Initially I did 5 gallon batches of beer, and wine is a bit new to me.
I have a couple of wines beyond primary right now, and need to rack
them to leave the sediment behind.

My racking cane is stainless and about 3' long, and the tubing is
rather large ID. I used it to rack the 1st time, but it was unwieldy.
When you guys rack from 1gal to 1gal jugs, what do you use and how do
you go about it? For that matter, when you finally go to bottle, how
do you get it into the bottle - rack again?

My process last time was - stick the racking cane with spring on the
end into the 1 gallon jug, and try not to tip it over with 2 feet of
metal tubing sticking out the top. Use a turkey baster to pull the
wine through the tube and start the siphon. Once the siphon is going,
drop the end in the other 1 gallon jug.

It just seems to be too much splashing and messing for a small 1
gallon batch. I'm a bit afraid of oxidizing my wines. I don't have
sulfite test kits, so my sulfite level is going to be a crap shoot
anyway, and I'm not certain I can rely on it to prevent oxidation.

FWIW these are fruit wines so far - Pluot and Tomato.

Thanks,
--Jeff

On Dec 18, 7:44 am, Jeff > wrote:
> Initially I did 5 gallon batches of beer, and wine is a bit new to me.
> I have a couple of wines beyond primary right now, and need to rack
> them to leave the sediment behind.
>
> My racking cane is stainless and about 3' long, and the tubing is
> rather large ID. I used it to rack the 1st time, but it was unwieldy.
> When you guys rack from 1gal to 1gal jugs, what do you use and how do
> you go about it? For that matter, when you finally go to bottle, how
> do you get it into the bottle - rack again?
>
> My process last time was - stick the racking cane with spring on the
> end into the 1 gallon jug, and try not to tip it over with 2 feet of
> metal tubing sticking out the top. Use a turkey baster to pull the
> wine through the tube and start the siphon. Once the siphon is going,
> drop the end in the other 1 gallon jug.
>
> It just seems to be too much splashing and messing for a small 1
> gallon batch. I'm a bit afraid of oxidizing my wines. I don't have
> sulfite test kits, so my sulfite level is going to be a crap shoot
> anyway, and I'm not certain I can rely on it to prevent oxidation.
>
> FWIW these are fruit wines so far - Pluot and Tomato.
>
> Thanks,
> --Jeff

You can get much smaller racking canes that self siphon. No need for
a baster. Don't worry about the splashing. Sometimes it is good to
get some Oxygen in there. I think there is often an over emphasis on
protecting wine from oxygen. Just manage your sulfite levels. I've
gone through the extremes of putting in 30ppm with each racking, and
now only put it in at crush and bottling. And, if you're planning to
drink it all in the near term, I would think the splashing and sulfite
is less of an issue.
Tomato, huh?

On Dec 18, 11:11 am, wrote:

> You can get much smaller racking canes that self siphon. No need for
> a baster. Don't worry about the splashing. Sometimes it is good to
> get some Oxygen in there. I think there is often an over emphasis on
> protecting wine from oxygen. Just manage your sulfite levels. I've
> gone through the extremes of putting in 30ppm with each racking, and
> now only put it in at crush and bottling. And, if you're planning to
> drink it all in the near term, I would think the splashing and sulfite
> is less of an issue.
> Tomato, huh?

Good to know. I'll look to augment my equipment a little then. Your
experience on the sulfite levels is helpful - when you put it in "at
bottling" does that mean you add it before you rack it from the jug to
the fermenter? I would think that sulfur flavor would be a risk at
that point - maybe the action of bottling is splashing enough to bring
it down below taste thresholds?

Thanks,
--Jeff

On Dec 18, 11:11 am, wrote:

> Tomato, huh?

Yeah, not by planning - I was at the canning phase for tomato juice
when the bottom of one of the jars blew out into the entire kettle. I
could not use it for canning anymore, so rather than throw it out, I
added sugar, let it cool, pitched some yeast, and let it go.
Unfortunately I had added salt to it before the accident, so it may
only be good as a cooking wine. But it still beats throwing out 5
gallons of fresh made tomato juice.

At present, I have a 3 gallon carboy topped off with it and a 1 gallon
jug 3/4 full. They are both clear as can be - the 1gal jug had some
mold on top which apparently has committed suicide (it is gone now -
maybe it sunk). I was going to keep the 1gal to top off the 3gal on
future rackings. There is some sediment at the bottom now, which is
why I asked those questions about racking.

As for flavor - it's not bad. Very interesting. It picked up the
flavor of the seeds, which I would equate to having a "tobacco" flavor
to them. It's too early to tell at this point.

