WineXpert Winexpert Kit - too much Leas In Secondary?

[blackcrk]

Hello everyone,

I started a Leibfraumilch Winexpert kit aout 2 weeks ago and transferred to secondary 4 days ago. The wine was fairly cloudy and I wasn't overly careful about keeping the amount of leas transferred to the secondary to a minimum. I've been noticing that there has been a great deal of settling of the leas since transferring to the secondary. Today I measured the thickness of the sediment and found that it is in excess of 1.5 inches.

If this were a wine I was making from scratch, I would rack again, but I'm trying to follow Winexpert directions as closely as possible. The Winexpert kits require some amount of sediment to be mixed with isinglas for the clarification process.

My question is- should I rack again (possibly taking some of the sediment to ensure enough sediment for the clarification process) or leave as is?

Any thoughts are greatly appeciated.

Ed

 

[Racer]

Follow the instructions as they are written.I know it looks like alot of lees but they need to stay there for the finings to work proprely. Just be ready with a suiteable wine to top up with later or be ready to rack into a small carboy.

 

[cpfan]

It may not really be that much. Someimes lees stick to the curve at the bottom of the carboy and look more than they really are.

I'm with Racer, stick with the instructions. If there is still a lot of sediment after the last racking, wait a week or two and rack again.

Steve

 

[Wade E]

Stick to the instructions like everyone has said and once you add the fining agent put something nder 1 side of the carboy like a wedge and let the lees compact down a weem or a little more then what they say. Doing this will make it easier for you to get more wine as the lees will compact and not get stirred up so easy. When ready to rack off these lees put your racking cane in the shallow end wherethere is very little lees and then carefully tilt the carboy o that side so there is more wine and less lees so you can get ore wine transferred clearly into your next carboy.

 

[blackcrk]

Thanks for the responses, it's good to know that this isn't uncommon. I've just never seen so much sediment in a secondary and found it quite worrisome. And thanks to "Wade E" for the suggestion about the method for racking to get maximum wine with minimum sediment - that makes a lot of sense and I'll give it a try!

Ed

 

[Wade E]

It will surely help but foolow instructions that are given, some manufacturers will supply fining agents that require that most lees be transferred over to work properly while others will use a different kind and tell you to leave as much behind as possible.