Wine Racking

The current batch of redcurrant wine seems to have stopped bubbling, & a layer of sediment has built up at the bottom, which means that it is time for racking off.

Although I could leave siphoning off the good wine from the gunk until the wine is clear - & in fact go straight to bottling at that point, in theory - racking the wine off when it has finished fermenting to get the dead yeast out the way is generally considered to be a good thing, & once this is done the wine can get on with the job of settling out.

Of course, each time wine is racked, you lose a bit, but I cunningly accounted for that when I made the batch up - there is more than a gallon in total (i.e. a gallon of water added to the redcurrants, then the sugar added on top), which is why the wine has been split in half and has been fermenting away in two demijohns, each a little over half full.

Racking both of the demijohns off into a bucket, I cleaned one out, kept aside a glassful for testing the SG (& for tasting, lets be honest), then poured the wine back into the demijohn & it is now back under an airlock & will be left to clear.

The SG is just under 990, making the strength of the wine an astonishing 15% - so best be a bit careful with this one.

And the taste? Fruity!