Lees in secondary fermenter

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Adam Beck

Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2019
Messages
44
Reaction score
17
Doing my first batch of grape wine (Cab Franc), and ended up with a 3 gallon carboy of free run juice, and a half gallon carboy of pressed juice. There’s a lot more sediment/lees than I’ve ever had in the fruit wines I’ve done. Both the half gallon and the three gallon have about an inch and a half of lees settled on the bottom. They’ve been settling for five days.

I know sitting on a large amount of lees can add off flavors, should I rack? If not, how long can they sit on this much before it starts to taste off?

Appreciate any help, sorry for being a noob. :)
 
As @CDrew said, there's usually a racking not too long after pressing to get the wine off the gross lees. I try to do this in 24-48 hours, but have gone a few days.
 
Whenever in doubt of racking schedules- I always default to @salcoco “3-3-3” method as a reference point.
After fermented and pressed and in vessels —rough racking schedule
3 days (off the gunk)
3 weeks (*unless under mlf, which would then determine time of this rack)
3 months concurring

I’ve done more than 5 days on gross lees. Wasn’t ideal. But No nasties were detected.
 
Don’t worry, I racked this afternoon. My auto-siphon was broken so I had to visit the local brewing supplies shop, but it’s all good now.

Had a half glass while racking, didn’t notice any off flavors yet! Definitely still a VERY young tasting wine though.
 
thanks for the plug. the 3-3-3 method came from bad experience. first time didn't rack quickly had to throw away the wine wine it was so gross. I would add after first rack add k-meta. then again after three months.
 
thanks for the plug. the 3-3-3 method came from bad experience. first time didn't rack quickly had to throw away the wine wine it was so gross. I would add after first rack add k-meta. then again after three months.

They are doing a Cab Franc, it might be better to hold off on the K-meta if planning on doing MLF although for a 3+ gallon batch it's probably not worth it.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top