Primary fermentation issue.

Sunnyside said:

Hi all, I'm long time first time. Been lurking a long time around here but this is my first time posting. I have been making wine for a long time and never encountered a situation like I have this year, maybe somebody can help. I purchased grapes like i do every year, crushed them and put the crushed grapes into the barrel for primary fermentation. Everything was normal for the first 4-5 days, as the juice separates and the grape solids move to the top. Every morning and evening I am sure to mix and turnover the grapes risen at the top so they stink up. However on the last day before I left for work I gave the grapes that rose to the top another mix and planned on pressing when I got back that evening.

However when I got home that night I noticed a funny thing, the juice and grape solids we still mixed together just like the must would be after crushing the grapes. The juice did not separate since the morning and the grapes solids were not rising to the top like usual. Left it like that for another day and still the same so I decided to salvage some of the little clear juice that had managed to separate and pressed the rest of the grapes. The grapes I pressed were very liquid and what came out of the press was a very funny color juice, like some kind of purple juice. I transferred everything to carboys and I'm just hoping everything will clarify. Funny thing is the dryness of the wine is good and the taste is ok for now. Has anybody ever encountered this before??

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Johnd said:

Sounds to me like you simply left the must in the fermentation vessel until fermentation was over. While AF is ongoing, the CO2 that is being produced latches on to the solids and causes them to rise and form the cap.

Doesn’t sound like you used a hydrometer to check your progress, but that’s how we typically time the pressing of the grapes. Well spent $10, think about getting one. It’s important to know if you’re dealing with a stuck fermentation, or a completed fermentation, but I suspect it’s the latter. If your hydrometer reading is not less than 1.000, check back in here and someone will help you decide your next actions.

As for the color, if you are making a red wine, purple is a good color for press run juice. What variety of grapes did you use? As the wine sits and the solids drop out, it will darken to be nearly black in the carboy. If AF was over, you got a couple extra days soaking on the skins, that can also enhance body, tannin extraction, as well as color.

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bkisel said:

Welcome to the forum!

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Sunnyside said:

Thanks for the response, that makes a lot of sense. However I was using a hydrometer and the reading I got the night before was indeed under the 1.000, that's why I decided I was going to press the next day. I'm just surprised the AF would be completed so quickly after barely a week, maybe 5-6 days at the most if I remember correctly. Since I already had a lot of Zinfandel and Cabernet from previous years, this year I decided to make some wine from grapes I'd never used before, a blend of mostly Syrah. Anyways I'm a little reassured now..thanks!

Thanks!!

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