459 
at the bottom of the receiver. It should then receive the first rack- 
ing, and it is drawn from over these lees into clean casks in which 
sulphur fumes have been generated by burning a piece of sulphur 
tape. 
The wine must be made to absorb the sulphur, either by 
spreading it by means of a rose or by pumping the sulphur fumes 
into it. 
A few days after this racking the wine clears readily, and it is 
left for two or three months in well-filled and closed casks. 
The filling of what is called the “ullage” should be done at least 
every fortnight, preferably every week, so as to absolutely exclude 
the air from the cask. Neglect of this precaution will cause the 
wine to become tainted with the moulds of flowers of wine and of 
acetic acid. 
Towards the end of winter the young wine is again racked 
(2nd racking) in a similar way. 
Again, a 3rd racking as spring comes round. 
Racking is best done wl.en the weather is clear and the 
barometer high, which with us in Western Australia generally occurs 
when the cool breezes are from the South-West. 
If the white wine does not clear readily after the first racking, 
1% to 34 oz. of tannin per 100 gallons are added; if it still remains 
cloudy and turbid a light fining with 6 to 8 grammes of isinglass, or 
some other good fining, per 100 gallons will clear it. 
A 4th racking should take place before the subsequent vintage. 
At that time this young wine will have lost most of the carbonic 
acid it held in solution; it will be bright and clear and will rid 
itself of the harsh and raw taste of new wine. 
After keeping for another year or two in clean casks, kept well 
filled and racked twice the second year, and once the third year, it 
will be ready for bottling after a fining or filtering or both, if 
necessary. 
How to Rack Wine. 
This operation, which has for its object the removal of the 
clearer wine from over its sediment at the bottom of the cask and 
its transference to clean casks provided for its reception, 1s accom- 
plished in a variety of ways, governed by local practice and by the 
nature of the appliances at hand. 
The more generally used methods are :-— 
(1.) The drawing of the wine direct from one cask to an- 
other by means of a hose or syphon. 
(2.) The transferring from one cask to another by means of 
pails or buckets. 
(3.) The drawing by means of a pump. 
