So Much Sediment!

My plum wine, which I transferred to the secondary fermenter a little less than a month ago, still has a large quantity of sediment (plum flesh, et al) at the bottom (see picture).

It doesn't seem to be settling any too quickly.

If I rack it after 30 days (as recommended), I will lose A LOT of wine. Can I wait until more of it settles before racking? I got plenty of patience -- I've already learned that winemaking is all about the waiting! I just am not sure what the best approach is with this much sediment still loosely floating around the bottom.

All fresh fruit throws a ton of lees. I read you can expect to loose about 1/3 in lees from what you start with. I think I am over that amount. I just racked my peach today for the 5th time. 50 pounds of peaches yielded just 5 gallons. And I know this will not be the last racking!

Wow I figure you should have been able to get at least fifteen gallons with 50 lbs. Mike

TedLarsen said:

My plum wine, which I transferred to the secondary fermenter a little less than a month ago, still has a large quantity of sediment (plum flesh, et al) at the bottom (see picture).

It doesn't seem to be settling any too quickly.

If I rack it after 30 days (as recommended), I will lose A LOT of wine. Can I wait until more of it settles before racking? I got plenty of patience -- I've already learned that winemaking is all about the waiting! I just am not sure what the best approach is with this much sediment still loosely floating around the bottom.

Click to expand...

I would personally go ahead and rack off of the GROSS LEES and then to try to capture as much wine from the gross lees you leave behind by transferring the residual to a container and place in your refrigerator and siphon off the clear liquid that will settle to the top. This is your best chance to try to capture as much liquid as possible.

Those little jars with lee juice always go in the fridge here. When the liquid comes to the top it is time to take a sneak test. Mike