(Don S) wrote in message . com>...
> > It was fairly cloudy today when I racked but it's cleared up
> > considerably, not crystal clear but translucent anyway. There's a
> > noticeable layer of lees (trub for you beer guys) on the bottom of the
> > carboy. How long should I let it sit on this? Temp tonight is 70-71
> > deg according to the strip therm on the carboy.
>
> Providing you have it in the carboy and topped up or
> fermentation was still proceeding enough to displace the
> oxygen with CO2 you can leave it for two weeks or more.
> It can depend on the type of wine. Read this page:
>
> http://members.tripod.com/~BRotter/Surlie.htm
>
> After that if fermentation is complete and yoy have not
> added the potassium meta then you can do that when racking
> to a new carboy (or back into the pail and again back into
> the carboy). At that point you can consider bulk aging, which
> is to just keep it topped up, protected from serious sun
> light and sitting there for a few months.
>
> Search on Google Groups for any of the above topics in rcw
> and you will have some good reading.
>
> Don

Don: Thank you for your replys. Here's a synoposis of my activity to
date:

Fermented in a 6.5 gal carboy for 2 weeks due to lower initial temps.
Racked to 7 gal bucket for about 3-4 days, gravity about .996.
Racked to 5 gal carboy, added SO2, isinglass, degassed.
One day later (today), cleared up very nicely, layer of "dusty" yeast
on bottom and sides near bottom.

Issues:

My dealer threw up big red flags about the omission of the sorbate
How long to leave in carboy? He says 3-4 weeks then bottle.

Questions:

Can I leave on lees longer, say, 2-3 months w/o further messing?
Should I rack after 3-4 weeks then bulk age up to 3 months?
Should I follow my dealer's advice?

It's a Brew King Reisling.

Thanks,

Kevin