Lots of Foam

[Cheryll]

Hi. I'm a first timer and I used grapes from my grape vine. I turned the grapes into juice by heating and sqeezing through cheesecloth. Put the juice in gallon plastic jugs with the sugar and the yeast. Punctured balloons with a needle a few times and stretched over neck of gallon jug. Lots of hissing and foam leaking out and some of the balloons popped and sprayed wine everywhere. Why is the juice foaming so much? Should I have diluted the juice more -- it was pretty concentrated. I melted the sugar with 2 cups of water when adding to each gallon. 2 of the gallon jugs are working fine with the balloons expanding after a day. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Kleftiwallah]

Normally you choose a container large enough to allow frothing to take place without going 'over the edge'. Can you decant it into a larger plastic bucket (of food quality plastic)? I would suggest a towel over the top to allow escape of gas, but keeps out the dreaded vinegar fly rather than a baloon. But 10 out of 10 for ingenuity. Cheers, Tony.

 

[djrockinsteve]

If you are fermenting get it out of the carboy and into a bucket with a loose lid or cheese cloth or towel over it. Yeast need to breath and your must needs to give up it's co2.

Once it's finished you can rack to a carboy.

 

[Julie]

Cheryll,

Welcome to winemakingtalk. You need to go to our beginners section and read up on how to make wine and what equipment you need to make wine. You are flying blind here and to be honest I doubt you are going to make anything decent.

Get some food grade buckets to ferment in and some glass carboys or better bottle carboys to age in. And most importantly get a hydrometer and learn how to read it, this will be your best tool you will ever have in winemaking. You need to fine out if there is a local wine/beer supply store near you and/or go to finevinewines.com and by some equipment.

 

[Wade E]

You need to get a hydrometer to measure the beginning sg so as you dont make too much ABV in those wines as usually unless the grapes were not ripe they dont require added sugar! You need to get a big bucket and ferment it in there with lots of open space!!!!

 

[Cheryll]

Thanks everyone.

Thanks for the good advice everyone. I started out with a recipe using frozen concentrate juice and substituted juice from real grapes. Fooling around with the recipe with no knowledge of wine making was my first mistake. I think I will take a wine making class at a hobby store that sells equipment. It's a 45 minute ride but I think it will be worth it. The balloons on my gallon jugs are not hissing wildly anymore. The foam seems to have dissapated and the balloons are inflated to about the size of an apple. Will look for glass gallon jugs to transfer it all to.

 

[Airplanedoc]

get a gallon of the cheapo rossi wine. It comes in a glass gallon jug and is almost as cheap as the empty glass jug from the wine store. At least you get the wine to drink

 

[robie]

Thanks for the good advice everyone. I started out with a recipe using frozen concentrate juice and substituted juice from real grapes. Fooling around with the recipe with no knowledge of wine making was my first mistake. I think I will take a wine making class at a hobby store that sells equipment. It's a 45 minute ride but I think it will be worth it. The balloons on my gallon jugs are not hissing wildly anymore. The foam seems to have dissapated and the balloons are inflated to about the size of an apple. Will look for glass gallon jugs to transfer it all to.

Now that things have slowed, without a hydrometer, you won't really know what it means. Get that hydrometer and use the resources, which Julie wrote about, to learn a little more.

But aren't you still having fun, anyway???

 

[dangerdave]

get a gallon of the cheapo rossi wine. It comes in a glass gallon jug and is almost as cheap as the empty glass jug from the wine store. At least you get the wine to drink

I buy the cheap gallon of wine (for the glass jug) and back sweeten with cranberry or grape juice. Makes the cheap stuff palletable, and you have a gallon jug for small batches.

 

[Cheryll]

Carlo Rossi jugs

We have a huge supermarket type liquor store nearby that should have the glass gallon jugs of cheap wine. I will get a hydrometer but the old Italian ancestors never had one and they made a decent red table wine in an old wooden tub. Of course it depends on what you call "decent." Let's just say I liked it! I'm definitely not a wine snob because I like most wines (even the Rossi stuff on occasion). Doesn't need to cost $20 bucks a bottle. When I transfer to the gallon bottles should I filter it? I have some Camden tablets. When should I add it? Yes, this is fun. If it turns out the least bit drinkable I'll be thrilled, given my winging it the first time attitude. Oh well, I have a whole year to practice until the grape vine produces another crop next summer.

 

[robie]

I will get a hydrometer but the old Italian ancestors never had one and they made a decent red table wine in an old wooden tub. Of course it depends on what you call "decent." Let's just say I liked it! I'm definitely not a wine snob because I like most wines (even the Rossi stuff on occasion). Doesn't need to cost $20 bucks a bottle. When I transfer to the gallon bottles should I filter it? I have some Camden tablets. When should I add it? Yes, this is fun. If it turns out the least bit drinkable I'll be thrilled, given my winging it the first time attitude. Oh well, I have a whole year to practice until the grape vine produces another crop next summer.

Yes, they made great wine without a hydrometer. Thing is, each generation had the previous two generations (Papa and grandpa) standing over them, helping them understand and sense when certain things needed to be done. They learned to do it in their sleep.

If you have that luxury, you won't need one, either. Otherwise, learn "when" with the hydrometer and one day you also may be able to lay it down.

Just remember that right after fermentation ends, the red wine will not taste very good for awhile, depending on the type of wine. It will be tart and not very pleasing. Given a few months to a couple of years to age, it will change more than you can imagine. So be patient with it.

Your wine may not end up like a $20 wine, but the better job you do now, the closer it will come.

 

[reefman]

I'll beat Tom to the punch here, and post a link that Tom posts for all newbies. It's a "stickie" on the top of the beginners area.

wHEN YOU BUY YOU'RE HYDROMETER, GET TWO, UNLESS YOU'RE REAL CAREFUL WITH IT.

I started making wine in March, and broke two already...

Lot's of good info here, and great group of people.

Here is a quick reference book on Winemaking.

[PDF] The Home Winemaking Book by Michiel PesgensFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Michiel Pesgens. The Home Winemaking Book. 2. Preface. The basis of this book was the content of my internet page "The Home Winemaking Page". The root of ...
http://www.homebrewit.com/winebook.pdf

 

[SpoiledRotten]

Cheryll,

Also, if you're trying to get by as cheaply as possible at first until you know you'll really enjoy the hobby, you can go by a Walmart or anywhere else that has a bakery (birthday cakes) and get some food grade buckets for primary fermenters. I went by the local Walmart and got about 4 free buckets since they just toss them anyway. I haven't used them yet because they are about 2.5 to 3 gallon size and I like the 5+ gal size, but for someone just experimenting with smaller batches, they are perfect.

Don't use the balloon technique too long. You'll ruin the wine with it. Ask me how I know by turning your wine into vinegar.

 

[dangerdave]

Hey Cheryll,

If you can swing it, get a carboy and a wine kit. Start up costs can be minimal. Low end equiment kits start around $150. You can find wine kits under $60. And the wine will be drinkable in a month! Surprised the heck out of me, and you will learn all about the process for making wine. Even if you never make another kit, you will know how it's done, and will produce a better wine.