Hello everyone. This is officially my first post on this site
I'm pretty new to this wonderful hobby, and still have allot to learn. Thankfully, with the aid of this site, I've been able to learn quite a bit. I've only made a few kits thus far, and all seem to of turned out fine ( Heron Bay 10L Shiraz, Cellar Craft 15L White Merlot, Cellar Craft 16L Merlot, WinExpert 10L Chardonnay, WinExpert 10L Sangiovese).
I've been somewhat disappointed with the 10L kits -- mainly because they seem to be rather thin/watery and lack body. With that said, all of them are rather young and will hopefully improve with age. One of the many things that I've learned on this site is that the larger kits provide more body - hence my trying Mosti (they seem to be very popular on this forum).
On to my question (finally
):
I started an All Juice Borolo kit a couple weeks ago. I followed the direction to a tee. The initial sg was 1.086 and the temp was around 66 degrees. P
Primary fermentation started off very slow. After 5 days of very slow bubbling, I decided to get a brew belt (I live in Michigan, and it's starting to get cold already). This really accelerated the process. In fact, it started bubbling like mad. The temp was around 75 degrees.
After a few days of the new temperature (8th day overall), the sg was finally within range @ 1.045, so I decided it was time to xfer to the carboy. I added the yeast nutrients and made the transfer (juice + must ).
The first day or two in the carboy went very well (lots of bubbling). At which point I removed the brew belt and put it on another batch still in the primary (hard cider). Which is when the action really slowed down -- pretty much to a crawl. My sg is now ~1.031 (for two days now), and there is very little bubbling. The temp in the carboy is ~68 degrees. I'm guessing that the wide temperature variation did not sit well with the yeasties. A stupid beginners mistake. I'm wondering if I should just be patient, or take other action(s). I really don't want to throw out a $100+ wine kit.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'm pretty new to this wonderful hobby, and still have allot to learn. Thankfully, with the aid of this site, I've been able to learn quite a bit. I've only made a few kits thus far, and all seem to of turned out fine ( Heron Bay 10L Shiraz, Cellar Craft 15L White Merlot, Cellar Craft 16L Merlot, WinExpert 10L Chardonnay, WinExpert 10L Sangiovese).
I've been somewhat disappointed with the 10L kits -- mainly because they seem to be rather thin/watery and lack body. With that said, all of them are rather young and will hopefully improve with age. One of the many things that I've learned on this site is that the larger kits provide more body - hence my trying Mosti (they seem to be very popular on this forum).
On to my question (finally
I started an All Juice Borolo kit a couple weeks ago. I followed the direction to a tee. The initial sg was 1.086 and the temp was around 66 degrees. P
Primary fermentation started off very slow. After 5 days of very slow bubbling, I decided to get a brew belt (I live in Michigan, and it's starting to get cold already). This really accelerated the process. In fact, it started bubbling like mad. The temp was around 75 degrees.
After a few days of the new temperature (8th day overall), the sg was finally within range @ 1.045, so I decided it was time to xfer to the carboy. I added the yeast nutrients and made the transfer (juice + must ).
The first day or two in the carboy went very well (lots of bubbling). At which point I removed the brew belt and put it on another batch still in the primary (hard cider). Which is when the action really slowed down -- pretty much to a crawl. My sg is now ~1.031 (for two days now), and there is very little bubbling. The temp in the carboy is ~68 degrees. I'm guessing that the wide temperature variation did not sit well with the yeasties. A stupid beginners mistake. I'm wondering if I should just be patient, or take other action(s). I really don't want to throw out a $100+ wine kit.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
