OK, so I'm doing my first kit to compare to my fresh juice pails to see if I can notice any differences in the quality dollar for dollar. I've followed the directions exactly and I have two problems with the kit. First being it seemed like no matter what I did it was a royal pain to degass, the whole 2 minute stir with a drill mounted device and vacu vin didn't come close to degassing it and no matter what I did it kept producing gases or so it seemed with my zero kit experience as compared to degassing after bulk aging my juices for 1 year. When it got down to about nil bubbles, I then followed the directions for adding the chitosan ( I beleive thats what it was called) and stirred that up with the yeast in the carboy as recommended by wine expert. Several days later my carboy is filled with floaters. I read Jack Kelelrs site and he said after a few days twist the carboy to make sediment fall faster and I had the opposite happen. I watched in fear as it seemed I made it worse. It's only been in the clearing stage for 4 days so maybe I'm overreacting, am I? I also noticed my directions said do not rack off the yeast in secondary before doing all of this but on their website and others they say or show racking to a third carboy before stabilizing and clearing. Not sure why the written ones are different. It's a 10 litre red kit if that helps at all, thanks in advance, Ken
My first kit clearing/degassing question
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beer_guy_dave
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Ken,
With the half dozen or so kits I have made, I racked off the yeast to secondary, then did the degassing process and clearing. I've done the degassing more than once (IE: degas 2 to 3 days in a row), then done the clearing process. I"ve had no problems and ended up with a very clear product.
Dave
With the half dozen or so kits I have made, I racked off the yeast to secondary, then did the degassing process and clearing. I've done the degassing more than once (IE: degas 2 to 3 days in a row), then done the clearing process. I"ve had no problems and ended up with a very clear product.
Dave
summersolstice
Well-Known Member
Ken, I've made kits from a half dozen different manufacturers and the directions will vary for each one. Some will have you rack from the lees and some won't. It's my understanding that it has to do with the type of bentonite used by the manufacturer.
The degassing process is always a PITA that nobody likes. I'd say that 4-5 minutes with a drill mounted stirrer should be plenty and if you bulk age with an air lock for a year it'll degass the rest by itself anyway.
As for shaking the carboy, I've found that it's best to do exactly what the directions say - no more and no less. I'd bet that as the wine bulk ages the floaties will drop.
The degassing process is always a PITA that nobody likes. I'd say that 4-5 minutes with a drill mounted stirrer should be plenty and if you bulk age with an air lock for a year it'll degass the rest by itself anyway.
As for shaking the carboy, I've found that it's best to do exactly what the directions say - no more and no less. I'd bet that as the wine bulk ages the floaties will drop.
Texron
Well-Known Member
Solstice-How long would you bulk age a white wine made from a kit? Do you periodically add additional stabilizers or anti-oxidants while bulk aging?
I will appreciate your guidance.
Ron
I will appreciate your guidance.
Ron
Solstice can I still bulk age it even after I stabilized and used the clearing agent or is it too late? Also what about degassing again? I think from now on I'm not going to stray from what I know which is bulk aging, maybe not for the full year with kits like I do with the juice but at least 6 months, Ken
