Often when I rack or transfer from primary to secondary I get a layer
of fluffy 'lees' or straining bag escapees. Its fluffy stuff, not
really solid, but it makes a deeper layer than I'd like at the bottom
of the DJ.

I usually make enough to have a pint left over and was considering
trying to siphon hoover out some of this initial secondary fluffy
stuff to replace with the clearer lquid from the pint excess while it
is fresh. Then I imagined asking the group and in my imagination your
Obi Wan style voices said 'think of the bottom-dwelling yeast Luke -
and just rack it later'!

I think you are right oh ghostly winemaking apparitions, but I wonder
if anyone can confirm if this is what you really would say?

Thanks, Jim

Well, my son...



If you put whatever is left in the tallest, slenderest container you
have and put it in the fridge it will usually resettle overnight and
you can rack off of that. I routinely dump all of my dregs into a
container and resettle them and rack off before throwing the rest
out. Ice wine bottle are great for this.

If you are pulling fine lees you may want to think about racking
height. On that resettled wine i use a piece of nasal cannula, it's
about 1/8" ID. I vary the height of the receiver to slow the flow
when I get near the lees.


Joe

On Apr 23, 9:09 am, Joe Sallustio wrote:
Well, my son...



If you put whatever is left in the tallest, slenderest container you
have and put it in the fridge it will usually resettle overnight and
you can rack off of that. I routinely dump all of my dregs into a
container and resettle them and rack off before throwing the rest
out. Ice wine bottle are great for this.

If you are pulling fine lees you may want to think about racking
height. On that resettled wine i use a piece of nasal cannula, it's
about 1/8" ID. I vary the height of the receiver to slow the flow
when I get near the lees.

Joe

Or you can decant from the lees instead of racking from a bottle.

Pp

Thanks for the replies guys.

I do put the extra in a small tall container to add in once settled out The problem is the fluffy lees in the
DemiJohn, I'm wondering whether or not to re-rack now while the extra I have is fresh. No one siphons out the fluffy
bottom ( )sediment so they must have bottle-traps for their excess, I will have to figure out a way to make a tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks.

Jim

p.s. Sorry pp for sending this to you privately by acident!


"pp" wrote in message oups.com...
On Apr 23, 9:09 am, Joe Sallustio wrote:
Well, my son...



If you put whatever is left in the tallest, slenderest container you
have and put it in the fridge it will usually resettle overnight and
you can rack off of that. I routinely dump all of my dregs into a
container and resettle them and rack off before throwing the rest
out. Ice wine bottle are great for this.

If you are pulling fine lees you may want to think about racking
height. On that resettled wine i use a piece of nasal cannula, it's
about 1/8" ID. I vary the height of the receiver to slow the flow
when I get near the lees.

Joe

Or you can decant from the lees instead of racking from a bottle.

Pp

Ah now I found that after a day or two the fluffy 'lees' are floating to the top of the secondary - no doubt carried up
by the tiny carbon dioxide bubbles. From there I can fetch most of them out of the demijohn by straw or teaspoon
technology

Jim

"jim" wrote in message ...
Thanks for the replies guys.

I do put the extra in a small tall container to add in once settled out The problem is the fluffy lees in the
DemiJohn, I'm wondering whether or not to re-rack now while the extra I have is fresh. No one siphons out the fluffy
bottom ( )sediment so they must have bottle-traps for their excess, I will have to figure out a way to make a tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks.

Jim

p.s. Sorry pp for sending this to you privately by acident!


"pp" wrote in message oups.com...
On Apr 23, 9:09 am, Joe Sallustio wrote:
Well, my son...



If you put whatever is left in the tallest, slenderest container you
have and put it in the fridge it will usually resettle overnight and
you can rack off of that. I routinely dump all of my dregs into a
container and resettle them and rack off before throwing the rest
out. Ice wine bottle are great for this.

If you are pulling fine lees you may want to think about racking
height. On that resettled wine i use a piece of nasal cannula, it's
about 1/8" ID. I vary the height of the receiver to slow the flow
when I get near the lees.

