California Connoisseur Riesling (one gallon) fermentation temperature.

grapezilla's amazing adventures in the land of winemaking

California Connoisseur Riesling (one gallon) fermentation temperature.

I have my first wine kit going that I put in the fermentation bin just two and a half days ago.

It started fermenting quite vigorously but now the airlock has been quite silent for the day (I'm not sure if I heard it once but it was crazy yesterday) although I can hear the wine bubbling/foaming inside the bin so I guess it's still doing ok.

The instructions said to put it in a warm area (20-25c/68-77f) and it's normally about 24.5c indoors so it's been working on the higher end of the scale and the temperature sticker on the side was showing 26c going 28. Today the bin has pretty much matched the indoor temperature at ~24c. Also the scent has turned from yesterday's 'sweet apple' juice to 'fermented'.

Despite the range given was 20-25c, the instructions mentioned the kit is designed to ferment at 20c and since I feel I might be ahead of the instructions I moved the kit downstairs to the cellar where the temperature is 19.3c.

As this deviation from the given range is so small, should I in the future opt to do my business in the basement instead? Should I still start the ferment in the higher temperature? Would it be different for reds?

The basement would also have the bonus of not possibly annoying my missus who I've warned about my new hobby but has not still returned from her trip abroad to actually witness it.

In my opinion, either of those ambient temperatures is acceptable. Personally, I would probably move to the basement just to have a little more seclusion, but, really, either will work.

Thanks. I'm on my day three with the bucket in the basement and all the activity has completely stopped. Even the 'S'-airlock is in balance.

The instructions in the kit tell me most of the fermentation should be complete at day 8 and then rack.

I guess I have three options, measure gravity then rack, open the lid and let some air in and see if it helps get things doing or third, practice patience. I guess if it sits still for five more days that shouldn't make things worse.

Measuring the sg is probably the correct thing to do. Airlocks lie to people all the time.

Thanks. I did wait until the instructions told me to rack and only then measured the gravity which was ~995, and as I saw no activity in the days between nor there was any visible or palatable co2 in the liquid as I racked I'm lead to believe it indeed completed fermentation in two days.

This leads me to my next question, as there's nothing left to ferment how should I approach the second fermentation or should I just consider it bulk ageing before clearing the juice? Or should I forego this step in the instructions and go to the next phase which' requirements are met (sg and no visible gas) and degas it?

I have to admit I'm a terrible racker so I guess it would be good for some more of the cloudiness to settle down.

I didn't notice any co2 in the juice but obviously there must be some left but is this tiny fraction enough to protect the wine as it won't ferment to produce more? I think I've gone down from the starting 4.4l (4.5l minus 1dl for the initial gravity reading) to something like 4 litres so there's a lot of head space in the carboy.
Should I top with wine or vodka/water mixture or as it's my first batch, it's summer and it's a summer wine thus I'll not likely bulk age it properly before it gets consumed, consider the extra oxygen helpful for a quicker two week bulk aging ? ;-)

I'll get my next three kits this/next week so I'll then make some wine I'll have a chance of aging a bit

All in all I did accidentally taste a bit when I was sucking the syphon and it did taste like wine and I think it was recognizable as a Riesling so I'm pretty happy with that. I think there was a slight hint of sulphur but I think it's normal with fresh ferments.

Oh and here's what the instructions tell me to do which would suggest I maybe should just go to stage three.

STAGE #2 - SECONDARY FERMENTATION said:

Day 8: Most of the fermentation will be complete at this point. The specific gravity should be less than 1.010 but if not, wait a few more days before proceeding to the next step.

Siphon wine into carboy leaving sediment behind. We strongly recommend not topping up ensuring properly balanced wine.

Attach half-filled fermentation lock, and leave carboy to complete fermentation (approximately 12 days). Check specific gravity every other day, and when the reading is less than 0.995, and you get two consistent readings in a row, it is time to go to the next step.

Click to expand...

STAGE #3 - DEGASSING" said:

Day 20: All fermentation should now be complete. Do not execute the next steps until fermentation is completed (the specific gravity should be less than 0.995 and no yeast activity is seen). Allow extra time if required.

Siphon the wine into a plastic carboy or glass carboy fitted with a fermentation lock.

To 1/2 cup of cool water add the contents of Packet No. 3 (Potassium Metabisulphite). Stir to dissolve. Add to wine and mix thoroughly.

Stir the wine in the carboy to remove the unwanted carbon dioxide gas.- Repeat the procedure several times (at least 6 to 8) over the next 2 days. (Remember to replace the fermentation lock after stirring.)

Click to expand...

I would rack to carboy, (probably top up with a like wine to the neck) and wait the number of days before proceeding to the next step.

I hate that kit instructions call it secondary fermentation. There is never a second fermentation, just racking to a carboy and completing (I always suggest waiting over hurrying).

Thanks, Cmason. I'm really on a fence here about topping up as I have nothing to top it up to begin with and since it's such a small batch throwing in a bottle of store bought Riesling would constitute 17% of the final volume not to mention 40% of the total cost involved and I'm not too eager to water it down either. I guess I'll wait it up and if it soaks up too much oxygen I've learnt a valuable lesson. Maybe if I'll shake it a bit it would release co2 which would create a protective blanket on top of the wine?

If it is a small batch try adding marbles to the carboy to bring up the volume.

The marbles are a good shout, would need to find some though. Is there anything I should consider when buying them? I'm not sure if I can find clear glass ones (and how do I know they are glass, could they be some other material that would not be suitable for soaking in wine?)

I refridgerated the sample I had used for taking the SG reading in a tiny bottle and had my missus taste it and she liked it even though it was still a bit cloudy so maybe I'll have some room to maneuvre in the future. I have three kits in the mail now and I guess I can soon start looking to order even more _o/ Happy days.

When buying marbles don't get Chinese made, may contain lead.

Bill

Thanks for the input. I didn't add marbles yet as I'm still confused where to find them.

I did, however, arrive home drunk last Friday to find out I had received more kits so it then made sense to me to make them all in the spot. I'll spare you the details of the mishaps that followed. The next morning I was in a rush to get all this cellared before the missus arrived and preparing to do that I sealed one airlockless carboy (I used up all my carboys but I still have a one gallon bucket so I guess I'll manage) in order to get it downstairs. I decided to do something before that so 20 minutes later I experienced my first gushing wine volcano.
I have no OG's marked up and the process was a bit of a mess so I'm quite disappointed in myself since I'm not learning anything without them except for "dont make wine wined up" and maybe feel revitalised by the fact that it was something a teenager would do.