Strawberry Wine Question

[NoobVinter]

Situation: I noticed a lot of lees, and don't know if it's normal.
Background: Racked yesterday, SG was 1.00, and thought it was time to start secondary.
Assessment: It's been 24 hours since the first rack, and the lees look really thick. I am worried about off flavors and am thinking I should rack again.

Reccomendations: I don't have a clue, I was hoping someone could chime in on this.

Is it normal? Should I rack again now, or let it go dry? I will definitely rack again before stabilizing, degassing, and clearing, but I never saw lees this think in secondary before. Check it out.

Thanks for any advice, even if it constructive criticism. Have a great night and take care!




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[dralarms]

Looks good to me. Let it set 1 to 2 weeks before racking again.

 

[NoobVinter]

Looks good to me. Let it set 1 to 2 weeks before racking again.

Hi Dralarms! Good evening , thank you so much for the advice. I will follow your recommendation. Take care, have a great rest of a Saturday night. Best of luck with your ferms!


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[BernardSmith]

I agree. If you just racked I would wait another couple of weeks. What may have happened is that when you racked the other day you pulled some of the sediment that was flocculating near the bottom of the primary and it promptly dropped out of suspension. Given the opacity of the wine at this time I suspect that you will see a great deal more sediment dropping out over the next few weeks.

 

[NoobVinter]

I agree. If you just racked I would wait another couple of weeks. What may have happened is that when you racked the other day you pulled some of the sediment that was flocculating near the bottom of the primary and it promptly dropped out of suspension. Given the opacity of the wine at this time I suspect that you will see a great deal more sediment dropping out over the next few weeks.

Thanks for responding Bernard. I used the auto syphon with the black cap on the end to help prevent large solids from being pulled in. I did my best to avoid this from happening. I used a six gallon plastic primary for a 2 gallon batch. The level of the wine wasn't very high to begin with. I tried to submerge the syphon just below the surface of the wine as it was being transferred. I hit the bottom pretty quick and I am just assuming that I picked up solids the entire time during the transfer. Oh well, live and learn. Take care Bernard have a great night.


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[Arne]

No worries, with more rackings, you leave more behind every time. Pretty soon none left. Arne.

 

[syncnite]

I've been making wine from grapes for years. Fermented my first strawberry wine this summer and racked it more times than I've ever racked grape wine. So expect a few rackings at least, in my opinion.


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[NoobVinter]

Thanks for sharing. I'm racking tomorrow night. I was going to stabilize, degas, and use some icing-glass to clear it. After that I was planning on sending it through a 5, then a 1 micron filter. If it isn't clear by then.....well.....cheers mate! I'm drinking it. It smells so good, like a strawberry starburst. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, and experiences. I don't think I did all that bad now, just the way strawberry is. Have a great night take care.


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[Arne]

Let us know if filtering it like that gets rid of all the sediment. I know it can sit in the carboy til it is really clear, then after bottling it will still drop sediment out sometimes ( not just a little either ) enough so if you shake it up a bit it clouds the wine. It was not filtered, not fined, just sat for a year or so in the carboy. Anyway, after a year in the bottle let us know. Thanks, Arne.

 

[BernardSmith]

Thanks for sharing. I'm racking tomorrow night. I was going to stabilize, degas, and use some icing-glass to clear it. After that I was planning on sending it through a 5, then a 1 micron filter. If it isn't clear by then.....well.....cheers mate! I'm drinking it. It smells so good, like a strawberry starburst. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, and experiences. I don't think I did all that bad now, just the way strawberry is. Have a great night take care.


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I know that this may sound like hair splitting but as a vegetarian I do need to say that "icing -glass" is actually "isinglass" and it is organic material made from fish. That probably is of little interest to many but you may have friends and family who are vegetarians or vegans and your use of a homophonic ("sounds like" ) spelling simply suggested to me that you may be unfamiliar with the source of isinglass.

