What's the deal with splash racking?

[abefroman]

What's the deal with splash racking?

Is it only for red?

Do I want to do this everytime I rack a red?

n

 

[JasonH]

Its a good idea to purge smells, degas, or help get oxygen into a struggling secondary fermentation at the risk of oxidation. Its not only for reds. I wouldn't do it unless I needed to, but I know people that do it to all their wines. If you have adequate sulfites and tannins it should decrease your risk of oxidation.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Splash Racking is something some do. I s.r. when I transfer from my primary to the carboy. Add sulfite, sparkolloid, stir to degass some more and mix then top off.

The s.r. does not hurt wines like some think. It actually helps reds. Whites don't benefit (other than degassing a bit) but can tolerate it.

You only s.r. once. Any oxygen that gets in is obsorbed by the free sulfite added at the time of racking. Air gets into liquids by means of exposure to the wine, not by splashing around. Those who have aquariums know this. The little airators that are sold do not add air, they move the water which facilitates the introduction to the water as it moves across the surface.

 

[Brian]

Please forgive my ignorance but can you explain "splash racking"?

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Generally it means racking so that the wine "splashes" into the receiving vessel thereby exposing it to air. A more typical racking would have you hanging the racking hose to the bottom of the receiving vessel so that it transfers with very little exposure.

 

[JohnT]

One other thing,

There may be times when a Splash Racking is the best thing you can do for your wine. For example, if you were to fall victim to yeast breakdown (either a "rotten egg" smell or a "burnt rubber" smell) these compounds exist in the wine in rather minute amounts, but have a huge impact on the aroma of the wine. A splash racking can allow these compounds to escape.

 

[Sacalait]

Splash racking can be used to kick start a stuck fermentation or to energize one that is slow to start.

 

[AlFulchino]

furthermore, splash racking assists in development of the wine if its been aged only in glass or stainless and especially so if the alc % is rather high for what that wine can handle

 

[JohnT]

Splash racking can be used to kick start a stuck fermentation or to energize one that is slow to start.

furthermore, splash racking assists in development of the wine if its been aged only in glass or stainless and especially so if the alc % is rather high for what that wine can handle

Absolutely.

The other thing I will say, though, is that there is a big fear that splash racking will lead to oxidation.

Splash racking can and WILL lead to oxidation if it is overdone and/or the chemical balance of the wine is off. In other words, you should NOT be doing a splash racking every week and you SHOULD make sure that the PPM of SO2 and the PH/Acid levels of your wine are where they should be.

I do a splash racking only once or twice during the winemaking process. The first racking (off of the heavy lees) is a splash racking, then again in 2 or 3 months. I find that at these points there are a lot of rather nasty gasses that want to purge out.

I may do additional splash rackings further down the line, but that is determined through tasting.

johnT.

 

[Runningwolf]

I splash rack only at the time when I am stabilizing my wine after fermentation. I use my vacuum pump to cut down on contact with oxygen for the purpose aiding in the degassing process.

 

[AlFulchino]

Dan you got a pic of the pump you are using?

 

[Runningwolf]

I do not but I will try to get something up. It is the smallest one from Harbor Freight (aprox $60) and it works great. It still takes another $30 or so for brass fittings, guage, and valve.

 

[Runningwolf]

Al, This is the vacuum pump I use

This picture shows the gauge and valve added on to it

This shows pump in operation of degassing

Wade has some excellent pictures showing how to rack with a vacuum pump also. The medical pumps folks have been buying on Ebay are smaller (less powerful) but they are ready to go with no fussing and have a reserve tank with them. For most people that would definitely be the way to go. For a larger operation I would go with the vacuum pump.

 

[AlFulchino]

thanks for taking the time Dan.

And you can dial the pressure you want, correct? what do you do after it pulls gas...redial it to a greater pressure? or does just the steady one time setting do the job......?

 

[Runningwolf]

thanks for taking the time Dan.

And you can dial the pressure you want, correct? what do you do after it pulls gas...redial it to a greater pressure? or does just the steady one time setting do the job......?

Yes I can set the pressure for what ever you want. For degassing I start out very low to prevent overflow and then steadily incease the pressure to about 20 inches. When i reach that point, I just leave it there for about 15-20 minutes. This can only be done in a glass carboy. Splash racking first does eliminate most of the gas ahead of time. When I rack/splash rack I am only pulling about 8inches of vacuum.

 

[Lurker]

This thread is the best splash racking (SR) seminar that I have seen. Watta great site this is. I have only SR’ed by pouring from one bucket to another. I do it just prior to bottling. My purpose is to remove the sulfite that is in the buckets I buy. They start out usually with about 100 ppm and after a year it is between 50 and 70 ppm. I use the SR to get it down to about 30 or 40. I have noticed that the wine tastes better and of course, without the SO2 is it is not harsh. Lower would be better but it is hard work. Ten pours reduces it by about 10 ppm. Two gallons at a time is about all that can be done without getting it all over the place. Therefore, I am about to use the reverse side of my vacuum pump to push air through the valve on the bottom of my bottling bucket to send air bubbles up thru the wine. Am I as crazy as a friend thinks or will it work? What think you?

 

[JohnT]

That should work fine, but I advise that you work in stages to do only as much as you need to. In other words, Airate a little, then test, airate some more, then test again, etc.