I racked my cranberry wine after fermentation was complete. After the
racking, the wine was initially cloudy, but slowly the cloudiness has
been dropping to the bottom, leaving a very nice, bright red color. Now
the bottom 20% of my carboy is filled with this white cludy wine. My
question is this: if I rack the wine again, do I have to discard the
bottom 20%? Will the "cloud" compact itself if I give it more time? I
imagine that this would be an issue with all sorts of "clear" wines
where clarification is desired for aesthetic purposes, no?

Franco

Give your wine more time to clear. Rack it after you get a compact
sediment on the bottom of your carboy.

Later,
A.J.

On 19 Apr 2006 15:00:19 -0700, "Franco" wrote:

I racked my cranberry wine after fermentation was complete. After the
racking, the wine was initially cloudy, but slowly the cloudiness has
been dropping to the bottom, leaving a very nice, bright red color. Now
the bottom 20% of my carboy is filled with this white cludy wine. My
question is this: if I rack the wine again, do I have to discard the
bottom 20%? Will the "cloud" compact itself if I give it more time? I
imagine that this would be an issue with all sorts of "clear" wines
where clarification is desired for aesthetic purposes, no?

Franco

Give it more time. My cranberry was very slow to clear up. But kept
patient and it all cleared nicely. Mine was in carboys for twice the
recipe, but now I have very clear 6 gallons bottled and aging for
November 2006 initial tasting.

waiting is the hardest part,
DAve

Franco wrote:
I racked my cranberry wine after fermentation was complete. After the
racking, the wine was initially cloudy, but slowly the cloudiness has
been dropping to the bottom, leaving a very nice, bright red color. Now
the bottom 20% of my carboy is filled with this white cludy wine. My
question is this: if I rack the wine again, do I have to discard the
bottom 20%? Will the "cloud" compact itself if I give it more time? I
imagine that this would be an issue with all sorts of "clear" wines
where clarification is desired for aesthetic purposes, no?

Franco

It is true that cranberry throws a LOT of sediment. I know that Jack has
commented on that and I have noted it as well. You will lose a lot more
volume than with other wines. The first time I made it I followed his
recipe for 6 gallops and ended up with 7.5 gallons when I moved it to
secondary. I contacted him and he said that was because his recipe is
designed to end up with a certain volume not start with it. After racking,
sure enough I ended up with what he said. The good news is that cranberries
are cheap so it is not so much of a loss.

Depending on the volume of your wine there are some things you can do to
improve things. If you made only 1 gallon there is not much you can do. If
you made 5 or more gallons, rack the clear top part off into 1 gallon jugs.
Then move the cloudy stuff into 1 gallon jugs as well. There is no reason
to leave the good clear wine in contact with a lot of cloudy stuff and the
cloudy wine will give a greater yield if moved to smaller containers.

Ray

"Franco" wrote in message
oups.com...
I racked my cranberry wine after fermentation was complete. After the
racking, the wine was initially cloudy, but slowly the cloudiness has
been dropping to the bottom, leaving a very nice, bright red color. Now
the bottom 20% of my carboy is filled with this white cludy wine. My
question is this: if I rack the wine again, do I have to discard the
bottom 20%? Will the "cloud" compact itself if I give it more time? I
imagine that this would be an issue with all sorts of "clear" wines
where clarification is desired for aesthetic purposes, no?

Franco