Standard WOW

[Gethin79]

So I finally got to rack my first ever WOW today. One thing is for sure, my racking technique could use some practice!! Managed to rack it eventually though without sucking up too much sediment.

Even though I was racking from a 5L plastic DJ to a 4.5L I still ended up with quite a bit of headspace, hence the need to practice my racking technique! I don't think that helped when it came to degassing, as I think I was adding just as much gas back into the wine as I was getting out of it when shaking the DJ.

I used VinClasse stabiliser which I added to a glass of warm water and added this to the DJ, which topped it up nicely, then gave it a bit more degassing, which I think was more successful. Then added Kwik Clear finings. Now in the cool waiting to clear.

Think I may have miscalculated my sugars somehow. Will end up as 13.8%ABV!! :shock:
First taste was err...strong...to say the least!!!

Still, got a pineapple/WGJ, RGJ/Apple and WGJ/mango peach and papaya all on the go, which I've added less sugars to. Plenty of opportunity to practice that racking!! :thumb:

 

[oldbloke]

What's wrong with 13.8? Just about where I like them!

 

[Robbo]

I have a little red clip which fits onto the racking cane and onto the neck of the DJ so I don't have to hold the cane when I'm racking off.

It does make life a lot easier....but i can't remember where I got the clip from. :wha:

 

[Gentwee]

Any home brew shop either local or online, even eBay/amazon etc sell them. Well worth the 2 or 3 pound, makes it so much easier when you're racking on your own.

 

[Gethin79]

What's wrong with 13.8? Just about where I like them!

Haha! I've generally been used to the 11%ish wines. This tastes significantly stronger! That said I reckon I could get used to it :drink:

I used a cable tie and clothes peg to help support the racking cane, which to begin with worked well. The trouble came as I got towards the sediment. My cane doesn't have an anti-sediment attachment, just 2 holes about an inch from the bottom. Before I knew it this came out of the wine,sucking in air, and my immediate (stupid) response was to plunge it further down...stirring up the sediment nicely!

Thanks all for the advice! :thumb:

 

[Robbo]

I got my racking cane from Wilkinson's for £2.00 and it has a thick plastic disk on the bottom so you can shove the cane all the way to the bottom of the DJ without sucking up the sediment......it's quite good for a couple of quid :thumb:

 

[Gethin79]

I got my racking cane from Wilkinson's for £2.00 and it has a thick plastic disk on the bottom so you can shove the cane all the way to the bottom of the DJ without sucking up the sediment......it's quite good for a couple of quid :thumb:

Thanks for that. I've got another one to rack this evening, so I think a trip to Wilkos is in order! :thumb:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If you have a standard racking cane with the tap on the end just buy 30cm to 60cm of tube (depending on the height from DJ to floor) and put it onto the tap, you can then get the tube to the bottom of the DJ and no air can get into it as you rack.

 

[Gethin79]

Thanks for the reply.

However, the tube I am using is plenty long enough to reach to the bottom of the receiving DJ, the problem I was having was sucking in air from the original DJ. The problem happened because my racking cane sucks through 2 small holes about an inch above the end of the racking cane. I was concentrating so hard on keeping the end of the cane out of the sediment that the level of the wine dropped below the holes, and sucked in air. This made me plunge the cane into the sediment to try and keep the syphon going, bit of a knee-jerk reaction. The end result was nicely stirred up sediment!

I think I could probably have got away with gently pushing the cane into the sediment earlier, which would have given me better results. I think I'm going to try one of the canes as mentioned above. I have also bought a syphon tap, which will hopefully give me better control if I do happen to suck up too much sediment!

 

[simkin]

Yep. That Wilko thingy is great. Since you can just push it to a bottom 'corner' and hold it there you can concentrate on tilting the DJ at the end to get as much sediment-free wine as possible without changing its position or anything.

 

[Gethin79]

Full marks go to the Wilko syphon kit. Managed to rack the second one with enough left over for a cheeky taster!! :thumb: :drink:

Cheers all!!! :