Next step for my first batch

[karrlot]

This is my first time making wine.

I am making a batch of chokecherry wine.
My initial SG was 1.085 on 8/10/2012.
It has been in a primary bucket with an air lock at about 67-70°.
Tonight (8/20/2012) the SG was 1.006.
All of the fruit is still in the bucket.

Was my initial S.G. too low?
Is it time to rack it to a secondary fermenter?
Should I add some more sugar water to it now to boost the final alcohol level? Should that be done in the primary or secondary?

When I do rack it to the secondary, am I supposed to filter or strain it? If so, how?

 

[oldwhiskers]

Normally you pull the fruit out after a week or less. If you want to add sugar and boost the alcohol, it would be easier to do that in the primary. A lot of people rack into the secondary around <= SG 1.010. When you rack into the secondary use a racking cane or auto siphon, but no need to filter generally. Is the fruit loose in the primary, or is it contained in a straining bag?

 

[karrlot]

It is loose.

 

[Julie]

how high of an alcohol level do you want? Having it start at 1.085 is going to give you roughly 11 1/2% to 12% and that is a pretty good ABV to have for a fruit wine.

You can get some paint bags at Lowes or Home Depot, they are about $5 and when you rack your wine, you can take the cherries and add them to the bag, this way you can squeeze the bag to get extra juice from the cherries.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

I don't think this is the prescribed way of doing things, but I haven't had any problems with oxidation (yet). I transfer to the secondary when the SpGr gets to somewhere between 1.015 and 1.010. I figure the wine is still fermenting and producing CO2 and that will purge out any oxygen in the carboy, the wine is only exposed to oxygen for the short time of transferring. I made choke cherry one time, and I think it must take a lot of choke cherries to give it any flavor, mine had none, all you could tell was that it was some kind of fruit. I put a paint strainer in a 5 gallon bucket with the top of the strainer looped over the edge of the bucket. I usually use a quart fruit jar to dip the must out and into the strainer, don't dip it all out at one time because it is easier to get most of the juice squeezed out if it's not too full. After I get all the juice I can, I "pour" the juice into the carboy and add a air/lock. You can then take the krud (lees) and make a second run, use about a third as much water as you did on the first run and add sugar syrup to get a SpGr of 1.085 and don't add anything else. I'm learning also, so everyone please comment on this procedure.
Simper Fi
Bud

 

[winemaker_3352]

Chokecherries are very tannic and if picked to soon are very acidic.

So a pucker/sour taste is pretty normal for a chockcherry. Treat this like a red wine - it took my chockcherry 2 years to become drinkable - and it was worth the wait!!

 

[karrlot]

I've racked this into a 5 gallon carboy. The homebrew shop had a funnel with a filter, so I scooped it out of the primary with a big measuring cup and ran it through the funnel into the carboy.

I think I only have about 4 1/4 - 4 1/2 gallons in the carboy.

I have some other chokecherry juice that I had previously frozen. Should I put that in the carboy with some more sugar water so that it is up to the neck of the carboy?

The S.G. in the primary (with all of the cherries) was 1.004. When I took it in the carboy after filtering it was 1.002.

Thanks for any help

 

[Dend78]

i would think you would want it to finish out in the carboy for a bit before adding juice to it. just to make sure fermentation has stopped and allow it a little more time to age a bit so you can sweeten it better. with it being super sour/bitter now you may over sweeten it

 

[karrlot]

Do I need to be worried about all of the head space in the carboy? I was more concerned with the head space than I was with sweetening it.

If I were to add juice and sugar water, would it continue to ferment? Is that a bad thing?

 

[Dend78]

it can restart again if the yeast isnt completely finished. just add k-meta and sorbate and degas it then sweeten.