 

[NoobVinter]

I know that this may sound like hair splitting but as a vegetarian I do need to say that "icing -glass" is actually "isinglass" and it is organic material made from fish. That probably is of little interest to many but you may have friends and family who are vegetarians or vegans and your use of a homophonic ("sounds like" ) spelling simply suggested to me that you may be unfamiliar with the source of isinglass.

Thank you for this information! Now that I have more knowledge about clearing agents, I will respect and be more sensitive to the preferences of everyone who may wish to drink my wine. I will use the most simple method to clear wine, and that as far as I can tell, is to allow gravity and time to do all the work. This method however will test my patience, a skill I have neglected to practice during this wine making journey.

Thank you for the educational, and thoughtful response. Have a great rest of the day, take care.


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[NoobVinter]

Let us know if filtering it like that gets rid of all the sediment. I know it can sit in the carboy til it is really clear, then after bottling it will still drop sediment out sometimes ( not just a little either ) enough so if you shake it up a bit it clouds the wine. It was not filtered, not fined, just sat for a year or so in the carboy. Anyway, after a year in the bottle let us know. Thanks, Arne.

Arne, I will do my best to keep you posted a year from now. I dot know if it will exist by then, lol I only have two gallons


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[Droc]

Did you use bentonite at all while going through the primary. Just curious, I'm getting ready to do a strawberry in the coming weeks and am just wondering if that would help with keeping down the sediment...

 

[NoobVinter]

Did you use bentonite at all while going through the primary. Just curious, I'm getting ready to do a strawberry in the coming weeks and am just wondering if that would help with keeping down the sediment...

No I didn't use bentonite. The last time I used bentonite I followed the directions to the letter and my Dragon Blood batch failed to ferment. I don't know of it was due to the lack of oxygen, my use of Distilled water, bad yeast, or the addition of Kmeta killing the yeast. Don't get me wrong I did wait 48 hours after Kmeta before pitching. After three days of failure to ferment, I racked out the batch, cleaned the primary (and saw the sludge at the bottom of the primary "all my flavor!" Lol. The sludge had all that bentonite in it too. I racked back into the cleaned primary and was fermenting in less than 4 hours later. The point I am trying to make is I am cautious with bentonite now lol I don't like it. I really suspect it caused my DB to fail to ferment, however from a scientific vantage point, the WAS many possible contributing factors.

If you use bentonite please keep me posted. If you are successful I will follow your method and compare results with the batch that I have clearing.



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[dralarms]

The reason it didn't ferment to begin with was too much kmeta IMHO, I've done it and an old time wine maker showed me how to introduce enough oxygen to counter the kmeta. (Won't work on finished wine but will "kick start" a juice).

 

[NoobVinter]

The reason it didn't ferment to begin with was too much kmeta IMHO, I've done it and an old time wine maker showed me how to introduce enough oxygen to counter the kmeta. (Won't work on finished wine but will "kick start" a juice).

Good morning Dr. Alarms, what is IMHO? I never saw this acronym?


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[Arne]

Arne, I will do my best to keep you posted a year from now. I dot know if it will exist by then, lol I only have two gallons


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LOL, probably won't be around. It is a bit tough to get ahead when you are starting out. Only two gallon, probably wouldn't get very many bottles out of it around here. IMHO (In my humble opinion). And tasting is a big part of this hobby. Only reason I make the stuff is I like the stuff I make. Therefore have to keep tasting to make sure the wine is going to be drinkable. Sometimes there is so much testing on a small batch there is nuthin left to bottle. Arne.

 

[NoobVinter]

LOL, probably won't be around. It is a bit tough to get ahead when you are starting out. Only two gallon, probably wouldn't get very many bottles out of it around here. IMHO (In my humble opinion). And tasting is a big part of this hobby. Only reason I make the stuff is I like the stuff I make. Therefore have to keep tasting to make sure the wine is going to be drinkable. Sometimes there is so much testing on a small batch there is nuthin left to bottle. Arne.

In my humble opinion.....I like it. I sample each phase so far, and I am really pleased with how things are progressing. What are you making now?


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