Help a newbie out!!

[Trigham]

<DIV id=post_message_1479>hello everyone, I hope someone can help, I have a couple of issues, I put down two pails of 15 lbs of mixed berries,(Strawberries,Blueberries, Raspberries, and Blackberries) They smell soo good. I got a recipe from an old guy who makes amazing fruit wines. The problem is that I did my yeast packets in seperate bowls with 1/4 cup of warm water and a tablespoon of sugar for fifteen mins last night and added them to the must and covered them with plastic and their covers. Tonight I went in after 24 hours and nothing!! What did I do wrong or what should I do now. I will explain that I have only started to make wine this past november when I took 30 lbs of beautiful concord grapes off of a 25 yr old vine that came with this lovely bungalow I purchased. It is almost done now after 5 months of waiting and prepping. I did stir it daily in the beginning as well after the yeast application so I know what is supposed to happen with these two batches for my first delema. The second problem is that

with the concordes is that I didnt siphon off the must into a new carboy after I took it from the bucket to the carboy the first time.
The smell is beautiful and actually tastes pretty good but after switching carboys the sludge didnt all stay behind,( i know now i need to do this step twice before this now)but I added half a pint of grape concentrate and 1.5 cups of sugar to the must and mixed it well. It kind of has a vinagery taste if u know what I mean. How long will i have to wait before it is ready to bottle and can I strain or filter it before I bottle it. Im stuck please help!!

 

[Wade E]

1st, did the yeasts starters that you made have any action before you put them in the musts.

2nd What is the temp of the fruit musts as they should be right around 75*

3rd What was the starting sg of these fruit musts.

4th What kind of yeasts are we talking about and how old are they if they didnt start before adding them to the musts.



A far as the Concords, I would either rack off the sediment very good
into a clean sanitized carboy and let it clear some more, or, add a
fining agent and and stabilize with sorbate and Potassium
metabisulfite, let stand for 2 weeks and bottle if you want but I would
rack it and bulk age it if it has not gone bad. You say it tastes
vinegary, Im not to much of a red wine person and have never tasted a
wine that tastes like vinegar except for vinegar so lets see what a
higher authority says about the vinegar and hope its not on its way to
vinegar.

 

[Trigham]

Thank you wade!!
1 the yeast did have action yes and the must was between 75-80 degrees.
2 Im not sure of the sgI should have taken itI suppose andI will do so tomorrow when I purchase two more yeast packettes.
3 should I justmake surethe temp is goodand check the sg and then readd another yeast hoping it will work??
4 so after the half pint of grape concentrate and 1.5 cup of sugarI added,I can still siphon it off into another carboy to try to clear it a little more?
The guy at the wine &amp; beer store saidI should add a campden tablet to it to aid in ridding the tart or vinegary taste. Im kinda baffled now jeeesh!!

 

[Wade E]

As far as adding the yeast I would do 2 starters at this point and
slowly introduce the musts into the starters and then gently add
them back into your primaries. I would also add yeast energizer and
yeast nutrient.



As far as the concords I have never heard of adding the campden to remove these tastes but you can rack.

 

[Trigham]

Thanks again wade!
So what your saying is to flip the two primaries to two glass carboys then put them back in the plastic primaries, readd the yeast again making sure the temp is up and then move on from there?? If ican ask why wouldImove them from plastic to glass back to primary again what does this accomplish?


*remember ima newbie lol..


whenyousayrack u mean to bottle and let themsit? if so for how long?

 

[grapeman]

Trigham,
Give your must a chance to begin fermentation. Two days is not uncommon and three is not unheard of. If no fermentation going after that long you may need other measures, but have a little patience and it will begin soon. When Wade says rack it, he means use a racking cane and plastic hose(winemaking equipment) to transfer the wine from the plastic primary to the glass secondary. After it has been in the secondary for 2 weeks to a month, you transfer it again to another glass carboy leaving behind most of the sediment on the bottom.


The extra campdens(1 per gallon) will raise the sulfites to an acceptable level to age without spoiling. The Concord will improve greatly after it has been bottled or bulk aged for a year or more.

 

[Wade E]

Trigham, what you did initially was rehydrate the yeast and what I was
referring to was a starter yeast for a stuck fermentation which
Appleman is absolutely correct on. Im sorry I didnt notice that it had
only been 24 hours, You need to give this a little more time as some
yeasts take 3 days to get started. Did you add any energizer or
nutrient to these batches as any fruit wines will absolutely benefit
from at least the nutrient. If in 2 days this is sizzling then we must
act on them. Open the lid and listen for a sizzling noise and post
either way whats up. Glad to have you here and well get those batches
going yet! Well discuss what I was referring to as the starter yeasts at a later point if needed but I bet we wont.


Edited by: wade

 

[Wade E]

Trigham, do we have fermentation going? Give us a post so we could start drastic measures if needed.

 

[Trigham]

Guys the action had started yesterday, I did add another yeast packet right on top of the must and allowed it to stay untouched overnight. It started to swell and i then stirred in into the must totally. Today i went back to it and it rose about a half inch and is sizzling like fire lol

i again stirred it in and will await tomorrows stirring. i now suppose after a week or so and the SG comes down ill then rack it to a glass carboy. WoooHOOO! Thanks ever so much. The concords are smelling a lot better and ill just leave them sit untill the first of the week and then rerack to another glass carboy to rid some of the sediment again or am I hurting the process by racking now?

 

[Wade E]

Excellent! Just keep punching down the cap ( getting the fruit under
the top) to keep the fruit moist! So glad to hear all is well. Do you
remember which yeast you used initially, I would say Red Star Cotes Des
Blanc.

 

[Trigham]

Wade,


not sure of the yeast I used , i have a new issue though that maybe someone can help with or get some info on!!



<DIV id=post_message_1538>
I just strained my two batches of mixed fruit(BLUE, BLACK,STRAW &amp;RASPBERRIES) the yeast subsided and I have now rung the crap out of the berry remnants in a mesh bad and squeezed them to about the size of a softball or larger grapefruit. I racked them into two carboys one 24 liter and the other a 20 liter, I brought the liquid up to about two inches from the neck of the carboy and the other I will need to add some marbles when I get some.
The color is bright red or very deep burgandy not like the concordes (deep Purple color) have racking now(its also been about three weeks since i reracked it and it is starting to smell a lot better and actually getting closser to a nice tasting wine keep your fingers crossed for me).

I added the topper with water in them and wrapped them in a blanket to keep them warm, The first question I have is that when I took the SG it is 110 for both. I thought it was supposed to be about 130 and I was suposed to rerack in about three months when the sg went down to 110. It is there now unless I did something stupid? The juice tatses awesome and u can smell the alcohol content, its really quite nice. Is the sg supposed to be this low already?? and what temp should i try to keep the carboys at for the next three months?

Thanks again for all yoru help in advance!!

 

[Wade E]

I'm assuming you mean 1.030 and 1.010 with your sg's. Different yeasts
along with different fruits or wines and also temps can play a big role
in how fast or slow a wine will ferment. I would keep it in the 70*to
75* range until it is completely done fermenting and you have degassed
it. After that you can let the temp drop down. Just remember to try to
keep the temp as stable as possible as temp fluctations and vibration
are 2 of the worst things for wine.