tonyt
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2009
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Not really that odd but I wanted to get your attention. 
I just racked my MMR Rosso D' Avola from primary. I had tweaked with 4 ounces of American untoasted dust in primary. I don't understand why EVERY red kit doesn't come with some. Anyway I stirred in primary just about every day and thought I reached down to to bottom of the bucket well enough. I even stirred well before and during racking. Well much to my surprise and disappointment the oak dust had formed a rather solid pancake on the bottom of the primary bucket. It was perfectly centered, about eight inches across and a quarter inch thick. It was quite solid and had to be scraped out when cleaning the bucket. The wine tastes fine but I guess I won't get any of the coconut aroma and taste that I love. Could I add another couple ounces in secondary. Or maybe I'll add an American light spiral later. I might clarify what I mean by secondary, I usually end up fermenting to dry in primary (.997 in this case) and then racking and spending the rest of the recomended days in a topped up carboy before clearing and stabilizing. My fermentation always go extremely fast, usually 5-7 days. But I think that contact with lees may be important so I wait the allotted days or more in what I call a "dry secondary". SG usually drops one of two more hundredths during the week or two in secondary. Back to the oak pancake, any comments?
I just racked my MMR Rosso D' Avola from primary. I had tweaked with 4 ounces of American untoasted dust in primary. I don't understand why EVERY red kit doesn't come with some. Anyway I stirred in primary just about every day and thought I reached down to to bottom of the bucket well enough. I even stirred well before and during racking. Well much to my surprise and disappointment the oak dust had formed a rather solid pancake on the bottom of the primary bucket. It was perfectly centered, about eight inches across and a quarter inch thick. It was quite solid and had to be scraped out when cleaning the bucket. The wine tastes fine but I guess I won't get any of the coconut aroma and taste that I love. Could I add another couple ounces in secondary. Or maybe I'll add an American light spiral later. I might clarify what I mean by secondary, I usually end up fermenting to dry in primary (.997 in this case) and then racking and spending the rest of the recomended days in a topped up carboy before clearing and stabilizing. My fermentation always go extremely fast, usually 5-7 days. But I think that contact with lees may be important so I wait the allotted days or more in what I call a "dry secondary". SG usually drops one of two more hundredths during the week or two in secondary. Back to the oak pancake, any comments?
