No 'racking' in wine kit instructions.

Clare · Apr 8, 2017

Hi, I'm new to wine making and currently in the process of making a wilko 6 bottle Chardonnay kit. Having read around the subject as it ferments I noticed that very often instructions state the wine must be racked.

The instructions don't say anything at all about racking the wine though? I'm not even sure what I would rack it into.

Whilst I'm here I'll fire another question at you if you don't mind... for the first 4 days in the DJ (before topping up the water content) the mix did absolutely nothing. It was only after adding the extra water, giving it a really good swirl about and moving it from about 20 degrees to 22-24 that it started bubbling nicely. Will this have any effect on the end result.

I'm excited to get my teeth into this hobby further but I have a long way to go as you can see!

Chippy_Tea · Apr 8, 2017

First of all welcome to the forum.

The instructions don't say anything at all about racking the wine though? I'm not even sure what I would rack it into.

If they do not tell you to rack great its one less job to do, my WineBuddy kits also do not tell you to rack.

Whilst I'm here I'll fire another question at you if you don't mind... for the first 4 days in the DJ (before topping up the water content) the mix did absolutely nothing. It was only after adding the extra water, giving it a really good swirl about and moving it from about 20 degrees to 22-24 that it started bubbling nicely. Will this have any effect on the end result.

It will be fine :thumb:

Keep us posted :wink:

Clare · Apr 8, 2017

Chippy_Tea said:
It will be fine :thumb:

Keep us posted :wink:

Fab thank you! Can't wait to see how it turns out :thumb:

GDog · Apr 9, 2017

I started arse about t*t, doing country wines and other stuff where raking was a must.

I've since done a few kits, and was amazed that some of them are are started, topped up, degassed, cleared and bottled from one Demijohn - they turned out fine :thumb:

Al

engineer · Apr 9, 2017

Seems odd they do not mention racking at least once when the fermentation has finished. Not seen that on any kit i have used.

In the very very distant past (when dinosaurs ruled the earth) i left wine that had fully fermented out in a demijohn for a couple of weeks or more.

i did that more than once and each time i finally got to it the wine to rack and bottle it was definitely tainted with an "off" taste.

Maybe its the duration on the lees that causes tainting - not sure but i have always made a point of racking at least once since.

Chippy_Tea · Apr 9, 2017

Here are the instructions for the WineBbuddy Sav Blanc 30 bottle kit from my review - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49224

1. Sterilise FV.

2.Pour in 5 litres of hot water maximum 53c.

3. Pour in 4Kg of sugar.

4. Pour in the contents of the concentrate bottle.

5. Top the FV up to 22.7 litres.

6. Pour in the contents of the Yeast/yeast nutrient pack and also the French Oak Chips pack.

7. Fit lid and airlock.

8. leave the FV in a warm room (20c - 25c) for 6 days (ignore the 6 day guestimate it will take longer even in summer) then check the specific gravity using a hydrometer, if the gravity is less than .996 move to step number 9 (stabilising and clearing)

9] Pour the contents of the stabiliser pack into the wine and stir vigorously to degas.

10] Pour in pack D - F-pack A & B (see first post for description)

11] Pour in pack E - finings 1 stir and leave for 1 hour.

12] After 1 hour pour in pack F finings 2 stir and wait 1 hour.

13] After 1 hour pour in pack G finings 3 cover and leave for 24 hours.

Tau · Apr 9, 2017

If I recall wilkco kits don't require racking and turn out ok if you don't use the full recommended dose of stabiliser as that is all you can taste after adding (use a camden if you have one or 1/4 of the stabiliser pack. 3 week wines I wouldn't worry to much about racking, the dead yeast etc tends to compact quite well after adding the finings in the kit and is easily avoided when bottling a week later. People rack too much and often too soon.