Joe

Or you can decant from the lees instead of racking from a bottle.

Pp

On Apr 24, 4:51 am, "jim" wrote:
Ah now I found that after a day or two the fluffy 'lees' are floating to the top of the secondary - no doubt carried up
by the tiny carbon dioxide bubbles. From there I can fetch most of them out of the demijohn by straw or teaspoon
technology

Jim


Why don't you just leave it to settle on its own? If the stuff is
coming up like that then your wine is most likely still fermenting
actively. You'll have to rack anyway after the fermentation is done so
why bother with removing the lees at this point - you won't be able to
do it full from the top of the carboy.

Pp

Hi, I would normally agree totally with your thinking, but I've had bits like this before that form mini reefs in the
wine and they disturb me. They hover above the main lees and get racked out with the clearer wine if you're not 100%
accurate/lucky.

Personally I'd rather get material like this out before it sits for months. It is the kind of stuff I'd not expect to
escape the straining bag, but it does - as small particles - then forms these reefs or asteroids of claggy material and
I'd just rather get it out when it is easy to do so.

I had enough leftover must/pre-wine to overflow the demijohn so it came out - there was an inch thick layer of it in the
neck 2 days after racking and I didn't want it there

Jim

"pp" wrote in message oups.com...
On Apr 24, 4:51 am, "jim" wrote:
Ah now I found that after a day or two the fluffy 'lees' are floating to the top of the secondary - no doubt carried
up
by the tiny carbon dioxide bubbles. From there I can fetch most of them out of the demijohn by straw or teaspoon
technology

Jim


Why don't you just leave it to settle on its own? If the stuff is
coming up like that then your wine is most likely still fermenting
actively. You'll have to rack anyway after the fermentation is done so
why bother with removing the lees at this point - you won't be able to
do it full from the top of the carboy.

Pp

On Apr 23, 4:45 pm, "jim" wrote:
Thanks for the replies guys.

I do put the extra in a small tall container to add in once settled out The problem is the fluffy lees in the
DemiJohn, I'm wondering whether or not to re-rack now while the extra I have is fresh. No one siphons out the fluffy
bottom ( )sediment so they must have bottle-traps for their excess, I will have to figure out a way to make a tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks.

Jim

p.s. Sorry pp for sending this to you privately by acident!



"pp" wrote in ooglegroups.com...
On Apr 23, 9:09 am, Joe Sallustio wrote:
Well, my son...



If you put whatever is left in the tallest, slenderest container you
have and put it in the fridge it will usually resettle overnight and
you can rack off of that. I routinely dump all of my dregs into a
container and resettle them and rack off before throwing the rest
out. Ice wine bottle are great for this.

If you are pulling fine lees you may want to think about racking
height. On that resettled wine i use a piece of nasal cannula, it's
about 1/8" ID. I vary the height of the receiver to slow the flow
when I get near the lees.

Joe

Or you can decant from the lees instead of racking from a bottle.

Pp- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"I will have to figure out a way to make a tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks."

You can buy tiny bungs.

Guy

Thanks Guy, I thought they must be available but after a 5 mile walk I found my winemaking shop was closed today. I
will try on Friday.

Cheers again for letting me know that these are available!

Jim

"guy" wrote in message oups.com...
On Apr 23, 4:45 pm, "jim" wrote:
Thanks for the replies guys.

I do put the extra in a small tall container to add in once settled out The problem is the fluffy lees in the
DemiJohn, I'm wondering whether or not to re-rack now while the extra I have is fresh. No one siphons out the fluffy
bottom ( )sediment so they must have bottle-traps for their excess, I will have to figure out a way to make a tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks.

Jim

p.s. Sorry pp for sending this to you privately by acident!



"pp" wrote in ooglegroups.com...
On Apr 23, 9:09 am, Joe Sallustio wrote:
Well, my son...



If you put whatever is left in the tallest, slenderest container you
have and put it in the fridge it will usually resettle overnight and
you can rack off of that. I routinely dump all of my dregs into a
container and resettle them and rack off before throwing the rest
out. Ice wine bottle are great for this.

