WineXpert When to rack to secondary

[Wild Duk]

Ive got a red kit thats sitting at 1.020 right now. The kit calls foryou to rack to the secondary when its below 1.010. My problem is, its tuesday now and I have to leave for4 days on thursday and don't know if the gravity will be below 1.010 by then.....


So do I rack it anyway, or do I wait till I get back and the gravity will probably be well below 1.010.


thanks

 

[grapeman]

At this point, rack it when it is handy, but I would do it before leaving. It could be done now at 1.020. I actually prefer that myself. There seems to be less chance of it not finishing after transfer. There is just enough residual sugars left at this point to encourage further fermentation. Sometimes when you get too close to 1.000, and then transfer, it is very hard to get it to go any further.

 

[Wade E]

I concur!

 

[Tom]

I would rack now

 

[Vince]

I agree also. Once the primary fermentation is close to 1.00 the momentum it had islost. Pretty slow going from there on in.

 

[Wild Duk]

So I racked it and the Gravity was around 1.010. The directions say after 10 days to stabilise and clear. Is that 10 days total, or 10 days after racking. The airlock is silent, but I have not taken a gravity reading yet....

 

[Wade E]

Dont go by the amount of time as that is just to give you an idea of about when these stages occur but can vary due to temps and viability of yeast. At this point, take a sg reading a few days in a row and if it hasnt changed then proceed with stabilizing with meta and sorbate. If you have a f-pack then add that now and then use the fining agent if you want or just let time do its thing but that will take longer. Dehassing should be done at 75* and check your instructions on fining as some call for cooler temps with fining agents and some call for the mid 70's.

 

[Bert]

Check the SG for at least two days in a row...If you get the same reading it will be done [around .995]....than move on to step three....Your SG is m
re important than the number of days...Hope this helps..






I think you type faster than I do Wade...

 

[Wade E]

I can type pretty fast with only using my fore fingers, cant type the right way! My wife gets a kick out of the way I type but she isnt much faster then me doing it correctly! She does make fewer mistakes though!

 

[Wild Duk]

Thanks for the quick reply. Do you guys dump your sample back into the carboy when you are done taking a SG reading or just drink it???

 

[Bert]

Quite offen that is my taste sample....If everything used to take the samplehad been cleaned and sanitized [as it should be], I have been knowen to return it to the carboy also, or part of it..