Great start: Leaking bucket

[Dutch]

Hi everyone!

I've just started making my first 'kitwine'.
After reading a bit about it, watching some Youtube video's I went to the store and bought the neseccities.

I cleaned everything as good as possible and started filling the bucket with my son.
A soons as the bucket was full it began to leak at the little tab that was screwed at the bottom of the bucket.
I tried to tighten it by hand but it kept leaking.

So we siphoned the juice to a second less suited container (see picture).

I could use some advice now
Do I leave it in the current container, or do I buy a new bucket (without tab!) tomorrow and poor it over again.
I allready added the yeast...

My guess is that it won't make much difference?

Thanks!
Erwin

 

[Rocky]

Hi Dutch and welcome to the forum.

If I understand correctly, that is the "less suited" container with the wine in it your picture. If so, it looks perfectly fine to me. I would recommend that you remove the airlock at this time because once the yeast starts to work, there will be a lot of CO2 produced. As you follow the instructions in your kit, when you get at or about SG 1.020, you will want to move the wine into a carboy and attach an airlock at that time.

What is the kit you are making and which manufacturer is it? Instructions vary widely by manufacturer but I would consider that large bottle your "primary fermenter" and the carboy(s) your secondary fermenter(s). In the meantime, you could investigate the leak in the bucket and see if there is any hope in fixing it. If you cannot fix it, I would recommend purchasing another primary and get a 7.9 gallon one if you can.

Good luck.

 

[richmke]

I suggest getting a 7.5 to 8 gallon pail. Your current bottle seems to have some, but not a lot, of headroom. If the fermentation gets foamy, then it will go all over the floor. Hurry though. If it gets to the foamy stage, it will happen in the next day or so.

 

[Dutch]

Thanks for you help, I really appreciate it.

The kit is a "DOC's Original" Shiraz/Merlot blend.
Unfortunatly our choice here in Holland is very restricted compared to the choice I see on US sites.
This kit costs €38,- wich equals to about $38,- these days :/

The manual tells me to add an airlock right away, is it better to remove it?

The bucket is 25ltr just as the container it currently sits in.
I'll get a new bucket and keep an eye on the process tomorrow.

 

[Rocky]

Dutch, I am reluctant to advise against the directions that came with the kit. The reason I suggested removing the airlock was that a lot of CO2 will be present in the first few days and there is a danger of the gas blowing through the airlock. With the larger opening, that danger is somewhat mitigated.

 

[Dutch]

I just thought I follow up on this first start in the winekit business with showing the actual endproduct

29,5 bottles, the half bottle is immediatly consumed for the purpose of 'quality control'. Tasted far better then I dared to dream but lacked the body of the commercial wine I immediatly tasted afterwards.

Since he would only waste his time behind the computer I decided to employ some childlabour and put my son behind the corker. A great workout for the kid:

The end product:

[/IMG]

 

[montanaWineGuy]

In the future a spot of gorilla glue fixes leaks in plastic fast and easy.

 

[richmke]

In the future a spot of gorilla glue fixes leaks in plastic fast and easy.

Is Gorilla Glue food safe? It will come in contact with the wine.

 

[JohnT]

Very professional looking labels. Did they come with the kit?

 

[Dutch]

Naa stole them from Google pictures and adjusted them