WineXpert WE Petit Verdot SG

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tonyt

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I started my second WE Petit Verdot (absolutely love the first that is still aging). Added #1 of red flame raisins. Starting SG 1.1 prior to raisins, racked at 7 days SG 1.002 and squeezed raisins. 2 days later SG 1.000. 14 days later (today) SG still 1.000. Smell and taste is fine and dry. "Plan" was to rack, degass, clarify and add oak spiral in a few days. Should I proceed even if SG stays at 1.000 or stir and wait a week more? Do I need to add something to start up fermentation? Seems like you guys don't mind SG ro 1.000 sometimes. Seems like it is getting close to the time I should get it topped up. Today is day 21.
 
Ibglowin's advice is good. Please keep us informed as to how this kit's SG goes, as it is of special interest to me.
 
ttortorice said:
I will check temp and SG tonight and report.

Let me add that I once had a fermentation that stopped at 1.000.
I think that adding a brew belt to get the temperature up was the main thing.

I would also add that I stirred the yeast back up off the bottom before putting the carboy back under air lock. Fermentation started back up after a couple of days.

I would do both.
 
Okay, today, day 21, temp is 77-78 and SG is 1.000 or perhaps .999 with the wine curving up the side of the thief. I ricked the carboy some to stir things up. Will check again in a couple days.

Problem is if I don't rack and top up in a couple days I will not be able to do so until next week.
 
Was it always that temp or did you have to bring it up to that temp? If it was already that temp, check for bubbles and check the SG before you go and then rack and call it done. Top it off before you go.
 
ibglowin said:
Was it always that temp or did you have to bring it up to that temp? If it was already that temp, check for bubbles and check the SG before you go and then rack and call it done. Top it off before you go.

It was always that temp. In my ceramic floored kitchen on Texas Gulf Coast.
 
ttortorice said:
ibglowin said:
Was it always that temp or did you have to bring it up to that temp? If it was already that temp, check for bubbles and check the SG before you go and then rack and call it done. Top it off before you go.

It was always that temp. In my ceramic floored kitchen on Texas Gulf Coast.

I don't think temperature was a problem then - folks with ambient temperatures around 40-50 (i.e., basements/cellars) can have slow/stuck fermentation issues.

Seems to me you could leave it in the secondary for a while to bulk age, if you are uncertain about racking. Top it up now, add some k-meta, and rack and clarify in a couple weeks or a month.

You're in charge - you have a couple options of how to proceed. Show that wine who's boss!
 
Just checked SG this morning and is .997 or 8. At least .001 move overnight after the vigorous swishing. I may wait till tomorrow night then if SG is stable will proceed.

If not what if I take a suggestion from another topic and top it off with Private Reserve till I get back and that way when I rack I will still have room to degass. Otherwise I will be trying to degass an almost full carboy.
 
That would take quite a bit (and waste) of that can of PR. They don't hold all that much.

I would rack now, degas, add your fining agents, add K-Meta (all separately with stirring for 2 mins for each step) then top it off as a last step before you head out for a few days.
 
I degas with drill mounted mix-stir.

SG is moving again, down to .996 tonight. Swished again this morning and tonight after checking SG. Plus I may be able to hold off and rack later in the week or weekend since SWMBO (Mike's term) wants to wait a few weeks for our out of town. We were going to San Antonio, I have a yearning to visit the Alamo every 5 or 6 years or so. It's a very sacred place to me.
 
I will be there in a few weeks as well.

I have a need to visit my DNA......
smiley36.gif


0.996 is done! Stick a fork (or cork) in it!

You don't want to keep it on the gross lees for too long, you can develop off flavors.
 
ibglowin said:
You don't want to keep it on the gross lees for too long, you can develop off flavors.

And it won't do the wine any good either.
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(Couldn't pass that one up, Mike.)
 
Thanks guys.
Here's the deal. Of my 8 or so batches this is the third batch to "hang up at 1.000 for several days. they have been WE and MM kits. Is that common? When it is in secondary for those 10 days or so I don't test SG till the end so I don't know if it is supposed to slowly move down or if it does it all at the end. Has anyone seen a daily graph of SG movement from beginning to end of wine making?
 
Couple of things.

Once you move to secondary you should be stirring things up every day or so to add a little O2 in and keep the yeast happy. Not talking drill stir but back of the spoon stir (gently)....

Also, before you take your SG, always stir things up a bit in order to get a good representative sampling of the must/wine.

You might try taking these "carboy" readings by either transferring a sample to a wine thief and dropping the hydrometer in to it or by transferring a sample with a turkey baster into a graduated cylinder (of sorts). That way you can get the best SG reading possible.

A finishing SG of 0.998 is absolutely fine. Things have to be perfect to get to 0.994. I have had like (2) kits get that low. All the rest finish up at 0.998 or 0.996 if I am lucky and thats with a lot of TLC!
 
ttortorice said:
Thanks guys.
Here's the deal. Of my 8 or so batches this is the third batch to "hang up at 1.000 for several days. they have been WE and MM kits. Is that common? When it is in secondary for those 10 days or so I don't test SG till the end so I don't know if it is supposed to slowly move down or if it does it all at the end. Has anyone seen a daily graph of SG movement from beginning to end of wine making?
I just looked through my records, Tony. I have start and finish SG readings for 27 of my last 29 kits and all but 4 were 0.992 or less, down to the lowest which finished at 0.988. I had 1 kit finish at 0.999. That was a Spagnols EnPrimeur Sicilian Syrah. I attribute that high reading to a high end kit with LOTS of dissolved solids, which I understand can influence the ending SG reading.

Yes, I think it is fairly common for my batches to hang up around 1.000 if that is the SG at which I transferred to the carboy. You would think that they would move down toward 0.992 or so very quickly after being stirred up and oxygenated during the transfer. Go figure.

Bottom line, if your kit is stalled around 1.000 and tastes dry, I say go ahead and stabilize around day 20.

BTW, my Petit Verdot finished at 0.995 at 70'F. I'll be bottling it in 2 weeks and it tastes fantastic already!
 
Thanks Jim.
I have the Spagnols EnPrimeur Sicilian Syrah on the way to me. It has been discontinued and I had a heck of a time finding one. My family is from Gibillina Sicily which is in Trapani where that juice is sourced. Glad to know I may only get down to .999. Save me from bothering y'all.
 
Certainly not all the time, but W.E. kits can have a way of stopping prematurely at 1.000 and never going any lower. (I'll probably catch it for say so...)

I wonder if they put enough DAP in their kits?
 

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