I am doing my first kit wine, a vintners reserve chianti. Thank you all for
the great advice so far. Today's question is one that has been buggin me as
of late.

On Feb 7, I did the "stabilising and clearing" and it is remarkably clear at
this point, only 8 days later. I can shine a flashlight on the carboy and
see light through the wine. The sediment is quite deep, I'd say about an
inch.

How dense is this sediment? Can I move the carboy (carrying it upstairs) on
the day I intend to bottle it? Should I rack it into a different carboy for
bottling? Should I move the carboy to the kitchen the day before I bottle
it and just bottle from the carboy?

Does wine stratify in secondary?

--
Buy a man a beer and he wastes an hour.
Teach a man to brew and he wastes the rest of his life.

Generally speaking, wine is racked off its sediment several times
before bottling.

There should only be a small dusting of sediment, before you bottle.

If you must bottle it soon, move it up the day before. Even in compact
sediments some always gets kicked up when moving.

Duck Redbeard wrote:
The sediment is quite deep, I'd say about an
inch.

Are you sure it's that deep? Sometimes it appears deep only because the
sediment collects at the "bend "at the edge of the bottom of the carboy
giving the appearance of depth....look again.

As far as moving, this also bugged me when I first started. If you have
plastic carboys, move it a few days, I move 4 days in advance, since it
will kick up more. Glass will not stretch and bulge when you pick it up,
but the movement up the steps will be a lot. Suggest getting a "handle"
for carboys if you can buy one, as I find that makes less movement of
the sediment when carrying in that position versus, picking up.

If you have another carboy, racking to a clean one and bottling from
there makes the last bottles a little less hectic for you. I used to
always nervously watch both the bottle and the end of the hose as it
sucked closer and closer to the lees in the bottom. If you rack clean,
it's so much less stress (and we all need less stress). If you don't
have a spare carboy, make the last two bottles "sludge bottles" that you
don't mind what goes in them. When you let them sit long enough
(months)then decant them prior to drinking to only pour out the good
stuff. Gives you the most wine without the stress again. My sludge
bottles typically have 1/4 inch lees in the bottom, and I drink them early.

Vintners Reserve is a good company, their Shiraz and Pinot Noir were
great for me. This latest round for me was the Selection Estate Series:
I have 3 of their kits bulk aging now. Oregon Yamhill County Pinot Gris,
Oregon Yamhill County Pinot Noir and a Santa Ynez Syrah. Bottling is in
July. I bulk age based on advice I got in this newsgroup, one benefit is
"keeps me from drinking too early". smile.

Hope that helps,
DAve

Duck Redbeard wrote:
I am doing my first kit wine, a vintners reserve chianti. Thank you all for
the great advice so far. Today's question is one that has been buggin me as
of late.

On Feb 7, I did the "stabilising and clearing" and it is remarkably clear at
this point, only 8 days later. I can shine a flashlight on the carboy and
see light through the wine. The sediment is quite deep, I'd say about an
inch.

How dense is this sediment? Can I move the carboy (carrying it upstairs) on
the day I intend to bottle it? Should I rack it into a different carboy for
bottling? Should I move the carboy to the kitchen the day before I bottle
it and just bottle from the carboy?

Does wine stratify in secondary?

Duck Redbeard wrote:
I am doing my first kit wine, a vintners reserve chianti. Thank you all for
the great advice so far. Today's question is one that has been buggin me as
of late.

On Feb 7, I did the "stabilising and clearing" and it is remarkably clear at
this point, only 8 days later.

I'm assuming you added some type of fining when you say "clearing".
This usually causes lees that are fluffier than yeast or tartrate
sediment. It's more likely to be kicked up when the carboy is moved.

I can shine a flashlight on the carboy and see light through the wine.

This concernes me a bit. The real test is to shine the flashlight
perpendicular to your view and NOT see the light beam. If you're
shining the light 180 degrees from your view point and see the light,
there can still be a lot of junk suspended in the wine.

How dense is this sediment? Can I move the carboy (carrying it upstairs) on
the day I intend to bottle it? Should I rack it into a different carboy for
bottling?

This would be my first choice, although I would rack and give it some
more time before bottling.

Should I move the carboy to the kitchen the day before I bottle it and just bottle from the carboy?


IMHO, not a good idea although the downside is just some sediment
forming in the bottle. That's not the end of the world. To me, tt
sounds like this wine still needs some time in secondary.

Andy

On 2/16/2006 8:19 AM, DAve Allison wrote:
[snipped]
As far as moving, this also bugged me when I first started. If you have
plastic carboys, move it a few days, I move 4 days in advance, since it
will kick up more. Glass will not stretch and bulge when you pick it up,
but the movement up the steps will be a lot. Suggest getting a "handle"
for carboys if you can buy one, as I find that makes less movement of
the sediment when carrying in that position versus, picking up.

DAve,

I have a few carboy handles, the rubber coated metal kind that bolts
onto the neck of the carboy in a semi-permanent fashion. All of them
came with the warning that they were for carrying the carboy only while
empty. I've also heard tales (but have thankfully never experienced
this myself) of the neck of the carboy being snapped off while carrying
it full with a carboy handle. I'd suggest caution supplemented by a lot
of support from the bottom if you use this kind of handle to lift your
full carboys. I use a milk crate, a cardboard box, or just lift the
carboy from the bottom and sides when I need to move one. Even in the
milk crate or box I always support from the bottom.

