16 July 2007
[Epi 7] TintoTV - Blackberry's second racking
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(We are very sorry for the lower video quality – we briefly lost our temporary recording solution and we have since sought out a more permanent recording means; however, this episode and the next one are not top-notch video quality. Our sincere apologies.)
A lot goes wrong this episode and we told you we weren’t going to hide anything as we learn with you on camera! Luckily these mistakes resulted in the spirit of humor than disaster. Stephany is back and we work on three things this show: a) 2nd racking, b) degassing, c) topping up
We rack a second time because we have determined the end of fermentation and we don’t want to let the wine sit on the lees excessively as this can impart undesired flavors (so we’ve read). We have to be careful in this process to only transfer the wine instead of this gunk (lees) that has accumulated at the bottom of the carboy. In this process, we take another SG reading and we also add more sulphites as well as Potassium sorbate, an agent that will impede the yeast from re-starting fermentation (just in case anything we do jolts the yeast back into action).
Degassing ended up being tricky as we planned to use a drill-based tool to stir out the trapped CO2, but as you see in the episode, this did not end favorably. The principle though is that we need to let the CO2 created by the yeast escape the wine, otherwise we’ll end up with a fizzy or carbonated beverage, something we’re not aiming for in this batch. As we move into the “bulk aging” phase, a lot of this gas will escape on its own.
Topping up can be tricky if you’re not prepared. The idea here is to limit the wine’s exposure to air since it is no longer protected by the active expulsion of carbon dioxide. A lot of recipes allow simply for water to be added to the wine, but we feared we would dilute our concoction. Another possibility is to add juice, concentrate, or a similar wine, but in our case we wanted to keep the wine as true to its blackberries as possible. This is where saving some of the excess juice from the primary fermenter would have been handy just to pour into the carboy to top it off. Instead, we used colorless marbles as our ultimate solution, “space-fillers”. After thoroughly cleansing and sanitizing, we dropped them into our carboy and watched the fluid level rise till we felt comfortable with the surface area exposure to air in the carboy.
The patience game begins for our blackberry wine and what can winemakers do to help preserve patience with a batch? Make more wine!!! As we carefully watch the blackberry wine bulk age and clarify before bottling, we will entertain ourselves with a 2nd 1-gallon batch of wine. Strawberries anyone? Stay tuned!
As always, please ask your questions below, send in your advice, or just say hi with a comment below!!! Thanks for watching!
Hey Nico,
Loved the episode. Glad to see you guys didn’t edit any of the mishaps or problems with the wine, it gives the whole process a more sinceer approach. I’ve got a few people at work watching too (lurkers at this point) and they thought it was great. Keep up the good work.
Later
— Sergio Rodriguez Jul 16 #
Viva Mexico! It’s great to see Steph back in the show and Nico without a hat … Hilarious show!!! The idea with the canicas is great! Looking forward to the next show!
— Juan Carlos Jul 25 #
I love your show, I just found out about it in Wine Maker magazine and still have yet to try my hand at this. It may be easier to start your siphon if you can shorten your racking tube(I siphon my fish tanks all the time and have problems if the tube is to long).
— J Finley Aug 19 #
Nico and Steph, best show yet. Check out the autosiphons George has. They work great. For 1 Gal batches I would do everything with 3/8” id tubing. It’s slow for a 6 gal batch but plenty fast enough for 1 gal.
— PeterZ Aug 22 #