RJ Spagnols FAST fermentation, Whats next?

[lieu]

It is day 6 of my primary fermentation on a Winery Series Washington Merlot with skins and the sg is 995. I just racked to my carboy and looking at the directions the next step (at day 28 approx.) is when I add the sulphite and Sorbate and degas and then add the Chitosan and Kieselsol.
I guess my question is should I let the wine sit for a few weeks as per instructions or should i go ahead and and the sulphite,sorbate ect.

 

[v1rotate]

Wait until at least day 20, IMHO. There are biochemical reactions taking place now, even though your wine is getting pretty dry. Natural degassing is probably taking place during this time, also. There is really nothing to gain by moving on to the next step early.

How warm was the fermentation area during this 6 days? I like to see about 1.000 at this time, so that there is still some fermentation taking place, and CO2 being produced, when I rack to carboys. I am fortunate enough to live at 6500' where it is easy to keep the ferment room at 70' year round.

 

[lieu]

Hey Jim,
the temp was up around 78 to 80 degrees. I know it was a little higher than what the directions said. After I got the wine into the carboy I did see tiny bubbles near the top of the wine level. That only lasted a few minutes then they stopped. Does this sound right? Thanks for the reply-Bruce

 

[v1rotate]

Hey Jim,

the temp was up around 78 to 80 degrees. I know it was a little higher than what the directions said. After I got the wine into the carboy I did see tiny bubbles near the top of the wine level. That only lasted a few minutes then they stopped. Does this sound right? Thanks for the reply-Bruce

78-80' will lead to a fast fermentation, no doubt. I've read that that would be a bad thing for a white wine, robbing it of some delicate flavors. But for dry reds there shouldn't be much of a problem.

The bubbles you saw were certainly an indication of CO2 coming out of solution. That would be expected on day 6. Lots of CO2 in the wine right now, which isn't a bad thing. It helps protect the wine from oxidation during the 2 weeks it is sitting in the non-topped up carboy. (That is just an opinion, I know some folks think only an active fermentation will provide a CO2 blanket to protect the wine.)

One good thing about a warm environment at this stage is that degassing will be much easier at the stabilize step.




















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[Dean]

78-80' will lead to a fast fermentation, no doubt. I've read that that would be a bad thing for a white wine, robbing it of some delicate flavors. But for dry reds there shouldn't be much of a problem.

White wines from grapes, yes. White wines from kits, no. The reason is that during the concentration and sterilization process all those delicate volatiles that a low and slow fermentation are trying to preserve, have all been driven off or captured in another manner.

So, if you have fresh pressed grapes, then yes, use bottled ice bombs to keep it cold as it ferments. With kits, ferment as the instructions say to do so. Fast fermentations are okay with kits, even 2 to 3 day ones. Just let it sit until the appropriate day, and it will be easy to degass.

 

[Wayne1]

That is good to hear Dean as I live in Florida and keep the house 78-83 degrees F during summer. I have a Johnson controller on a freezer which I have converted to a fermentation chamber but it is a small freezer and can only hold one carboy at a time - I have some kits that need to be made so will feel better about fermenting them in the house. This will also buy me some time to persuade SWMBO that I need a bigger fermenting freezer!