Hello All! Newbie Here! Started my Blackb

[ashton Hammar]

Hello All!

Just wanted to say hello to everyone - I just recently got into wine making and just started my first 5G Blackberry Wine. Thank you all - I found this forum a few days ago and have been reading all the posts and topics. It has helped greatly and reduced my apprehensions on screwing up to much... not to say that I haven't already. LOL

Question: When I eventually rack into the secondary and degas do most people usually wait 3-4 wks before stabilizing (or until relatively clear)? What ratio of meta do you add to the wine?

Thanks!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Welcome ashton,,,Hope you enjoy your stay here....

I am sure members will help you with your questions...

I've learned so much here while others held my hand through some new experiences.

 

[Wade E]

I always add 1/4 tsp of k-meta and recommended amount of sorbate per 5-6 gallon batch and then degas as degassing a wine will help the wine clear faster. I say recommended dosage of sorbate because some manufacturers specify different amounts but its typically 1/4 -1/2 tsp. per gallon. After that you can let time clear the wine or use a fining agent such as SuperKleer KC. Welcome to this forum and hope you stay awhile and share with us more about yourself.

 

[smurfe]

Welcome to the forums and good luck with your first wine as well as all others. You have various options/choices you can follow with your blackberry wine. You can take the route of just letting time do its thing and let it sit for an extended period of time and let it clear by itself and then stabilize before bottling or you can do as kit makers do and stabilize and degas as soon as fermentation is done. Remember to that the K-Meta is not actually a stabilizer but rather a preservative. It is an anti oxidant that inhibits oxidation to the wine. Sorbate will actually stabilize the wine and make it still to inhibit further fermentation.

 

[ashton Hammar]

Thanks all... everyday I read all of your postings and have so many of my questions answered. Another quick one, Smurfe you mentioned that meta is a preservative, so should I add it right after I rack into my carboy? Does it stop fermentation? Is degassing referring to the gas given off? (SO2 I think?) Wait... I have read I transfer to the carboy around 1.03 SG so don't I ferment until 1 or drier? Then back-sweeten if I want?

thanks

 

[Wade E]

You dont want to add k-meta till it is done fermenting and that is usually around an SG of .996 or there about and staying at that SG for 3-4days consecutively. As far as how much k-meta it is 1/4 tsp per 506 gallons. degassing is what you do when it is done fermenting and you have added your k-meta and sorbate so it can clear naturally or you can add your fining agents. A wine will not clear properly if not degassed well. S02 is the gas you want in the wine as it represents the k-meta and C02 is what you want out of your wine.

 

[ashton Hammar]

Just racked my Blackberry with SG reading 1.02 - the wine is bubbling away nicely and has a nice dark red color. I have some pics to share with all but can't seem to locate my camera cord. When I find it I will upload the pics.

I am going to add 2 tsp of nutrient to just make sure that the yeast is healthy and strong. I hope the wait to rack over at 1.02 SG doesn't hurt the wine. I was out of town when it dropped below 1.03. Could this cause any type of problems?

 

[Wade E]

I wouldnt add anything more at this point, just let it finish. Adding now will probably result in an off flavor as it will not eat much more as its almost finished with the sugar.

 

[ashton Hammar]

K, thanks Wade I really appreciate all your timely responses. I will let it be and finish up.

 

[ashton Hammar]

So, as I have been reading on the forum and have found a few different types of oaking styles. I am going to start a Pumpkin Spice wine and am going to oak with a light to medium roast, as I feel it will bring adepth and complexityto, from what I gather, a simple wine.


I have seen there are cubes and spirals used foroaking- does anyone have recommendations whether to use the cube or spiral? Is there a big difference? What about American vs European? I want to fuse a nice oak flavor to the Pumpkin but not overpower.


Thanks!

 

[Wade E]

Oaks vs, Spirals is a tough 1 as they both work excellent as they both provide lots of surface area to release their flavor. For something as light as pumpkin I would go with a light tight toast and taste frequently as it can over power something like a pumpkin wine very fast. I myself would go with French for this but thats all personal preference. Spirals are ver easy to get out though without racking.

 

[PeterZ]

The spirals are rather large, so unless you are making 5 - 6 gallons of pumpkin I would go with cubes. You can start with just a little and add as necessary after tasting.

 

[ashton Hammar]

So I racked my Blackberry last night after SG held at about .996 for a few days. This was my first rack from carboy to carboy and let me tell ya, I was terrible! I got some sediment off the bottom and then added back to my wine some juice I extracted from my discarded pulp and wine. (I think it added more sediment) Since I lost a bit of wine, I felt I had to dilute a bit to top it off.

I then added a 1/4 tsp K-Meta and 1/2tsp per gallon of sorbate. I don't have a mixer so I did it via spoon - don't think I stirred it long enough so I am going to stir some more today. So as to the sediment, would adding perhaps another 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of pectic enzyme help dissolve my floaters/sediment? Would that have any negative impact or would it even work since I have added meta and sulfate?

Also has anyone used the method I am posting the link to to degass their wine?
http://www.gofish.com/player.gfp?gfid=30-1196228

Thanks

 

[Wade E]

I would not add anymore pectic enzyme if you already added it up front.
As far as degassing goes there are a few of us that do just that and a
few of us that take it to the next level with a tool that makes it even
easier and fool proof as it has a gauge on it. I use a tool called a brake bleeder which is basically a stronger version of the wine saver which also has the gauge on it to tell you how much vacuum you can hold. It works much better on a big batch then the wine saver but the wine saver is a great tool for keeping wine bottles. You just hook up a hose and insert a fitting that comes with it into your bung and squeeze until you can hold a vac. of around $20" vac on the gauge for 10 minutes or abouts. It costs about $29 but knowing you are done is worth it.

Edited by: wade

 

[Wade E]

Here is a good pic of Swill using his.

 

[uavwmn]

welcome Ashton. Enjoy the Forum!! AND the wine!!

 

[ashton Hammar]

So I FINALLY found camera cord and here are some of my pics from my first Raspberry in hopefully somewhat sequential order...



Here is my pulp fermenting...




Transferring my wine into my secondary... (I think next time I will siphon instead of using the tap at the base - I got a lot of sediment. How do most people use?)

So as you can see I had quit a bit of seditment in my secondary and was going to test my racking skills... which you will find out from my next picture I failed

So this last pic is after my final racking for storage. It is not looking good but I think I have a lot of suspended CO2 within my wine that is helping suspend the sediment and make it look like a lot more than it is.

I am waiting on getting the degasser device Wade told me about and then I am going to suck out the CO2 - wait a month? and then try and rack off the sediment.

Edited by: ashton Hammar

 

[grapeman]

Your pictures need to be either uploaded to this forum or hosted on an online photo hosting service - such as PhotoBucket. To upload here,use the reply button from a previous post not the quick one at the bottom. That gives you an upload file icon button. File size has to be under 150 kb and can not contain special characters or spaces in the file name- such as @#$%. You can get photo resizers online to shrink them easily. Good luck and let us know if you need more instructions. Masta had a tutorial on photo uploading here.

 

[PeterZ]

Ashton, the fine lees you have in the wine will not cause off-tastes. They will actually improve the mouth feel of the wine, making it "buttery."

 

[ashton Hammar]

Okay so I tried posting the pics this time put them online... but does anyone use a Mac? The instructions on uploading pics are for PC - and I would think is should be easier but it keeps giving me that damn ?

Thoughts?