Growing Grapes and Making Wine
(Page 4 of 7)
April/May 2003
By Jef Cox
Fill the carboy just to the neck, but not so full that bubbles from residual fizzing will reach the mouth. If you're using a barrel, fill it to within an inch of the bunghole. Until now, the wine has been in contact with air, and that's been beneficial. From this point on, air is the enemy and must be kept away from the wine. Simple devices called airlocks, sold at winemaking shops, allow gas bubbles out, but prevent air from coming back in. If you're using a carboy, use a rubber stopper with a hole in the center for the airlock. If you're using a barrel, use a silicone or rubber bung with a hole in the center for an airlock that fits the barrel's opening.
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RACKING & FINING
After about two or three weeks in the carboy or barrel, all fizzing should have stopped. Once the fizzing is completely finished, you'll need to do a first racking. Racking is the winemaking term for drawing the wine off the lees, which is the spent yeast, grape bits and general sludge that falls to the bottom of the carboy or barrel. Use foodgrade, clear-plastic siphon hose, available at winemaking shops, to siphon the clear wine into clean carboys, then rinse the lees from the old carboys or barrel using a garden hose with a strong jet of water. Reintroduce the wine back into the rinsedout carboys or barrel by pouring it through a funnel. Now cork the carboys with solid rubber stoppers—no holes or airlocks—or stopper the barrel with a solid silicone bung. Store the wine in a cool, dark place, such as a basement corner away from a furnace.
Two to three months after the primary racking, do a second racking. This time the lees will be far fewer and the wine you draw off will be clear. Three to four months later, do a third and final racking. This time the wine should be very clear. If it's hazy, you'll have to do an egg-white fining. Carefully separate one white from its yolk, being extra careful not to let a speck of yolk get in the white. One white is enough for 10 gallons of wine. Thoroughly stir half a well-beaten white into each 5-gallon carboy full of wine or six well-beaten whites into the barrel of wine. Wait a week and then rack the wine again. The whites should remove the haze. They also will remove some tannin, a phenolic compound that helps give structure to the wine, so don't fine unless absolutely necessary. If, after egg-white fining, the wine remains hazy, it always will be hazy. If it tastes good, keep it. If it doesn't, compost it and try again next year.
DRINK NO WINE BEFORE ITS TIME
You can age wine in carboys in a cool, completely dark place, or in a barrel in a cool place. Make sure the carboys or barrel are topped off. If you don't have your own wine left to top off with, use a similar wine.
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