If you are pulling fine lees you may want to think about racking
height. On that resettled wine i use a piece of nasal cannula, it's
about 1/8" ID. I vary the height of the receiver to slow the flow
when I get near the lees.

Joe

Or you can decant from the lees instead of racking from a bottle.

Pp- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"I will have to figure out a way to make a tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks."

You can buy tiny bungs.

Guy

On Apr 25, 10:45 am, "jim" wrote:
Thanks Guy, I thought they must be available but after a 5 mile walk I found my winemaking shop was closed today. I
will try on Friday.

Cheers again for letting me know that these are available!

Jim



"guy" wrote in ooglegroups.com...
On Apr 23, 4:45 pm, "jim" wrote:
Thanks for the replies guys.

I do put the extra in a small tall container to add in once settled out The problem is the fluffy lees in the
DemiJohn, I'm wondering whether or not to re-rack now while the extra I have is fresh. No one siphons out the fluffy
bottom ( )sediment so they must have bottle-traps for their excess, I will have to figure out a way to make a tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks.

Jim

p.s. Sorry pp for sending this to you privately by acident!

"pp" wrote in ooglegroups.com...
On Apr 23, 9:09 am, Joe Sallustio wrote:
Well, my son...



If you put whatever is left in the tallest, slenderest container you
have and put it in the fridge it will usually resettle overnight and
you can rack off of that. I routinely dump all of my dregs into a
container and resettle them and rack off before throwing the rest
out. Ice wine bottle are great for this.

If you are pulling fine lees you may want to think about racking
height. On that resettled wine i use a piece of nasal cannula, it's
about 1/8" ID. I vary the height of the receiver to slow the flow
when I get near the lees.

Joe

Or you can decant from the lees instead of racking from a bottle.

Pp- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"I will have to figure out a way to make a tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks."

You can buy tiny bungs.

Guy- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What size do you need in mm Jim, Ill get it to you....and obviously a
nasal cannula would be no problem if you need one....

A good twist of the carboy usually releases the stratified wine
underneath those 'floating reefs of annoyance'. It's a good idea to
give carboys a good twist the night before a rack anyways; it seems to
get the stuff on the side of the carboy settled.

Joe

Thanks Joe for the good advice as ever . And Sean, I will try my wine shop again tomorrow - I have access to the car
then, I'm not built for urban walking. If I can't find some stoppers there and the microtubing I surely would
appreciate your help brother!

Jim

"snpm" wrote in message oups.com...
On Apr 25, 10:45 am, "jim" wrote:
Thanks Guy, I thought they must be available but after a 5 mile walk I found my winemaking shop was closed today. I
will try on Friday.

Cheers again for letting me know that these are available!

Jim



"guy" wrote in ooglegroups.com...
On Apr 23, 4:45 pm, "jim" wrote:
Thanks for the replies guys.

I do put the extra in a small tall container to add in once settled out The problem is the fluffy lees in the
DemiJohn, I'm wondering whether or not to re-rack now while the extra I have is fresh. No one siphons out the
fluffy
bottom ( )sediment so they must have bottle-traps for their excess, I will have to figure out a way to make a
tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks.

Jim

p.s. Sorry pp for sending this to you privately by acident!

"pp" wrote in ooglegroups.com...
On Apr 23, 9:09 am, Joe Sallustio wrote:
Well, my son...



If you put whatever is left in the tallest, slenderest container you
have and put it in the fridge it will usually resettle overnight and
you can rack off of that. I routinely dump all of my dregs into a
container and resettle them and rack off before throwing the rest
out. Ice wine bottle are great for this.

If you are pulling fine lees you may want to think about racking
height. On that resettled wine i use a piece of nasal cannula, it's
about 1/8" ID. I vary the height of the receiver to slow the flow
when I get near the lees.

Joe

Or you can decant from the lees instead of racking from a bottle.

Pp- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"I will have to figure out a way to make a tiny
bung for a beer-bottle methinks."

You can buy tiny bungs.

Guy- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What size do you need in mm Jim, Ill get it to you....and obviously a
nasal cannula would be no problem if you need one....