Other Vintners Coast Red Ready to Bottle

[Gina_Vino]

I'm going to bottle my first kit. I know some people recommend bulk aging, but I'm anxious to drink some of this stuff so I'm going to follow the directions in the kit which say to wait 10 days after degassing and adding the stabilizer & clarifier. The instructions specifically said NOT TO rack off the lees because the wine would not clarify. Theres still a 1/2" of sediment in the bottom of the carboy. Is this normal?

 

[olusteebus]

Sounds right to me.

 

[Rocky]

Gina, welcome to the forum.

You must be reading something wrong if your understanding is that you should bottle out of a carboy with sediment in it. Please do not do that and let us know what kit you are referencing.

 

[GaDawg]

I am also fairly new. I think you should not bottle wine if you have sediment. If its clear rack and let it sit for a week or 2. If it isn't dropping sediment go ahead and bottle.

And on your 1st kit

 

[Rocky]

I'm going to bottle my first kit. I know some people recommend bulk aging, but I'm anxious to drink some of this stuff so I'm going to follow the directions in the kit which say to wait 10 days after degassing and adding the stabilizer & clarifier. The instructions specifically said NOT TO rack off the lees because the wine would not clarify. Theres still a 1/2" of sediment in the bottom of the carboy. Is this normal?

Sorry Gina, I think I misunderstood what you were saying. I thought you were going to bottle out of a carboy with sediment in it. In re-reading, I think what you are asking is, do you add the stabilizer & clarifier to the carboy with sediment in it and let that clear? You would then rack to a clean carboy and bottle. Is this correct?

I have seen these directions in a WineXpert kit and, while I personally disagree with them, I recommend that you follow the directions, given what I assume is your level of experience. Good luck.

 

[Gina_Vino]

The kit said to degas and mix the clarifier in the carboy. I racked off the wine back into the primary fermenter and degassed in there, then racked the wine back into the carboy. The kit is a Vintners Coast Red. Are you saying that the sediment goes away. I thought the clarifier allows the sediment to drop to the bottom so you can avoid it when you bottle.

 

[Rocky]

That is correct, the clarifier will allow the remaining sediment to drop to the bottom of the carboy. Once that happens and the wine is clear, you should rack it one more time to a clean carboy and then bottle from there. If you don't have a clean carboy, rack it back to your primary, cover it, clean out the carboy and rack it to the cleaned carboy and then bottle. The sediment will not "go away." It will settle to the bottom of the vessel and clear wine has to be racked from the vessel that has sediment before attempting to bottle. I hope this does not confuse you.