what to do now

[michaelesler]

Hi guys,

So my rhubarb wine and my damson wine seem to have finished bubbling after the second racking. should i leave them as they are for another few weeks to clear and settle or should i rack them a second time already? They were only racked about 3 weeks ago after being in secondary for almost 5 weeks.

Thanks in advance,

michael

 

[Tom]

Did you stabilise?
What's the gravity

 

[michaelesler]

forgive my lack of knowledge but what do you mean by stabilise? and i think the gravity was just below 1000, but will need to double check that as the wine is at home and I'm in a different country at university.

 

[Wade E]

When they finish fermenting I like to degas them and stabilize them. Stabilize is the act of adding both sulfite and potassium sorbate so that you can sweeten them without re-fermentation happening. Degassing them now helps the solids fall out of suspension much better letting your wine clear better and faster. If you plan on using a fining agent I would degas, stabilize, sweeten, and then add your fining agent right now and give it like 3 weeks and then rack to another sanitized carboy for aging and also to let it keep dropping very fine sediment as it will despite using a fining agent.

 

[Tom]

You need to add potasium metabisulfite to prevent it from going bad. Sorbate if you will backsweeten.

 

[michaelesler]

ok, how do i degas? and how will i know to sweeten? i was under the impression that at this stage the wine would be nowhere near its finished taste, so how would i know whether or not it needs sweetened?

thanks,
michael

 

[SBWs]

When I first started...

When I first started, I use to do all those steps up front as soon as the wine was dry and somewhat clear. I always ended up sweetening to much. I'm sure after I do this a lot longer, I'll have a better idea how much to sweeten each wine, and might be able to go back to this way.

For now I transfer to secondary wait until it's stable (dry) and then rack into a carboy with potasium metabisulfite. I'll give it a quick stir to drive off most of the gas and then install airlock and wait. The only way I do anything is if I get a lot of lees on the bottom, then I'll rack early if not, it's wait 90 days, rack, taste, add potasium metabisulfite & Sorbate (only once), backsweeten (simple syrup/f-pac) just a little, taste and start the 90 day cycle all over.

If I don't like it when it's dry, I'll take it to a S.G. of 1.006 after the first 90 days, then if still not sweet enough, I'll go to around 1.015 the next 90 days and so on. That way the sugar (simple syrup/f-pac) has a chance to blend well with the wine before I taste the next racking.

Only need to add sorbate once but I add metabisulfite every 90 days until I get close to bottling then I start testing SO2 before adding.

By the way Good looking BLOG!

 

[michaelesler]

ok guys thanks for the info. just one more question, how do i degas?

and SBWs thanks for looking at my blog! some good reading on yours as well!

 

[djrockinsteve]

You can degassing using a vacuum pump or by stirring.

Stirring you may use your paddle spoon and make quick short movements back n forth in the wine to release CO2. I do not mean stirring up to introduce more air. Whether in a bucket or carboy move the paddle more so at the end than on the surface. Be careful at 1st. If you have lots of CO2 you can release a lot and have a volcano. Start of slow.

With a vacuum pump you are sucking the air out thus reducing the pressure which releases CO2. Wade can get you a pump if you like or other places. You can also use those mini vac seal hand thingies. That would be short term on the batteries/motor.

When transferring from primary some folks splash rack which releases CO2

During primary fermentation if you stir often you will release CO2 all along which will aide the yeast and help degas.