Stirring lea's back in to clear

[billybuntus]

I have a spanish rose winexpert ltd edt kit. The instructions say to rack at 1010 which I have done then after 10 days (gonna wait around a month with the cooler temps) stir the lea's back into suspension then degass and fine.

Now I wouldn't normally question this but theres around an inch of lea's in the bottom and the wines looking pretty clear already. What would you do? Bearing in mind I'm going to keep it in better bottles for 6 months then bottle.

[lockwood1956]

an inch of Lees is too much...I would rack it and top up


how long since it finished fermenting?

the lees may compact a bit more if its newly finished

[lockwood1956]

the instructions call for lees stirring?

I reckon they mean the very fine lees you get after wine has been racked off the gross lees (the big stuff)

[mrdexter]

My winexpert ltd ed kit didn' have that much in it, maybe 1cm. I did follow the instructions to the letter and stirred it back up in the wine before adding the meta, sorbate and then stirring again before adding chitosan.

Just to check, you don't mean re adding the gross leas you racked off at 1.010 do you?

[billybuntus]

how long since it finished fermenting?

Well I started it on the 23rd dec 10 and racked at 1010 on the 1st jan 11 so it should be about finished now I've not took a reading yet though. Its clarity and the amount of sediment its dropped would suggest its finished.

[billybuntus]

the instructions call for lees stirring?

I reckon they mean the very fine lees you get after wine has been racked off the gross lees (the big stuff)

Sorry, it doesn't say to stir them. But it does say not to rack again before stabilising and fining as selection kits require the sediment to be stirred back into suspension. It then goes on to say that racking prior to this would permentantly prevent the wine clearing (which I would imagine to be an un-true statement).

Theres also an f-pack to add after stabilisation.

[billybuntus]

Just to check, you don't mean re adding the gross leas you racked off at 1.010 do you?

nope

[billybuntus]

[mrdexter]

Sorry, it doesn't say to stir them. But it does say not to rack again before stabilising and fining as selection kits require the sediment to be stirred back into suspension. It then goes on to say that racking prior to this would permentantly prevent the wine clearing (which I would imagine to be an un-true statement).

Theres also an f-pack to add after stabilisation.

Do NOT rack the wine before stabilising and fining. Selection kits require the sediment to be stirred back into suspension. Racking the wine off of the sediment prior to fining will permanently prevent clearing. Please be sure to stir all of the sediment up from the bottom.

Mine definitely wasn't as thick as yours, but it is clearing really well now. I didn't have an F-pack and after the racking after this step I did have to top up quite a bit.

[NorthernWiner]

Here's the deal. The sediment, which contains bentonite from primary fementation, is usually stirred up before adding the Chitosan. The two compounds work in tandem to aid in clearing.

It's unfortunate that the instructions don't always make clear the "WHY" part of the equation.

Billbuntus, if your wine is clear, you should rack it off that sediment. Too much sediment can compact in the bottom of the vessel. As the lees start to decompose, this can sometimes lead to the formation of pockets of H2S (aka "rotten eggs").

My suggestion would be to rack whenever you have more than a cm of stuff sitting in the bottom.

[lockwood1956]

I agree

rack it off the lees, and top it up.

I tend not to use the fining agents supplied with the kits, becasuse I age them for a long tine (2 years+) and gravity does the job for me.

If you are leaving the kit to age for a year or more, then you will need to add a little more sulphite (check the instructions i believe they say 1/4 tsp for 23 litres)

regards
Bob