WineXpert Second racking necessary?

[First250]

Just returned from vacation and am a few weeks latewith the second racking of my Winexpert Original Chardonnay. The wine is so clear that I wonder is the second racking really necessary? (Do the lees affect the taste ?)
I started my WE Merlot a few weeks before and am undecided whether I should bulk age a month or so or go ahead a bottle ( I'm a bit excited about my first bottling but can wait if it helps the taste)


I do plan to age the Merlot 6 months minimum, based on what I have read in the forum. Just not sure what the bulk ageing does ir how much it affects taste.


These two are my veryfirstones and I want to get the best wines I can from these kits.


Thanks!

 

[Wade E]

I would rack off the lees into another carboy. This will help you when you go o bottle later as you wont have to deal with the sediment and cloud up some bottles. Bulk aging for a little time always helps wines to become more complex and have fewer chance for sediment in bottles. Even when a wine looks clear there is still very fine particles dropping for a few weeks up to around 4 months depending on what you are fermenting. Give it a little bulk aging and some bottle aging and all will be better in the end.

 

[First250]

Thanks for the advice, Wade. That's what I'll do.

 

[PolishWineP]

You'll be very glad once you see the amount of sediment in the next carboy. We always rack more than the instructions indicate we should. We can't seem to rack without stirring up some of the sediment with the auto siphon, so for us, more racking is better. (It sounds like we're running a torture chamber here!

)

 

[pizz65]

To rack it more than once if you don't have more than 1 carboy can you rack it back into the primary bucket?? And if so how long should you leave it in there?? I was thinking about racking at least 2-3 times when I did my first bottling the wine was clear but I got sediment in just about every bottle so I want to avoid this in the future. So should I wait a day then rack it back into the carboy??

 

[Wade E]

Rack it into bucket, clean and sanitize your carboy then get it back in the carboy as soon as possible. There is way to much headspace in the bucket and 02 is not your friend at this point in the wine game.

 

[pizz65]

10-4 thanks again.. a little C.B. lingo

 

[PolishWineP]

An empty carboy is one of the most important tools you can have as a wine maker. It will cut way down on the air exposure.

 

[uavwmn]

Oh nooooo, PwP, a FULL carboy with all different kinds of wine is heaven!!

 

[Bert]

After doing our first kit with one primary and one carboy, I told PWP that I wasn't doing that again....That was over 30 carboys ago....I always have one extra carboy rack to...just our way of doing it..

 

[hannabarn]

I always keep an empty carboy on hand. It is a lot of unnecessary work to rack into a bucket and back again.

 

[moose]

I agree also about the extra carboy. Although I am new here, I found out the last time we racked with a 5 Gal carboy into the bucket and then back into the same carboy. Will be purchasing an additional 5 gal carboy to cut down on the extra work.

 

[Wade E]

Sometimes a spare carboy is just an excuse to brew or ferment something else though and then you still dont have an e

xtra!

 

[PolishWineP]

And 1 empty carboy out of 30, well you KNOW that is a tool

 

[mississippi mud]

Thats my problem wade.Empty carboys are so ugly the only way to make it work is to have something to
1)bottle
2)wash
3)rack
4)wash
5)rack
6)wash
7)move something out of primary
7)start anotherkit


Ittakes a while but I'm getting the hang of it.

 

[Wade E]

PWP, do you have 30?

 

[Okie1]

Ugh, I have 24 full carboys in use, 1 empty and 1 full of sanatizer. Oh and no more room. I cower every time my wife gets on a rant about all the carboys and the lack of room now

 

[Wade E]

Wow Okie1! I have 7-6's, 2-5's, 2-3's, 4-1's, and a 3 liter with 4 fermenting buckets. 2 Corny kegs also.

 

[Okie1]

well, it really started when my wife wanted to have a wine tasting party for a group of her friends to be held in Dec, 2007, so I made some 16 different island mist and orchard breezin kits.Ferminting 8 at a time. The funny thing is when Dec. came we had a huge ice storm and Tulsa was out of power in most areas (including my house) for 14 days. The party was canceled and wehave still not had the wine tasting party yet. After that, We couldnt just have empty carboys around, so they filled up with mostly big bold reds. What is it called...Jummy? Edited by: Okie1

 

[PolishWineP]

Wade, I have a Bert, so yes, I have a lot of carboys. We have:
6 1/2 gallons - 1
6 1/4 gallons - 1
6 gallons -10
5 gallons - 12
3 gallons - 6
1 gallon - 3
3 ltrs - 6
primary buckets 4


We just bottled this past weekend and Bert's been slacking, so we have a few empty. But I'm sure we'll get them soon filled so they can bulk age during farming season. We'll have plenty to bottle come November!