Once fermentation has ended for white wine, the wine needs to be removed from the fermentation tank. Its usual next step is a glass carboy or an oak barrel. Using your siphon and plastic tubing, rack as much of the wine as you can off of any remaining sediment and into your chosen container.

For red wine, leave the wine and skins together in the tank until the desired color has been reached. Rack the free-run wine off the skins and transfer the mass of skins, pulp, and seeds (pomace) to your press. Slowly squeeze out any remaining wine. Do not press too hard or you will fracture seeds. If you have decided not to invest in a press, put a sturdy sieve over a food-grade plastic trash can, place the pomace in the sieve, and use your hands to press out the remaining wine. (You might want to wear plastic gloves while you do this!)

Once you have pressed the pomace, the leftover skins make perfect composting material for your garden.

Once the wine is out of the fermentation tanks, you need to adjust sulfur dioxide levels once again. At this point, it might be worth preparing a 10 percent stock solution of potassium metabisulfite for your sulfur additions. It's quite easy to make: Just dissolve 100 grams of potassium metabisulfite in one liter of water. Here is a chart to help you determine how much of the solution to add to your wine:

Wine freshly racked out of its fermentation vessel should have its total sulfur dioxide levels adjusted to no more than 50 ppm. If you desire malolactic, or secondary, fermentation to occur, do not make a sulfur addition at this point. Also keep in mind that the lower the pH of the newly fermented wine, the less sulfur dioxide you need to add.

Once the wine is in its aging vessel, whether a carboy or a barrel, the wine will have to be racked again. Grape matter will continue to precipitate out of the wine, and since you want the clearest wine possible, you will have to pull the wine out, put it in a temporary container, clean out any sediment, and then return the wine to its original container. With each racking, test the sulfur dioxide levels. It is not necessary to add sulfur at each racking, but you must maintain 30 ppm free sulfur dioxide. Don't forget to taste the wine as it ages.