First post here on the forums and a newb question

[Arkansan07]

Hey everybody just want to say hi. I am new to wine making and I am looking forward to sharing ideas and information with everybody.

My first question may be a little dumb. I am making my first batch of wine from a concentrate. Primary fermentation is working right along. If I transfer from my bucket to a carboy before the bubbles really slow down will there be any ill effects? It will be 7 days on Thursday that fermentation really got rolling. Was thinking of going ahead and transfering to my carboy on Thursday. What ya'll think?

 

[brandywine]

I recently sampled some wine i made from concentrate, and i racked it into secondary vessel before the bubbles slowed completely.... it was delicious! I think you`re safe to rack after a week. I hope this helps

 

[Rocky]

I suggest that you take an SG reading (assuming you have a hydrometer) and if it is at or below 1.020, you should be good to go.

 

[Arkansan07]

Ok ill take a reading first, my pre fermentation reading was 1.67

 

[Arkansan07]

I'm sorry went back and looked at my hydrometer and notes, my reading was somewhere between 1.06 and 1.07

 

[garymc]

It looks like your original sg reading is going to result in a wine with an alcohol content under 10%. Once it's done fermenting, you shouldn't waste any time stabilizing it.

Edited: I wasn't thinking. If you want a higher alcohol content, you could add some sugar while it's still in the primary. 1.065 beginning sg will get you 8.8% if fermented to 1.0 sg or about 9.9% if you can get it to .992 sg. Looking at the chart on this page; http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp you can see that 3.4 oz of sugar will get another 2% alcohol in a gallon. You don't mention how much wine you're talking about, so if it's 5 gallons, multiply by 5.

 

[Bartman]

Gary is right - you appear to have started with a fairly low sugar content, which will result ina fairly low alcohol wine. That's important because the alcohol serves as preservative - if there is not enough alcohol in the finished product, it may not preserve the finished product. That's a part of the reason beer is bottled soon after fermenting but wine is sometimes aged for long periods before bottling.

Plus, low alcohol wine just won't taste like wine, exactly. Adding sugar now won't change the flavor, but will simply increase the final alcohol level.

But yes, you can rack to a secondary fermentation container after a week or so, if the fermentation has been going strong and starting to die down/has died down.

 

[Arkansan07]

Ok thank ya'll for the advice. Why would my wine recipe turn out like that? Should I check specific gravity again in case I fudged up the first reading? I am using a recipe for a Riesling from "The Home Wine Makers Companion".

 

[Julie]

Ok thank ya'll for the advice. Why would my wine recipe turn out like that? Should I check specific gravity again in case I fudged up the first reading? I am using a recipe for a Riesling from "The Home Wine Makers Companion".

A recipe is only a guidance to follow, not a rule. Sugar content in fruit will be different from one season to another. Weather plays a huge part on the sugar content, plus the timing when it was picked. This in turn will give you a different hydrometer reading and your acid will be different as well. You should always test your must and adjust accordingly.

 

[Stressbaby]

I really like WineCalc for this piece. It is a free download. You would plug in your starting SG (1.067), volume (1 gal), target (either SG or % alcohol) and you would see that to get to 12% ABV you would need another 0.51# sugar.

It is not perfect; WineCalc doesn't do a straight-up ABV calculation and it gets goofy sometimes with SG < 1.000 but it works for most needs IMHO.