--Jeff

On Dec 18, 11:20 am, Jeff > wrote:
> On Dec 18, 11:11 am, wrote:
>
> > You can get much smaller racking canes that self siphon. No need for
> > a baster. Don't worry about the splashing. Sometimes it is good to
> > get some Oxygen in there. I think there is often an over emphasis on
> > protecting wine from oxygen. Just manage your sulfite levels. I've
> > gone through the extremes of putting in 30ppm with each racking, and
> > now only put it in at crush and bottling. And, if you're planning to
> > drink it all in the near term, I would think the splashing and sulfite
> > is less of an issue.
> > Tomato, huh?
>
> Good to know. I'll look to augment my equipment a little then. Your
> experience on the sulfite levels is helpful - when you put it in "at
> bottling" does that mean you add it before you rack it from the jug to
> the fermenter? I would think that sulfur flavor would be a risk at
> that point - maybe the action of bottling is splashing enough to bring
> it down below taste thresholds?
>
> Thanks,
> --Jeff

The sufur taste and smell dissipates after a couple days.

On Dec 18, 1:34 pm, wrote:

> The sufur taste and smell dissipates after a couple days.

It will even after it is bottled? I thought it had to escape into the
air. Or are you saying to hit it a couple days before bottling instead
of the day-of?

--Jeff

Regarding bottling: As an ex-brewer still possessing the old set up, i rack
carefully(minimal splashing) into a bottling bucket and bottle from there
via the spigot...


"Jeff" > wrote in message
...
>
> Initially I did 5 gallon batches of beer, and wine is a bit new to me.
> I have a couple of wines beyond primary right now, and need to rack
> them to leave the sediment behind.
>
> My racking cane is stainless and about 3' long, and the tubing is
> rather large ID. I used it to rack the 1st time, but it was unwieldy.
> When you guys rack from 1gal to 1gal jugs, what do you use and how do
> you go about it? For that matter, when you finally go to bottle, how
> do you get it into the bottle - rack again?
>
> My process last time was - stick the racking cane with spring on the
> end into the 1 gallon jug, and try not to tip it over with 2 feet of
> metal tubing sticking out the top. Use a turkey baster to pull the
> wine through the tube and start the siphon. Once the siphon is going,
> drop the end in the other 1 gallon jug.
>
> It just seems to be too much splashing and messing for a small 1
> gallon batch. I'm a bit afraid of oxidizing my wines. I don't have
> sulfite test kits, so my sulfite level is going to be a crap shoot
> anyway, and I'm not certain I can rely on it to prevent oxidation.
>
> FWIW these are fruit wines so far - Pluot and Tomato.
>
> Thanks,
> --Jeff

Jug to Jug - Clear tubing.
Jug to bottle - clear tubing and bottle filler.

A racking cane - huh?

Steve
Oregon

> Jeff > asked:
>When you guys rack from 1gal to 1gal jugs, what do you use and how do
>you go about it? For that matter, when you finally go to bottle, how
>do you get it into the bottle - rack again?
>
>Thanks,
>--Jeff

On Dec 18, 2:50 pm, Jeff > wrote:
> On Dec 18, 1:34 pm, wrote:
>
> > The sufur taste and smell dissipates after a couple days.
>
> It will even after it is bottled? I thought it had to escape into the
> air. Or are you saying to hit it a couple days before bottling instead
> of the day-of?
>
> --Jeff

Sulfite at appropriate levels is tasteless, you should never know it's
there. If you measure pH you can use it appropriately; if not you can
guesstimate based on tartness.

The lower the pH for the most part, the tarter the wine. Lower pH =
lower doses of sulfite. As long as you don't exceed 0.8 PPM
molecular by more that 10 PPM free you will never taste it. The
archives are full of sulfite posts and will give you more detail.

An easy way to rack small quantities is to get hold of a nasal canula,
the tubing has a very small ID and is good for racking small
quantities.

Joe

On Dec 18, 6:30 pm, spud > wrote:
> Jug to Jug - Clear tubing.
> Jug to bottle - clear tubing and bottle filler.
>
> A racking cane - huh?
>
> Steve
> Oregon
>

Steve:

How do you prevent the tubing from disturbing sediment without the
solid support of a racking cane? I find the tubing end curls in
unpredictable ways and it's pretty much impossible to deal with it at
the bottom of the container. I've got a regular size plastic racking
cane and cut it down to fit nicely into a gallon jug, and that works
fairly well - the main issue is seeing the bottom tip of the cane.

Pp

Hi Pp:

You making any port this season? Have 5 gal of Cab and ~60lbs of
plums in the freezeragain for more plum port.

racking
The tubing comes off a roll at the hardware store and has a curl set
into it.

When slipped in the jug or carboy they find the edge of the glass
right away and stay right there untill I scoot them down. Never had
one that was straight yet!

Take Care,
Steve
Oregon





On Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:13:11 -0800 (PST), pp >
wrote:

>On Dec 18, 6:30 pm, spud > wrote:
>> Jug to Jug - Clear tubing.
>> Jug to bottle - clear tubing and bottle filler.
>>
>> A racking cane - huh?
>>
>> Steve
>> Oregon
>>
>
>Steve:
>
>How do you prevent the tubing from disturbing sediment without the
>solid support of a racking cane? I find the tubing end curls in
>unpredictable ways and it's pretty much impossible to deal with it at
>the bottom of the container. I've got a regular size plastic racking
>cane and cut it down to fit nicely into a gallon jug, and that works
>fairly well - the main issue is seeing the bottom tip of the cane.
>
>Pp