Racking wine is the process of transferring wine from one barrel to another while leaving the sediment behind. It serves to clarify a red wine - meaning that with each successive racking, ideally, the winemaker will have a clearer, more refined red wine. Theories about racking's other accomplishments include micro-oxygenation, co2 diffusion, and the enhancement of microbial stability. We have chosen to wait a while (a long while, in fact) in order to allow malolactic fermentation to finish before our first racking. And while waiting, I made another big mistake.
While keeping the unused barrel sterilized with the use of sulfur - I haven't filled it with water in order to keep it from drying out. So today, Carissa and I dragged the barrel out of the basement, up the stairs, and into the garage. I hooked up the chlorine filter Chad had rigged up last fall and began to fill the barrel with water. Sure enough, the barrel is leaking in nearly every stave joint. Infact, the metal hoops are so loose, they can slide right off. Great, I think. Chad is going to be so happy when he finds out I have officially ruined our second barrel. So, I turn the faucet up high and with stubborn defiance, crack a soda and turn on the radio. My way or the highway motherfucker! Seal up or shut up!
I soon realize that it is nearly impossible to fill a container with water that is leaking at around the same rate as it is being filled. I turn off the faucet and roll the barrel into the garage to see if it will swell a bit now that it has gotten wet. It works. Kinda. Letting the barrel sit overnight helps me get the level just a bit higher the next day. And I continue this process for five days. Needless to say, the front lawn gets a nice watering. By the weekend, I can fill the barrel with water - it just won't hold it. There are some very stubborn stave joints that don't want to close up.
Sunday morning (April 19th) I wake up to almost a foot of snow on the ground. So I roll the barrel out into the snow and fill it full of water. Then Chad and I pack the barrel with snow - the tops, sides, the whole bit. And sure enough, the barrel finally seals. So we let it sit full for the next couple of days and I start my chemical preparation to sanitize the barrel. Tuesday, the 21st, I add 12 pounds of barrelkleen solution and fill the barrel with hot water - not an easy task because I have to run hose water through our chlorine filter and then put it on the stove top to heat it up. Hours and hours of boiling water. Once this is completed, the barrel is left for 2.5 days. Friday the 24th I empty and rinse the barrel, and fill it with a 10 gallon solution of 80 ounces potassium metabisulfite and 10 ounces of citric acid. This neutralizes any remaining alkali from the barrelkleen. Filled, rolled, emptied, and rinsed - the barrel is ready. I won't be able to rack right away so I put a solution of 6 tblspns metabisulfite and 12 tblspns citric acid and fill the barrel to the top.
On Tuesday, April 28th, I drain and rinse the barrel again, take it to the basement (with Carissa's help) and the three of us rack the wine using a pump we borrowed from our neighbors. It takes about forty minutes to do so and by the bottom of the barrel - the wine looks like paint. It is viscous, purple, nasty and has probably been one of the reasons our wine has taken on some "green apple bullshit." I probably should have racked sooner to get the wine off of these bitter, astringent lees - now I know. We probably lost 3.5 gallons of wine to the racking process - a bit scary for me considering I only have 6.5 total gallons for topping up. I will push the next racking date back just a touch to be sure I get extended aging without creating airspace in my barrel. Note: order more grapes next year!!!
While keeping the unused barrel sterilized with the use of sulfur - I haven't filled it with water in order to keep it from drying out. So today, Carissa and I dragged the barrel out of the basement, up the stairs, and into the garage. I hooked up the chlorine filter Chad had rigged up last fall and began to fill the barrel with water. Sure enough, the barrel is leaking in nearly every stave joint. Infact, the metal hoops are so loose, they can slide right off. Great, I think. Chad is going to be so happy when he finds out I have officially ruined our second barrel. So, I turn the faucet up high and with stubborn defiance, crack a soda and turn on the radio. My way or the highway motherfucker! Seal up or shut up!
I soon realize that it is nearly impossible to fill a container with water that is leaking at around the same rate as it is being filled. I turn off the faucet and roll the barrel into the garage to see if it will swell a bit now that it has gotten wet. It works. Kinda. Letting the barrel sit overnight helps me get the level just a bit higher the next day. And I continue this process for five days. Needless to say, the front lawn gets a nice watering. By the weekend, I can fill the barrel with water - it just won't hold it. There are some very stubborn stave joints that don't want to close up.
Sunday morning (April 19th) I wake up to almost a foot of snow on the ground. So I roll the barrel out into the snow and fill it full of water. Then Chad and I pack the barrel with snow - the tops, sides, the whole bit. And sure enough, the barrel finally seals. So we let it sit full for the next couple of days and I start my chemical preparation to sanitize the barrel. Tuesday, the 21st, I add 12 pounds of barrelkleen solution and fill the barrel with hot water - not an easy task because I have to run hose water through our chlorine filter and then put it on the stove top to heat it up. Hours and hours of boiling water. Once this is completed, the barrel is left for 2.5 days. Friday the 24th I empty and rinse the barrel, and fill it with a 10 gallon solution of 80 ounces potassium metabisulfite and 10 ounces of citric acid. This neutralizes any remaining alkali from the barrelkleen. Filled, rolled, emptied, and rinsed - the barrel is ready. I won't be able to rack right away so I put a solution of 6 tblspns metabisulfite and 12 tblspns citric acid and fill the barrel to the top.
On Tuesday, April 28th, I drain and rinse the barrel again, take it to the basement (with Carissa's help) and the three of us rack the wine using a pump we borrowed from our neighbors. It takes about forty minutes to do so and by the bottom of the barrel - the wine looks like paint. It is viscous, purple, nasty and has probably been one of the reasons our wine has taken on some "green apple bullshit." I probably should have racked sooner to get the wine off of these bitter, astringent lees - now I know. We probably lost 3.5 gallons of wine to the racking process - a bit scary for me considering I only have 6.5 total gallons for topping up. I will push the next racking date back just a touch to be sure I get extended aging without creating airspace in my barrel. Note: order more grapes next year!!!
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