Other SunCal White Zin Issue

[lisa_lacour]

There is a good chance I messed up a batch of Sun Cal White Zinfandel. This is my first batch and as I was making it I ran out of one item and substituted another. Recipe for disaster? I was hoping you would know. Its been 12 days now and it looks like the fermentation stopped. I don't see and bubble action with the air lock.


THE SG:
... Started off at 1.7
... was 1.2 when I moved it to the carboy after 7 days
... now its holding steady at .99 or so


Distilled Water:
Yep. I didn't hear you weren't suppose to do this until today.


Acid Blend:
Recipe called for 3oz but all I had was 1.5oz? What can I expect?


Campden Tablet:
I did have this so I put 1/4 t of Sodium Metabisulphate. Is this ok?


Should I discard this and try again? Or are my mistakes not too bad?

 

[masta]

There is a good chance I messed up a batch of Sun Cal White Zinfandel. This is my first batch and as I was making it I ran out of one item and substituted another. Recipe for disaster? I was hoping you would know. Its been 12 days now and it looks like the fermentation stopped. I don't see and bubble action with the air lock.


THE SG:
... Started off at 1.7
... was 1.2 when I moved it to the carboy after 7 days
... now its holding steady at .99 or so


Distilled Water:
Yep. I didn't hear you weren't suppose to do this until today.


Adding the Distilled water is fine...will not hurt a thing.


Acid Blend:
Recipe called for 3oz but all I had was 1.5oz? What can I expect?


Acid could be low and you can always add more. White Zin is always off-dry so the acid is needed to balance the sugar.


Campden Tablet:
I did have this so I put 1/4 t of Sodium Metabisulphate. Is this ok?


How many campden tabs did the recipe call for? 1/4 tsp Na-meta will give you roughly 45 ppm of free SO2.


Should I discard this and try again? Absolutely NOT!!!! Or are my mistakes not too bad?

 

[lisa_lacour]

It called for 1 campden tablet. So I guess I'm ok then. Is it normal for the batch not to bubble alot? I heard patience is needed... I guess I might be a little anxious.

I appreciate your help.

 

[masta]

Is this a 5 gallon batch?1 campden tablet is ~0.55 grams of k-meta and a 1/4 tsp is roughly 1.4 grams so it is quite a bit more. Whether or not thisis an issue I am not sure since I am not familiar with this product at all and don't know how much sulfite they add to the concentrate.


According to your SG readings the batch fermented just fine and seeing nothing in the airlock is normal if your SG is 0.990. No criticism but please try to use 3 decimal places when referring to SG readings as it will create less confusion for others when asking questions.

 

[Wade E]

If this is a 5 gallon batch than it might have said 1 tablet per
gallon. I also do not use sodium metabisulfite so I can not help you
there but like Masta said , do not throw the batch out. It will require
more acid blend though and if SG is at.990, it is done fermenting and
the only action in the airlock will be gas.

 

[Gelu Liber]

Sounds like everything is fine. I would keep going and finish the wine. Even if you make a mistake and it doesn't turn out quite like you planned you can still save it for reserve to top up future batches of a similar wine, if nothing else.



And you never know, you may be pleased with the results anyway. Just make sure you write it all down so you can duplicate it in the future.

 

[scotty]

1.4 grams is a little more than 3 campden tabs worth of sodium meta---. one tab = .44 grams. you still may be shy in a 5 or 6 gallon batchEdited by: scotty

 

[lisa_lacour]

Sorry for the late response, I went out of town for the weekend. Thank you everyone for you thoughts on the subject. I had a taste of it yesterday and it actually is beginning to taste like wine.

It is def. missing something though... but I think its on its way. I'll check into how many tablets it required.... the recipe was on the back of the can and I threw that away. I should be able to view it online somewhere though.


I plan to get somemore acid this week, I should be able to add that in to the batch now right? This really is exciting stuff.... I need to read more of these forums, a person can really learn alot here.


Thanks again for you continued support!