[WeavingGryphon]

Hello,
Another wine making query.
How deep do you let your Lees get before you rack? None of the books answer that question.

We had the bramble wine in a demibucket on Tuesday and when we got the demijohns we racked into that. There was almost no sludge in the bottom of the demibucket and now there's at least an inch at the bottom of the demijohn.

[TonyB.]

How long is a piece of string. When fermentation stops then unless you are using wine clearing addatives be patient. Wait untill sludge appears then rack. More sludge will appear but again be patient, at first it will be loose but after a week or so the weight of the liquid will compress it making it easy to siphon off.

[grinling]

you could also rack a second time.

[WeavingGryphon]

How long is a piece of string. When fermentation stops then unless you are using wine clearing addatives be patient. Wait untill sludge appears then rack. More sludge will appear but again be patient, at first it will be loose but after a week or so the weight of the liquid will compress it making it easy to siphon off.

But how deep a layer do you let it get?
If loads build up over a short period of time what do you do?

That bramble was in the demibucket for 3 weeks ish and no sludge, then after racking boom, lots of lees. Leaving it in lets it get musty, racking too much harms the wines as well.

[grinling]

I have 3 on the go at the mo, 1 has stopped and will need racking, but the 2 newer ones have fruit bits at the top. I will stir them and top up with water.
About 4-6 weeks later with no bubbles I will rack and top up, but not stop.
After a couple of months I will  rerack if I need to and stop (bottle in your case).
I have lots of demijohns so it gets left for 4 years before bottling.