Wine techniques I want to try

[inchrisin]

I've got about 2 gal of cherry wine on the cherries right now. It's fermenting in a Better bottle, so I didn't use a paint straining bag yet because of the neck of the bottle. It's been 3 days and I've got good airlock activity. I want to move the wine off the cherries in the next week but I'm wondering how I'm going to use a racking cane when the wine inside seems so thick. I've got a way to purge another container with CO2 from my brewing gear. I think I'll just use a paint straining bucket and an ale pale to gently pour the wine through to the bucket. From there I'll rack to 1 gallon fermenters.

In short my concerns are with racking potentially failing (even with a filter around the tip of a racking cane) and potentially oxidizing my wine by pouring it through a paint strainer.

Any thoughts on this process?

I'm also interested in cold crashing the wine after this in a dedicated fermentation controlled fridge. Would this be a bad idea for any reason?

 

[Yooper]

As long as the wine is above 1.010-1.020 or so when you pour it, that should be fine. I always use a bucket for primary for fruit, so I can lift out the bag of fruit and squeeze, as it makes it much easier.

If you want to cold stabilize the wine once it's done, that will work well. Just make sure it's done first, and clearing on its own, to make sure it is finished.

 

[inchrisin]

As long as the wine is above 1.010-1.020 or so when you pour it, that should be fine. I always use a bucket for primary for fruit, so I can lift out the bag of fruit and squeeze, as it makes it much easier.

If you want to cold stabilize the wine once it's done, that will work well. Just make sure it's done first, and clearing on its own, to make sure it is finished.

I didn't have an extra bucket available. I'm starting to really hate my BBs.

Thanks for the reassurance.