Part 20: Second Racking (Luke 5:37)

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. (Luke 5:37 NASB)

The secondary fermentation (really just a continuation of fermentation) takes several weeks. The must and sediment have been separated and the grapes are now immature wine. The yeast that have survived thus far will complete the fermentation process, producing as much as 30% of the total alcohol during this time. As the immature wine sits, the sediment still suspended will separate and fall to the bottom of the container. Evidence of the ongoing work can be seen as less frequent bubbles of carbon dioxide on the surface or in the airlock. 

At the end of several weeks, the wine will be racked again, finally transferring it to bottles. Every bit of fermentation must be complete, however, or carbon dioxide  will build up in the bottle and cause it to burst, losing all the wine the winemaker has worked so hard to produce. 

During this final racking, the transfer technique is especially important. Not one bit of sediment should be transferred. The goal is not cloudy, foul tasting wine. The goal is perfect clarity, or transparency, in the wine.

Transparency should be our goal, too. We need to be so clean inside (spiritually speaking) that there is nothing to hide, and nothing of ourselves to cloud the view of Christ in us. 

Consider your own heart today. Are there attitudes or "secret" sins that you hide from those with whom you desire to share Christ? Is there any sediment that needs to be cleared? In winemaking, the only way to remove the sediment is to siphon the wine away from it, making a clean and complete break between the wine and the cloudy sediment. Is there something clouding the transparent view of Christ in you? Maybe it's time to make some changes.  

Pray today that we would have such transparency of spirit that our loved ones can see straight through to the Christ in us, and that the view they see will be clear rather than distorted by any "sediment" we've allowed to remain. Pray that the view of Christ we present would be so attractive that our loved ones would desire a relationship with Him for themselves and begin their own journey of transformation. 

Part 19: The Racking (Luke 5:37)

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. (Luke 5:37, 38 NASB)

The entire process of converting grapes to wine is fairly amazing. The grapes are harvested, crushed, put in a vat, yeast is added, and the work begins. First the yeast reproduce, then they gobble up all the available sugars in the must. The period of yeast "eating sugar" is known as fermentation. During this time, the yeast give off waste products of alcohol and carbon dioxide. Because the carbon dioxide is a gas and is formed at the bottom of the vat, we can "see" the action of tiny bubbles (that seethe at times) on the surface of the vat. This fermentation over the first few days (7-10 days) is called primary fermentation. As the yeast use up the available sugars, the alcohol that is released begins to build up to levels that are toxic to the yeast. There comes a point when the level of alcohol is greater than the yeast can survive, and they begin to die. 

To bring the wine to full fermentation, an intervention is required. The wine must be "racked".  That is an odd term for transferring the wine to a second container. The transfer separates the developing wine from the dead yeast cells and the sediment of the fruit (leftover from the crushing) so that the fermentation can be completed. Winemakers call this secondary fermentation. This is not a second fermentation.  It is a completion of THE fermentation. 

You may remember (from the section on crushing) that the skin, seeds, and pulp from the wine's former life as a grape are allowed to remain for a while. Eventually, the remnants of the crushing will have to go, and this is the point where it is all removed. The grape will never be thought of as a grape again. Although it is not fully mature wine, it's well on its way and that former grape will forever after be considered wine. It is transformed. The process is not yet complete, but it is clearly underway. 

It's amazing to me that God, in His infinite mercy is so gentle to us. He tempers the crushing with His great love, allows us to keep the remnants of our former life far longer than seems sensible, and at the point where that former life has lost its luster for us, He separates us from it completely. We are transformed through this amazing process. It's a process all maturing believers experience. Where are you in this fermentation process?  Where is your loved one?

Pray today that we and our loved ones would quickly reach the end of our "primary fermentation", that point where our old life and old ways are stripped away, and we are transformed in such a way that we are "never a grape" again.