wooda2008

Recipes 

I racked my raspberry pee to the secondary last night, and It's still fermenting more energetically than I had expected. My hydrometer reading was 1.002. Should I have let it ferment totally dry before racking?

brrman

Recipes 

1.002?? wow, and its still fermenting? Did you mean 1.020?

Typically its best to leave the beer in the primary until the ferment is complete.

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8-Paws Brewing Co.
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Secondary:
Primary:
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On Deck:
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DoctorCAD

Recipes 

You are going to need to re-rack shortly when the lees pile up more than 3/8" or so.

The lees can give you bad or off tastes if you leave the wine on them for too long.

wooda2008

Recipes 

I think i misread the hydrometer. One of the problems being numerexic, the digits get shuffled around. 1.02 would make much more sense.

So I'm just looking at one more racking than i had planned on. Not a big deal for me

brrman

Recipes 

I did not read either - didn;t realize this is in the cider section. lol. so its safe to say I do not know what I am talking about when it comes to cider.

__________________
* My Bar Build
8-Paws Brewing Co.
On tap:
.
Secondary:
Primary:
.
.
On Deck:
. Heavenly Scourge Black IIPA
Kegged:
.

Being a perfectionist does not make one perfect.

wooda2008

Recipes 

You helped me track down my error, so it's all good

Yooper

Recipes 

I always try to rack from the primary when the wine is at 1.010-1.020. That's good standard winemaking practice! The theory is you get the wine airlocked while fermentation is still going on, so that the co2 helps prevent oxidation.

I rack again whenever I have lees 1/4" thick or so after 45-60 days. At every other racking at that point, I add one crushed campden tablet per gallon, to help protect the wine from oxidation.

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Captive

Recipes 

If you're making your Skeeter Pee like most people do, you shouldn't need the extra racking. It's usually a fast enough brew that you'll have it in bottles before the lees has a chance to taint your flavor. The one thing you may want to watch though: Skeeter Pee is happier with a little more oxygen than most wines. Transferring early does close off the air supply. If you have enough O2 dissolved in solution, you'll be alright. If your yeast become starved for O2, they'll be "stressed" and you run the risk of the rotten egg smell. You could give it an occassional stir in the carboy as long as it's still fermenting. That'll drive off some of the CO2 and hopefull give it a breath of fresh air.
Cheers,
Lon