WineXpert Must rack the Must

[catskill]

In all of the WE kit instructions, under stage 2, secondary fermentation, is the line 'You must rack the wine at this time'. This is strong wording, without explanation why. I missed the 7-day time limit, taking the first stage to ten days. The result was no change in the SG and no secondary stage off gassing. The SG after the first stage was where it should be after the second stage. Has anyone had experience with this, does anyone know what kind of results I can expect from this oversight? How does it affect the flavor, etc?

 

[Wade E]

They just want you to get this wine into a carboy with much less ullage(head space) so it wont oxidize. The time you stated will be fine but excessive time at this point on the gross lees (primary sediment which consists of a lot of dead yeast cells and wine solids that can get rotten) will result in off smells and tastes and possible wine contamination. Other kit manufacturer instructions have you leave your wine in the primary until fermentation is complete and this makes degassing your wine easier. I typically follow the later instructions except with white wines as they will oxidize(brown) much easier. welcome to this site Catskill! Please introduce yourself in the Introductions area and share with us what you do for a living.