First wine kit

[newbrewerkaf]

I have made lots of beer, first try at wine other than some machine as a kid. My question is just racked a wine expert red (Barolo) and other than the oak chips it had nothing in bottom, I know alot of what's in my beer is trub, but should I have had a noticeable yeast cake? It was definitely active for several days before racking(8 days primary) and sample is definitely fermented no sweet, good alcohol taste.. but why no yeast cake?

 

[100LL]

I also made a Barolo a few years ago for my first kit. Is / was the wine still cloudy and murky when you racked into the secondary? If so you're fine, it will start to settle and leave the lees at the bottom after you at the metabisulfite i believe....or whatever else is included in the kit that kills off the yeast. There's also going to be the clarifying agent that helps. Once those are added, after a while you will see the wine clear up and the lees start to settle to the bottom.

 

[newbrewerkaf]

A little cloudy thanks.

 

[100LL]

A little cloudy thanks.

No problem. You should notice in the kit that there are some steps to clarify the wine before bottling. That should give a nice cake at the bottom.
I actually racked into a secondary carboy to age a bit before bottling, which helped to not stir up that sediment with the racking cane.

 

[kh54s10]

I find that wine is quite different from Beer. You will get a little layer of sediment in every rack with the wine, but nothing like the trub of a beer. You might get more in the clarifying steps.

 

[beernutz]

I have brewed a very long time but only made 4 wine kits and I agree with the above sentiment about sediment--there just isn't nearly as much for wine as for beer. I am a big believer in not doing secondaries for beer but each of the wines I've made required 3 different rackings prior to bottling/kegging which spreads out the sediment accumulation.