Started a LODI fresh juice Sauv.Blanc 26 days ago. Started with a low S.G (1.012). When I racked from primary to carboy, the white looked pretty good in the bucket. Before I racked, I stirred to bucket before transporting to carboy. I racked and as expected, the wine was very brown due to the mixing of yeast & lees. But it still is very brown after these 26 days. I did rack 5 days ago and there was some "sludge" on the bottom of carboy but just seems to be taking long to clear. It's still more brown than yellow. Should I just keep waiting or help it along with sil/liq gel? Oh yea, the S.G. now has been a steady .996 and no bubbling. I did an initial degas, and alot came out. I was hoping the CO2 was suspending the sediment.
Brown Sauvignon Blanc
- Thread starter markg
- Start date
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I ran into this same problem with the juice bucket I bought from them that was sitting in the bucket fermenting too long Mark. Unfortunately I think yours is oxidized like mine was and will not get any better. I should have known to use some ascorbic acid because of this buy didnt so my wine went to another use which I will not speak of on this forum.
To prevent this from happening, how do you recommend the use of ascorbic acid? I'm picking up my first pail of white grape juice (pinot grigio) fresh in from California tomorrow so any tips on care and feeding would be most helpful (I've only done red kits, meads and fruit wines and I just recently did a couple of pails of red juice).
One way is to add k-meta and introduce your own yeast which we really didnt have the option cause these were last years juices kept in very cold storage but the proceeded to ferment on their own anyway so adding sulfites at this point and trying to introduce a new yeast with this much alc already would be pretty risky. At that point we should have brought it home and when noted that the wine had fermented this far we should have added ascorbic acid as this is an anti-oxidant and most likely would have prevented the oxidation. Im sorry Mark that I didnt advise you on this!!!!!!!!!!!
Bregirl, with whites you will want to add the k-meta at the begiining to stun any wild yeasts as they arent as tolerant to sulfites as or wine yeasts are and then inoculate with yeast of your choice and rack at about 1.020 to glass. I like to also use ascorbic acid on my wines that can oxidize easy in the beginning along with the k-meta as the ascorbis acid does not hinder fermentation and is extar protection.
Bregirl, with whites you will want to add the k-meta at the begiining to stun any wild yeasts as they arent as tolerant to sulfites as or wine yeasts are and then inoculate with yeast of your choice and rack at about 1.020 to glass. I like to also use ascorbic acid on my wines that can oxidize easy in the beginning along with the k-meta as the ascorbis acid does not hinder fermentation and is extar protection.
Ascorbic acid is not the same as acids that you yest for. 1 tsp per 6 gallons is the recommended dosage per most manufacturers but dble check the package you get just to be sure as some manufacturers make some chemicals more or less potent. I use this stuff on any light fruit like apple or white wines that can become visually unpleasant very easily.
Okay, now I'm confused so I have to add another question: I thought potassium metabisulfate was k-meta (same as the stuff in campden tabs) and that potassium sorbate was an additional stabilizer typically added at bottling (particularly with back-sweetened wines)? That is, I thought you used either potassium metabisulfate or campden tabs at the beginning, then at bottling you would add both potassium sorbate AND either metabisulfate or campden tabs (and possibly more ascorbic acid, although I understand that you don't do that, Wade).
Um... can you clarify this? (no pun intended)
Um... can you clarify this? (no pun intended)
No, the taste isn't bad. At least at this point. It's topped off nicely and I don't understand how this happened. Can this have already been an issue before I finished (or started) fermentation? Again as stated... It's refrigerated juice but the S.G. was low to begin with. As Wade said, it has probably been cold fermenting for a while. I'll have to search more on this forum with regards to adding ascorbic acids and I think that (with whites) I'll transfer and rack using a vacuum pump all the time. This way any "splash racking" will not expose to air but to a vacuum.