To the OP I suggest racking off of the lees and more time aging for
further clarity prior to bottling.


Cheers,
Ken Taborek

miker wrote:
As others have suggested you should rack several times until there is
very little sediment a week or so after final racking. Then you can
move to bottling place the day before or even that morning which is
what I usually do.


Don't forget this is a kit and the first one the poster has made. As I
remember from my kit days, there is at most one racking recommended in
the instructions after the finings are added in. It's safer for a
beginner to stick with the instructions rather than try to do too much
and then blame the kit for resulting problems.

Pp

I don't know much about wine making, but from homebrewing experience I
would not recommend lifting a full carboy by a handle, at least the type
that goes around the neck of the carboy, as cracks in the neck can form
from the stress, leading to the breaking the neck. The carboy and
contents end up shattered and splattered on the floor. There are safer
"haulers." One can be found at Maryland Homebrew.

DAve Allison wrote:
Suggest getting a "handle"
for carboys if you can buy one

OMG. I never got that warning paper when I bought my handles! Ghez!!
THANKS SO MUCH for the information, saving me a potential mess someday.
A carboy handle for carrying empty carboys, kinda useless in my mind.
sigh. I'm off to the attic to get a milk crate!

thanks again!
DAve

mail box wrote:
On 2/16/2006 8:19 AM, DAve Allison wrote:
[snipped]
As far as moving, this also bugged me when I first started. If you
have plastic carboys, move it a few days, I move 4 days in advance,
since it will kick up more. Glass will not stretch and bulge when you
pick it up, but the movement up the steps will be a lot. Suggest
getting a "handle" for carboys if you can buy one, as I find that
makes less movement of the sediment when carrying in that position
versus, picking up.

DAve,

I have a few carboy handles, the rubber coated metal kind that bolts
onto the neck of the carboy in a semi-permanent fashion. All of them
came with the warning that they were for carrying the carboy only while
empty. I've also heard tales (but have thankfully never experienced
this myself) of the neck of the carboy being snapped off while carrying
it full with a carboy handle. I'd suggest caution supplemented by a lot
of support from the bottom if you use this kind of handle to lift your
full carboys. I use a milk crate, a cardboard box, or just lift the
carboy from the bottom and sides when I need to move one. Even in the
milk crate or box I always support from the bottom.

To the OP I suggest racking off of the lees and more time aging for
further clarity prior to bottling.


Cheers,
Ken Taborek

On Wed, 15 Feb 2006 19:46:41 -0500, "Duck Redbeard"
wrote:

I am doing my first kit wine, a vintners reserve chianti. Thank you all for
the great advice so far. Today's question is one that has been buggin me as
of late.

On Feb 7, I did the "stabilising and clearing" and it is remarkably clear at
this point, only 8 days later. I can shine a flashlight on the carboy and
see light through the wine. The sediment is quite deep, I'd say about an
inch.

How dense is this sediment? Can I move the carboy (carrying it upstairs) on
the day I intend to bottle it? Should I rack it into a different carboy for
bottling? Should I move the carboy to the kitchen the day before I bottle
it and just bottle from the carboy?

Does wine stratify in secondary?

You can move your carboy... Bu give it additional time to clear. You
may rack to another carboy after you let it sit for a couple of weeks
if ou think there is excess sediment. I usually let Brew King/Wine
Expert kits sit for a few months between step #4 and bottling.

See:

http://www.winexpert.com/answerbox/f...eserve_Eng.pdf

Later,
A. J. Rawls
Anchorage, ALaska, USA

Duck Redbeard wrote:
I can shine a flashlight on the carboy and see light through the wine.

then "JEP62" wrote in message
This concernes me a bit. The real test is to shine the flashlight
perpendicular to your view and NOT see the light beam. If you're
shining the light 180 degrees from your view point and see the light,
there can still be a lot of junk suspended in the wine.


I thought my original post was in plain English, let me try again...

When I hold a flashlight up to the side of the carboy, shining the light
into the wine, and then look into the flashlight lens from the other side of
the carboy, I can clearly see the facets of the flashlight reflector. I am
not seeing stuff suspended in the wine.

The reason the sediment appears so deep is because I am using a
"better-bottle" carboy that has a big punt in the bottom. This causes the
sediment to be deeper where there isn't a punt.

I intend to rack this around the 14th day of clarifying. It seems clear now
(day 10) but I'm gonna wait until next week. I will likely bottle it around
21 days later. That makes a schedule of 7 days in primary, racked to
secondary, clarified and degassed 15 days later, then racked to third 14
after that, then bottled 21 days after that.

Duck Redbeard wrote:

Duck Redbeard wrote:
I can shine a flashlight on the carboy and see light through the wine.

then "JEP62" wrote in message
This concernes me a bit. The real test is to shine the flashlight
perpendicular to your view and NOT see the light beam. If you're
shining the light 180 degrees from your view point and see the light,
there can still be a lot of junk suspended in the wine.


I thought my original post was in plain English, let me try again...

English but vague.


When I hold a flashlight up to the side of the carboy, shining the light
into the wine, and then look into the flashlight lens from the other side of
the carboy, I can clearly see the facets of the flashlight reflector. I am
not seeing stuff suspended in the wine.

You're doing it wrong. This really doesn'y show if the wine is clear or
not. Hold the flashlight on the right side of the carboy and view it
from the front. If you can see the light beam in the wine, it's not
completely clear.

Andy