Peach Wine Clarification

[ZenBrew]

I'm pretty new to wine/mead, but experienced with beer. I've only made a handful of batches of both wine and mead.

Given that, I recently made a batch of peach wine. After active fermentation I racked it over to a secondary. The state of which you can see in the picture below. It is still cloudy, but it is on a bit of trub which I suspect is yeast and very very very small peach parts. It has been in the secondary about a week.

My question is this: should I rack it off all the trub and let it clarify in a tertiary? Or should I let it clarify in the secondary and then transfer to a tertiary?

I see pros and cons both ways. Pro of racking it again is it is off that trub, but II really hateracking too much for fear of infection and oxidation. What are your all thoughts on what I should do at this point?

 

[Yooper]

Rack it in about 30 days- the lees will compact a bit and it will be time to rack then. You'll want to top up with something- maybe a commercial white wine- to avoid all the headspace that will occur when you leave the lees behind.

After that, rack every 60 days if you have lees, or any time you have lees 1/4" thick (after this time). Top up each time.

Once the wine is no longer dropping any lees at all after at least 60 days in a new vessel, it can be fined and after that stabilized if you wish to sweeten.

It looks good so far! Some wines drop a lot of lees, like peach and crabapple, but once it's done it'll stop dropping them. Dandelion wine drops fine lees for ages and ages, even once it seems to be clear. Patience is the game here now.

 

[ZenBrew]

Thanks Yooper! That is what I will do. For good booze, I can have patience. That is no problem!

I've been filling the carboys with CO2 and then putting the wine in when I rack. That way I don't have to worry about the headspace/oxidation, right?

Thanks for saying it looks good so far. Its also good to know that some wine drop a lot of lees. I won't sweat it too much and I'll just follow your directions.

You've helped me a few other times on here. Mainly with soda kegging and CO2 issues. Thanks in general for your expertise. If there was a puzzle on Jepordy that said, "Expert on Homebrewtalk.com," then I would have to answer, "Who is Yooper?"

 

[ZenBrew]

One more thing. What are your thoughts on putting campden tablets in the wine each time I rack it to a new vessel? I've heard of people doing that, but it seems like if you treat it gently you shouldn't oxidize it too badly. Or am I wrong?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks Yooper! That is what I will do. For good booze, I can have patience. That is no problem!

I've been filling the carboys with CO2 and then putting the wine in when I rack. That way I don't have to worry about the headspace/oxidation, right?

Thanks for saying it looks good so far. Its also good to know that some wine drop a lot of lees. I won't sweat it too much and I'll just follow your directions.

You've helped me a few other times on here. Mainly with soda kegging and CO2 issues. Thanks in general for your expertise. If there was a puzzle on Jepordy that said, "Expert on Homebrewtalk.com," then I would have to answer, "Who is Yooper?"

While c02 helps, it doesn't stay there forever (due to the laws of physics) and so while it will help protect the wine for a bit, nothing works as well as simply topping up or racking to a smaller carboy. You want almost no headspace- you want the wine to be where the carboy is narrowest, just under the bung where it is maybe 1" or 1.5" inches, and not the width of the carboy.

One more thing. What are your thoughts on putting campden tablets in the wine each time I rack it to a new vessel? I've heard of people doing that, but it seems like if you treat it gently you shouldn't oxidize it too badly. Or am I wrong?

You want to generally keep the wine at 50 ppm or so, for the antioxidant effect. If you don't have an s02 meter (I don't), a reasonable guestimate is to add one campden tablet per gallon (crushed and dissolved in a little wine or water) at every other racking. It works great.

While most people think of oxidation as big events, like splashing, the truth is simply that wine uptakes a little oxygen in ways you wouldn't think of- for example simply through the water in the airlock or through a silicone bung. It's micro-oxidation over the long term that does damage, just as much (or more) than splashing. That's another reason for reducing headspace- there is maybe an inch of wine on the surface exposed to the oxygen in the little bit of headspace vs 10 inches where a carboy is wide (or worse, in a bucket!).

I hope that all makes sense!

 

[ZenBrew]

That nearly all makes sense. The only part I don't understand is what happens to the CO2? Does it get dissolved into the wine and then replaced with air through small leaks around the top of the carboy?

If it doesn't get dissolved into the wine, then I don't understand why it wouldn't offer more than a little bit of protection. Being heavier than air it seems like it would make a nice layer of CO2 between the wine and air. What am I missing?

 

[lukebuz]

That nearly all makes sense. The only part I don't understand is what happens to the CO2? Does it get dissolved into the wine and then replaced with air through small leaks around the top of the carboy?

If it doesn't get dissolved into the wine, then I don't understand why it wouldn't offer more than a little bit of protection. Being heavier than air it seems like it would make a nice layer of CO2 between the wine and air. What am I missing?

Diffusion my dear friend. High concentrations WILL find their way to low concentrations. This works for the CO2 in your carboy, and the O2 outside the carboy. Think it over

 

[Yooper]

That nearly all makes sense. The only part I don't understand is what happens to the CO2? Does it get dissolved into the wine and then replaced with air through small leaks around the top of the carboy?

If it doesn't get dissolved into the wine, then I don't understand why it wouldn't offer more than a little bit of protection. Being heavier than air it seems like it would make a nice layer of CO2 between the wine and air. What am I missing?

What lukebuz said, and keep in mind that there is NEVER 100% co2 in any vessel, even during very active fermentation. Once fermentation ends, and no new co2 is produced, gasses will always seek equilibrium. It's the laws of physics, particularly the ideal gas law, that do this. But yes, even the water in an airlock allows air (oxygen) to diffuse in to help create that equilibrium.

 

[bernardsmith]

and if you think about it: we are all constantly breathing out CO2. But when we take our next breath we are not breathing in the CO2. It does not hang around, and unless the fermentation is quite active CO2 that blankets the wine very soon dissipates, escapes through the airlock and becomes at one with the atmosphere.. adding CO2 to the planet... and so helping to increase our planet's temperature... I guess that means that making bad wine and bad beer is a social issue as much as a personal one.