My neighbor racks after pressing: 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months.
Maybe or maybe not once more before bottling.

3 days for the thick yuck. 3 weeks for the settled yeast and MLF
culture, and 3 months for clearing, tartrate crystals, fine deposits,
etc. Seems to work...

Steve
Oregon


On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:27:36 -0800 (PST), Joe Sallustio
> wrote:

>On Dec 23, 3:36*pm, "Paul E. Lehmann" > wrote:
>> Lee wrote:
>> > This question concerns how often to rack. *I'm
>> > referring to making grape wine from fresh red
>> > grapes, in carboys.
>>
>> > My routine is to do the primary fermentation in
>> > an open tub. *I'll often innoculate with ML just
>> > prior to the completion of the primary. Once the
>> > primary is completed, I'll press, let the wine
>> > settle, and
>> > then rack after a day or so. *But once the ML is
>> > completed, which usually takes about a month,
>> > I'll be left with a filled carboy with
>> > about 1/2 to 1 inch of debri on the bottom. *Do
>> > you all rack at that
>> > point? *Or do you let the wine age on its lees?
>> > I usually cold stabilize in my garage over the
>> > winter (in Maryland, we can count on 3
>> > weeks or so of consistently cold weather). *Then
>> > I usually rack at the end of winter.
>>
>> > Does this sound about right? *I'm wondering what
>> > the effect of letting the wine sit on 1 inch of
>> > dead yeast cells for 3-4 months does.
>>
>> > Also, I'm not sure if the debri in the bottom of
>> > the carboy can
>> > accurately be called "lees". *It's really not
>> > old grape skins or stems...it's just dead yeast.
>>
>> > Any thoughts?
>>
>> > Lee
>>
>> Lee, your procedure is the same as mine. *I also
>> live in Maryland (Brunswick), how about you?
>>
>> Paul- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
>I do pretty much what you do; in my experience these heavier lees have
>to go. You can get some nasty H2S in them and it can come on in a
>week. Tom S always stirred his lees regularly but he wanted that
>buttery taste you get from yeast cells breaking down. I would say if
>you want to try it on one carboy go for it but stir or at least smell
>weekly.
>
>Joe