How long for primary fermantation??

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Italy107

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So my grapes have been sitting since October 18. they did not start to rise until October 25th. Now for the past 5 days it has been rising and Ive been pushing it down 3x a day. the smell of alcohol started about 3 days ago. the weather got a bit cold here and I had to add some heat to my garage to get it going so that's why it had a slow start. I took a brix reading yesterday and it read 6. here are my questions:

When I took the reading with my hydrometer it had some sediment in it. I think the sediment is altering my reading. Should I pour the liquid through a screen to ensure its only liquid with no solids and take a new reading?

Am I ready to squeeze the grapes once I am at 0 brix?

2nd rule of thinking, am I ready to squeeze once my must stops rising? The cap is still rising from every time I push it down.
The past few years I did my crush before Columbus so the weather was a bit warmer, this time I got pushed back to a later date so weather was against me. I think I have good fermentation and just trying to time the squeeze correctly.

In case your wondering, my grapes are Alicante, merlot, zinfandel
 
As long as the hydrometer is free floating you should be ok, but straining out the debris always helps.

With reds I typically ferment dry in the primary like -2 brix. Others will press earlier, usually to avoid extracting too much tannin, which may be important if you have under ripe grapes or green seeds.
 
im going to take another reading tonight with clean wine and see what my sugar content is
 
Wild ferment is very unreliable and could take awhile to finish. As long as the hydrometer floats you are ok to take a reading. Should get the sg reading below 1.00 in the .995 or lower area to press.
 

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