Wish I had been more observant......

[sceleste54]

My dad made some wonderful wine and beer when I was a kid. I wish I had paid more attention !! I finally decided this year to try my hand at some fermentation, and it seems like the more I read here and learn, the more questions I have.. I currently have 3 gal of Muscadine in a Better Bottle, and 3 ltrs in a store brand bottle. The wine had cleared beautifully by the time it reached .998 in a big glass carboy, so I added crushed Campden to it in preparation for bulk aging. I was NOT prepared for the volcanic erruption that occurred....I had to slap my hand over the mouth of the carboy to keep it from spewing all over. My hand had been in Star San. After things calmed down I racked into the better bottle and 3 ltr bottle. The wine clouded up but showed no more fermentation according to the airlocks. Did I ruin it?? Should I keep the airlocks in place or put a solid bung in?? Its been sitting with the airlocks in place for almost 2 weeks now and hasn't cleared appreciably. I REALLY want to taste out of the 3 liter bu if I do it will leave too much airspace.. What do I do now? Oh, and I have 5 gal of Dragon Blood fermenting in the glass carboy now and 3 ltrs of white grape/peach... I think I've caught the bug....

 

[Julie]

Take a hydrometer reading. The first thing you need to understand is to constanly use your hydrometer. Take a reading before fermentation, take a reading if you need to add sugar, take a reading thru the course of fermentation and take a reading at the end.

What you need to know right now is whether or not fermentation has completed. And how much campden did you add?

 

[djrockinsteve]

The volcanic eruption. We've all been there and how fast your stomach turns when this happens.

As Julie said you need to see what the specific gravity is. If its still fermenting or does it has unreleased CO2. Only a hydrometer will be able to tell you.

If it is fermenting and if it had a significant ways to go leave the airlock off. Yeast need some air to breath. If its below 1.000 you could leave the airlock on and upon it finishing fermenting, rack, sulfite and degas. Using a clearing agent is recommended but not absolute.

Yes the more you learn the more you learn how much you don't know. No worries as you are in the right place for help.

 

[Rocky]

sceleste, if I understand correctly, you had a wine that was clear and you added campden (k-meta) to it but you did not say whether or not you racked the clear wine before you added the campden. If you did not, the cloudiness is just the re-suspension of the lees and it will take some time or perhaps fining agents to get it back to clear. If you want to taste it, get a bottle of a similar store wine to top of with after tasting. In any case, I suggest keep the airlock on the wine and not a solid bung at this point. Changes in temperature, pressure or the re-start of fermentation could pop the stopper.

 

[jswordy]

Hmmm...my 2 cents...

Essentially what you did with the crushed Campden was to add a whole bunch of surface area in the form of particles for the HUGE load of CO2 that is in your wine to grab onto and outgas. It is the same thing as those Mentos and Coke bottle rockets. The Mentos have a lot of surface area that causes the CO2 in the Coke to outgas suddenly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvM

Your wine is probably still cloudy as I type, so my advice is to get a plastic coathanger, cut it to form a hooklike appliance, put it on a portable drill and whisk away to degas your wine. You will probably get more foaminess from this, so watch your stirring speed.

The wine will not clear readily if there's tons of CO2 in it anyway, so you hurt nothing by doing this. Then let it sit and settle or use a fining agent to speed it up.

 

[sceleste54]

Thanks for the replies.. The wine had reached .998 before I added the Campden, I used 1 tab per gallon crushed. I did not see any sediment so I didn't rack it. I see now why you degas!! So if I'm understanding correctly, at this point I need to rack it, make sure it is degassed, leave it under airlock and let it bulk age??