How often should you rack?

[pete1325]

Last October I made four (6) gallon batches of wine (2) from juice and (2) from fresh grapes. I've already racked them few times since secondary fermentation was complete and they are now sitting in carboys for bulk ageing. The batches from juice have no visible signs of sediment but the batches from grapes still have Lees on the bottom. I have this thing about exposing (young) wines to too much air so I'm a little reluctant to rack again.....will the wine be okay sitting on the lees or should I rack the batches made from grapes to avoid any issues later? Thanks

 

[grapeman]

You don't mention how much k-meta you have used. I would rack off that sediment, check the sulfite levels and add if necessary. If you haven't added any yet, you need to now. A bit more info would be nice.

 

[pete1325]

I usally add 1/4 tsp of K-Meta per 6 gallon carboy every 3-3 1/2 months during bulk storage, I normally de-gas and bottle around 9-10 months.

 

[salcoco]

A good rule to follow for racking is 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months. 3 days after moving from primary to secondary to remove wine from gross lee add k-meta. three weeks to remove wine from fine lees add k-meta. three months to remove from all lees, add k-meta. add oak at this time if desired. rack every three months thereafter until bottling. check and add k-meta each racking.

 

[BernardSmith]

I think racking off lees may depend on the type of yeast you use. Some yeasts seem to produce good results when the wine is allowed to sit on the lees and some yeasts autolyse (self destruct) in ways that produce off flavors when they are not removed from the lees.

 

[JohnT]

Not wanting to come off sounding like a wise-n-heimer, but I rack my wine when it needs it. As a rule of thumb, though, I follow the following.....

I rack within the first week after primary fermentation, then 2 months later, then 6 months after that.

 

[Elmer]

If I am following a kit I stick to the directions.
If I am making a non-kit I rack:

At 1.010 (to secondary)
3 days after .996 or lower

From here on out I rack at 3 months intervals (unless I need a carboy and have to shift everything around, in which case all heck breaks loose)

but mostly 3 months!

 

[cintipam]

Bernard I'm very interested in your post. I've been branching out and trying different yeasts, and plan to try battonage soon. I would really appreciate any input you have of yeasts that can produce odd flavors if allowed to sit on lees. Obviously I should avoid those for battonage. At this point I stick to the yeasts available in individual 5 gallon packs, so anything specialty ordered in large quantities would not be available to me.

thanks for any input

Pam in cinti

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Pam, This is not something that I can confirm but on a different forum folk say that 71B tends to autolyse (decompose) rapidly and that that yeast is not preferred if you intend to allow the wine to sit on the lees for more than a couple of months as that autolysis releases chemicals that can result in undesirable flavors. Now these flavor notes may be more profound with some types of fruit rather than others. It tends to be the mead makers that shake their heads when they hear of people using 71B and and failing to rack frequently. Others on this forum may have very different views..