1.092 to 1.000 in 4 days??

[Dana]

ok hello all, I've been lurking here for a few weeks, so much good info! now it seems I have my first concern/question about the fermentation going so fast...

I'm a noob, started making wine back in september with a few kits. A couple weeks ago I started my first one gallon from recipe (a cranberry), and last week I started a one gallon mixed berry concoction....

So the bumbleberry fruit and juice went in the primary on the 19th, the yeast was added on the 21st. I made a starter for the yeast and made sure the temp of the must was about 22/23 degrees(celcius). Copying what I did with the cranberry(it took almost a week in primary at a nice steady temp), I pointed a little heater at it a ways away to keep the temp up and put a towel over, fermentation started within a few hours. Gave it a stir and a mash later that day and the next, on the 23rd (3 days after yeast), I opened it up and it was HOT in there! I didn't have time to check the SG, as I was on my way out for the evening, but I turned the little heater off. So this morning I go to check it-the temp is down to about 18 degrees and there's almost no action, take a hydrometer reading and it says 1.000! from a starting 1.092 on the 21st (I made sure the hydrometer readings were accurate to temperature). So I got it strained and racked into a carboy, and there's a little action in the airlock.

It seems ok, but I'm concerned about the downsides of fermenting so fast (if any)...

-Will it affect the flavor, not having sat on the fruit for very long?
-What can I do to differently next time to slow it down? (no starter? lower temps?)
-Is there anything I can do now? Should I leave it the secondary longer after it's dry before stabilizing it?
-Or is it no biggy....

Thanks for your time
Dana

 

[tjbryner]

Your be ok. I myself like to do slow cool fermentation's with my fruit wines. I try to keep them closer to 50 55 degrees. I feel a cooler slower ferm gives you a better flavor and requires less of a F-Pak.

 

[Dana]

ok thanks! I will add an f-pak for sure with this one and keep the temp down with the next. I'm trying to work the kinks on this little batch so I can make a 5 gallon batch!

 

[corntassel]

smaller batches usually fermit faster than larger ones . So you are OK.

 

[Gr8zins]

The only downside I can think of is that a cooler fermentation allows more of the fruit flavors to develop especially with whites. I have had reds ferment very fast and they still came out great. I wouldn't worry

 

[Wade E]

As said above faster ferments will tend to burn through more fruit flavor but blueberry and cranberry both naturally contain benzoate which is a known yeast inhibitor so fermenting these in more stricter conditions like warmer temps will give you less headaches. Glad to have you aboard!

 

[Dana]

ahh, good to know. thank you for the responses. I'm going to do a raspberry next, so I'll watch it a little closer to make sure it doesn't get so carried away...