Fermented in 2 Days - Bad?

Hi Folks,
I'm new here and to wine making. I think I may have screwed up. Let me know what you think.


This past weekend (Saturday) I went to Corrado's in Clifton, NJ to look at the newly arrived grapes. I tasted lots of grapes and found a really tasty grape called "Petite Sirah".I bought two skids and had them de-stemmed an pressed at the store. I took home about 8 Gallons of juice.
The juce was at about 60 Degrees. I took a Hydrometer reading and it was 1.090 (SG).I decided to let it sit overnight to warm it up.


Sunday 4:00PM, I poured the juice into two 5 gallon pails and prepaired two packets of Lalvin RC 212 Bourgovin Wine Yeast. I added the yeast and took a temperature reading of the must-it was at 68 Degrees. I thought it should be at 72 Degrees so I got a small area heater and put it close to the pails. The must started showing action at 6:00PM.


Monday 8:00AM
The must is at 84 Degrees and boiling quite nicely. I turned the heater off.
At 10:00AM the temperature went up to 86 Degrees. I called Corrado's. The man who answered the phone said: "Leave it alone and just let it do it's thing". I gave it a good stir.
At 1:00PM the temperature climbed to 87 Degrees. I took a ride to Corrado's and talked with another person on the sales floor. Hetold me that it seemeda bit high. I went home and decided to try to cool it down, so I took some wet paper towels, wrapped the pails, got a fan and pointed it at the pails. About two hours later I got the temperature down to 78 Degrees. I gave it a stir. Turned the fan off


Tuesday (today) 8:00AM
The must is at 74 Degrees and boiling really nice. I went out and came back at 2:00PM and noticed that the action was over.
I took a hydrometer reading and the must was at 1.003 (SG).
I called Corrado's (I know I must be a newb pest by now) they said: "Let it get to 1.000 (SG) then rack it - you are real close".


I figure tomorrow morning I willrack it into a couple of small carboys.


Did I ruin it?


Thanks in advance for your help.

You didn't ruin it. The heat actually helped the RC212 to ferment it out. It can be quite quick with that yeast. However, without a good cold soak, you might not have gotten the color extraction or the tannin extraction you might have needed for a highly structured wine.

Petite Syrah can be very high in tannins, so you might have a nice gentle wine without the cold soak and immediate pressing.

But a fast fermentation will not ruin it.

Welcome to the forum pookee! We are always glad to get a new member and always happy to help out.


I was real worried when I read you bought to skids until I read you got 8 gallons! A skid is another name for a pallet and usually is a stack of about 20 or so lugs and weighs almost a healf ton. I cringe whenever I hear of someone that is new and starts with a ton of grapes.


Like Dean says, nothing to worry about. It might have been better to leave the heater off from it and let it come up to temperature on its own, but it will be fine. It is best to leave the grapes in for a few days minimum at crushing and then press, but when you buy them like that it is almost a necessity to have them pressed at the store since you lack equipment. One thing that some guys will do is to get a small bucket of the pressed skins and seeds from where you bought them. Take them home with you and put them in a straining bag. Put the bag and all in with the fermenting juice to be more like the natural must.


Keep going like you are and you will be fine. And again welcome.

Thanks Dean and Appleman,
I racked the wine today it looks like a dark Rose. Not as dark as the Petite Sirah I boughtmade byRunning With Sissors Vin 2004 (which tasted very nice BTW).
I tasted mine and it tastes very sour. Is that the yeast or the beginnings of Vinegar?

Its just the newness of it.It needs to age.Next time just let it start cool,and leave it that way.It will take longer to ferment,but will be better in the end.I use RC-212 quite a bit,and have never had a bad batch using it,even some warm ferments.Yours will be fine.The sourness is a good sign.When it ages it will smooth out.
lockdude

Like lockdude said, the sour is just a part of new wine. Actually, since this is fresh juice, I'd go so far to say that anything even resembling wine within the first year is purely coincidence! The last petite syrah you just tried was 3 years old. Yours is about 3-4 days old. The sour taste should start to blend in in about 6 months to 1 year.

Pookee, What a great opportunity to get those grapes and get them pressed! As far as the temperature, I rarely let the house get above 64 degrees in the winter and we've done fine with our wines. We sometimes put a heating pad on the side of the primary, but we just use a lot of patience. It sounds like you're on the road to making wine!


As far as the taste at this time, Poor Bert has quit offering me tastes of wines at the beginning stages. I just tell him it tastes raw and he goes away. **Poor Bert...**

Hi there Pookee,
Welcome to the forum. I am new to it also but have been making wines
for a while now. Best advise to you is PATIENCE IS KEY IN MAKING A GOOD
WINE. Excellent choice of grapes. Should be a good one. I'm envious you
were able to find fresh fruit. You were fortunate that the vineyard crushed
and destemmed the grapes for you. They saved you a huge amount of
work in preparing the fruit to make wine with.
Don't get in a hurry to rack the wine just yet. Initial fermentation usually
take somewhere around 7 to 10 days. It sounds like you have already removed the skins hence the lighter color. Keep good records of your
ingredients and steps in making your wine. It will pay off later.
Your wine will taste yeasty for quite some time. Only aging and time will
smooth that out. When it is thru the aging process your wine will be bone
dry. When you get ready to bottle it you will sweeten to your taste. Hopefully Semi-dry or Dry for that type of wine. You will need a hydrometer. Consider aging this wine for a year or more. You will be tempted to finish it sooner but that wine is going to taste so much better
if you let it age. Good luck.
P.S. George sells kit wines that can be drank in 3 months if you are impatient. That may help keep you from being tempted to get into the
cookie jar before this wine is allowed to become its best.