HELPPPPPP.....Omg Kiwi Wine is not looking right!!!!

[wilsonlady50]

Started 8/4/12

Recipe:
3-4 # Kiwi
2 1/4 # sugar
7 1/2 pints water
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp pectin enzyme
1/8 tsp tannin
1 pkg active Yeast

Mix sugar in water bring to boil. Peal and chop fruit put in strain bag. Crush fruit in bag with hands tie and add acid blend tannin Yeast nutrient, to primary then ad boiling sugar water over fruit.
Cover and set aside to cool. When at room temperature, add pectin enzyme.
Stir and wait 12 hours.
Add active yeast. stir daily and lift & dunk bag.
**do not squeeze bag.
after 7 days remove bag.
-start S.G is recorded at 1.085 as suggested
***************************************************************
Now It is in the Secondary Topped off with sugar H2o mixture. SG is @ 1.000
Storing in a 72 degree temp. dark area .
On 10/23/12..... I observed that the top has a foamy residue on it. Racked to another secondary , while doing this it foamed like beer>>OMG. What is wrong????

 

[Julie]

are you taking any hydrometer readings? and did you stabilize your wine before you added the simple syrup? I am thinking you did not because you have an active fermentation going on

 

[wilsonlady50]

my recipe did not call for stabilizing ......how do i correct this or is it no good?
and yes i have taken a Hyd. reading. it is at .990.

 

[Julie]

when you racked to secondary your sg was at 1.000, since you did not add any k-meta and sorbate, you ended up giving the yeast more food to eat when you added the simple syrup.

It is not ruined, just let the fermentation run it's course. Use your hydrometer and once you have a reading three days in a row that is the same and it needs to be below 1.000 then you stabilize (make sure you did this before adding any more sugar to your wine) and if you want to backsweeten then add the simple syrup. My suggestion would be to make an f-pac with some more kiwi.

 

[GreginND]

You added sugar and it started fermenting again. According to your hydrometer reading it must be done now. You probably have a lot of dissolved CO2 in your wine causing the fizzing.

If you want a sweetened wine in the end, you need to ferment it dry (which you have) and let it clear with the usual rackings. Once it is crystal clear you need to stabilize it with Potassium Sorbate and Potassium Metabisulfite. Only THEN should you added more sugar.

The bisulfite will inhibit bacteria and provide some protection from oxidation and the sorbate will prevent the yeast from multiplying. It does not kill yeast, only sterilizes them. So you want to add sugar only after the wine is as clear of yeast as possible.

 

[wilsonlady50]

Leave it even if i topped it off with the h2o sugar mix?
And Julie, if i make another f-pac of kiwi in the primary stage i treat it the same? then combine in secondary???
I am so relieved i didnt ruin this one yet :}
I am using a triple scale beer hydrometer ...should i get something else?

 

[wyntheef]

don't worry, it will most likely be ok.
it may be a bit strong because you started with a s.g. of 1.085 which yields approx. 11% alcohol.

by you adding more sugar before stabilizing, it is pretty much the same as starting with a higher s.g. assuming the additional sugar continues to ferment.

if you can be more specific about how much additional sugar you put in, you can still determine where it will end up at. (take a look at this chart http://mbhp.forgottensea.org/sgpat.html)


usually what the recipe wants you to do is to add that additional sugar after stabilizing with potassium sorbate, so the proper procedure, as far as sweetening, would be to let it finish fermenting entirely(using hydrometer as julie said), then stabilizing to inhibit any further fermentation, and then adding the sweetener. hth

 

[Noontime]

"i didnt ruin this one yet"

No worries...as was already said, you didn't ruin anything; it just will have a bit more alcohol. Also as stated, just let it ferment dry (SG reading below 1.000 and no changes for 3 days) then rack and stabalize with kmeta and sorbate (if you're going to sweeten).

 

[Noontime]

Another point that was already made (yes, I'm just repeating everybody else ), is that your wine is saturated with gas...as the yeast expel CO2 it gets trapped in the liquid, and only after the liquid is saturated does it escape into the air. So untill you degas (or bulk age) to remove that trapped CO2, you're going to have fizzing when you rack or stir (just like beer).