straight from the carboy canbe done but you run the risk of sucking up lees into your bottles. I find it much easier to carefully rack into another vessel (carboy or primary) and bottlefrom that. Having only to focus onjust filling bottles with clear wine makes the task much easier especially if you using a bottle filling device that has a hose at the bottom of the carboy.

 

[Jack on Rainy]

I'm with Masta. Focusing on filling the bottles propoerly is plenty to focus on during that process. That may be whyMary gets that job

when we bottle!

 

[grapeman]

I do basically what Masta says. I have learned that to get the cleares wine without filtering, after clearing, I rack it to another carboy. Instead of bottling right away, I usually let it sit a while sometimes a few months. Even after only a month in the carboy, I can then fill bottles straight from it. If there is any sediment at all, it is just a fine little layer and I don't need to worry about it. Using the racking cane, I can set it right on the bottome eventually and it doesn't suck anything up. I tried using the spout on the bucket, but I find it difficult to start and stop timely. Just using a spring loaded wand, I can get the bottles pretty close to the same mark every time. The way it is made, you just fill the bottle to the top, lift it and pull it out, placing in a new bottle. The wand displaces just the correct amount of wine so when you withdraw it, the wine is at the correct level.

 

[onin24eagle]

I don't think there will be an issue with it being in the primary for 3 days before putting it back into the carboy and topping up.


Bottling straight from the carboy canbe done but you run the risk of sucking up lees into your bottles. I find it much easier to carefully rack into another vessel (carboy or primary) and bottlefrom that. Having only to focus onjust filling bottles with clear wine makes the task much easier especially if you using a bottle filling device that has a hose at the bottom of the carboy.

I like to bottle from the primary too. How exactly do people bottle from a carboy or primary without the spigot anyway. I was thinking about bottling straight from the carboy, but didn't know how to siphon with a filler wand on the end of the tube. I thought about using a auto siphon, and I guess that would work, but I still prefer racking to my primary to use the sigot.


Anyway, my cloudy Zinfandel finally cleared, again, so I carefully racked into the primary. I did stop the racking too soon and left too much wine in the carboy, but I was erroring on the side of caution. No way I was going to rack sediment this time. After bottling 26 bottles of clear Zinfandel, I tried to siphon the rest of the remaining wine from the carboy. This time I did suck up a little bit of lees. I was able to fill 2 more bottles and one glass of wine, but both bottles and the glass were cloudy. The wine did taste fairly good however. So, I've got 26 beautiful bottles of Zin and 2 cloudy ones that I figure I'll see what happens to cloudy wine in a bottle.Edited by: onin24eagle

 

[joeswine]

need not concern your self that wine will also clear and drink it in good health,thats your personal stock/////

 

[Wade E]

You would have to start the siphon without the bottling wand on there, clamp off once siphon was started and attach the wand and then release clamp and commence bottling. Id this when it has been bulk aged for some time and there is no sediment in the carboy so why get something else dirty.

 

[grapeman]

I start a siphon with the wand attached to the tube. First I fill the racking cane with water until it runs out the tube(coiled in the sink) at which point I shut the clamp. I then warm the end of the siphon tube with warm water and insert the racking wand. I bring it to the carboy and put the racking cane in, held in place with the racking clip or a wood clamp- keeping it off the bottom and any sediment. Take a water glass or spare wine bottle and unclamp the siphon shutoff clamp. Then just set the wand in the glass or bottle and begin the wine flow. Just as soon as I see all wine in the racking cane, I lift it off the bottom, shutting off flow. You can begin bottling. It may sound like a lot to do, but takes about 2 minutes total. As the wine level drops, I lower the racking cane to just above the bottom. You can get it all the way to the bottom if there are no lees. It is much easier for me to get the bottles even than with the bottling bucket. I cant ever seem to get it shut off in time and then I need to play to get them all level.


Give it a try with some water and see how it goes with a "dry" run.

 

[PolishWineP]

We start the siphon with the bottling wand on the hose. One of us holds the bottling wand in a bottle, pressed down to the bottom while the other starts the siphon with the auto siphon. We usually have to let that 1st bottle sit about 5 minutes before we can cork it, as that method puts some air into that bottle. I suppose we could just drink that first bottle...

 

[Wade E]

Appleman, I use the bottling wand with the spigot in the on position and never shut that off, just use the wand to fill the bottle completely and then when you pull it out it leaves the perfect head space. I just use that because you never have to start a siphon, just attach hose and wand and open the valve.

 

[grapeman]

I'm just too cheap to replace a perfectly good bucket with the wrong size spigot on it to attach a hose. One of these days when it gets worn out or too discolored I will replace it. Until then, my way works for me!

 

[Wade E]

I hear ya there appleman. I dont think but am not sure that the spigots are different size holes for the bucket but just different size spigot ends. Can any one verify this?

 

[onin24eagle]

Appleman, I use the bottling wand with the spigot in the on position and never shut that off, just use the wand to fill the bottle completely and then when you pull it out it leaves the perfect head space. I just use that because you never have to start a siphon, just attach hose and wand and open the valve.

That's exactly how I did it Wade. Very easy to do when bottling by myself and only have 2 hands to do it all.