Procedure check bottling plan, first timer.

[wine_fan]

So now that my pomegranate wine is in the secondary and fermentaion appears to be just about finished I need to start thinking about bottling.

Here's my plan:

I know I need to back sweeten so I'll be adding 3 quarts of fresh squeezed pom juice when I rack it to my next glass carboy in a few weeks. I would like to sweeten to around 1.010 so I may need to add some sugar as well.

Once all the yeast settles out and the wine clears some I plan on racking to another glass carboy, back sweeten, add sorbate and 2 campden tablets and letting it sit for a month before I bottle.

Does my plan look okay? Should I wait until just before bottling to add sorbate, campden and back sweeten?

I'm also hoping that a month in the second secondary will be enough to completely degass so I can bottle CO2 free. I appreciate everyones help so far.

Greg

 

[DoctorCAD]

How long has the wine been working?

 

[wine_fan]

8 days primary two days secondary so far.

 

[SBWs]

My opinion, you should not even think of bottling before 180 days of aging in carboy. Very seldom does anything good come from being in a hurry to bottle.

 

[bkisel]

I got burnt once by sweetening just before bottling as I had to empty all my bottles back into a carboy. But then I didn't know about adding sorbate. I would go with "Once all the yeast settles out and the wine clears some I plan on racking to another glass carboy, back sweeten, add sorbate and 2 campden tablets and letting it sit for a month before I bottle.".

 

[Pumpkinman]

Make sure that you add sorbate before you back sweeten, I'd let the wine age several months before you bottle.

 

[jamesngalveston]

as pumpkinman said...add sorbate and campden and wait a few days, and add sugar...
and degass just for the heck of it..

 

[DoctorCAD]

8 days primary two days secondary so far.

Long term plan...let it sit 6 months, drink enough wine to accumulate empties, then worry about bottling.

 

[wine_fan]

Thanks for the advice.

My plan now is to rack it again in a few weeks (second carboy) add sorbate, campden, back sweeten and let it age several months before I bottle it. I'm pretty patient so I don't mind waiting 6 months to bottle it. I appreciate the words of wisdom.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Thanks for the advice.

My plan now is to rack it again in a few weeks (second carboy) add sorbate, campden, back sweeten and let it age several months before I bottle it. I'm pretty patient so I don't mind waiting 6 months to bottle it. I appreciate the words of wisdom.

Perfect...you are doing the correct thing by waiting.