Lost newbie

[Kramnuko]

A gentlemen that has been making wine for decades offered to get me started. He instructed me to purchase a 5gal. Carboy and 2 one gallon jugs, stoppers and airlocks. We got a 6 gallon pail of la collina del sole Barbera and red star yeast. He told me nothing about sanitation but I did clean well all items. I was instructed to almost fill the Carboy and half fill the jugs. No mention of taking a SG until 4 weeks had passed. I bought a hydrometer but did not take an SG check before dividing up the juice between the vessels. I started on 11/22 and the the airlocks are bubbling, more in the Carboy than e 1 gallon jugs, there seems to be some sediment forming on the bottom kind of white in appearance and the juice is changing color.

How do I proceed?, I want the years of experiene this man has and he makes a good wine and I like the fact he does Not use chemicals. help!

 

[Tom]

Best to get some chemicals/equipment FAST
Potassium Metabisulfate
Racking tube
HYDROMETER a must!
did you add yeast to everything? You may have been OK to just add yeast in the original bucket.

 

[Kramnuko]

Best to get some chemicals/equipment FAST
Potassium Metabisulfate
Racking tube
HYDROMETER a must!
did you add yeast to everything? You may have been OK to just add yeast in the original bucket.

I added yeast to all 3 containers, with airlocks, I did get a hydrometer and I have gotten Camden tablets. But I am lost and I don't want the wife thinking I wasted money as she is already asking for a glass.

 

[djrockinsteve]

You didn't waste you money but have started an investment and a great hobby. Go here to educate yourself a bit

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14202

We have tutorials on several procedures. Just visit the Home page. You said you are ferm. in the carboys. You really should ferm. in a bucket.

Read the link and then ask anymore questions. Tell your wife hang on.

 

[cpfan]

she is already asking for a glass.

Tell her to wait till next year if she likes young wine. Even later if she likes nicely aged wine.

You're not making Kool-Aid here.

Steve

 

[orf]

hope your gentleman isn't one who likes to keep tidbits to himself.read posts on here you'll get much better advice,in my limited experience.as most will tell you,it not as hard as it seems .good luck.

 

[Kramnuko]

You didn't waste you money but have started an investment and a great hobby. Go here to educate yourself a bit
We have tutorials on several procedures. Just visit the Home page. You said you are ferm. in the carboys. You really should ferm. in a bucket.

Read the link and then ask anymore questions. Tell your wife hang on.

Should I remove the juice from the Carboy or just leave it. Since I don't have a starting reading on the hydrometer should I just try to achieve the proper SG?

 

[Tom]

Let it go dry .990 then rack in about 2 weeks.
Add meta and oak.
let it sit 2-3 months.

 

[LJPelletier]

Should I remove the juice from the Carboy or just leave it. Since I don't have a starting reading on the hydrometer should I just try to achieve the proper SG?

You did not add any sugar at the start? What is the current hydrometer reading? Does it taste like alcohol?

If it was straight juice, it may have a very low alcohol content.

I am still fairly new at this to know for sure if it is too late after 4 weeks to put it into a bucket, add sugar, and ferment again... but I am thinking it might be a bit on the late side.

If the wine is sitting on a ton of lees (dead yeast), then you may want to rack the wine off to avoid any chance of developing a bad taste from it.

 

[LJPelletier]

OR maybe just do what Tom suggested

 

[Kramnuko]

You did not add any sugar at the start? What is the current hydrometer reading? Does it taste like alcohol?

If it was straight juice, it may have a very low alcohol content.

I am still fairly new at this to know for sure if it is too late after 4 weeks to put it into a bucket, add sugar, and ferment again... but I am thinking it might be a bit on the late side.

If the wine is sitting on a ton of lees (dead yeast), then you may want to rack the wine off to avoid any chance of developing a bad taste from it.

I did not add sugar, but it has only been 5days. Can i open it to take a reading. Or should I wait til the air lock stops bubbling.

 

[Duster]

It sounds to me like you started with a Juice bucket. I am not familiar with these but at this point I wound just do as Tom suggested. Let it go to dry (when the SG reads below 1.00 and remains unchanged for at least 3 days).

Typically you need to stir the must every 12 hours or so to provide O2 to the yeast.

at some time, you will need to be concerned with the 1/2 full gallon carboys but not until wine is dry.

Like djrockinsteve said, you now must educate yourself and fast, you will have about a week from the time the yeast is pitched until your mine hits dry.

 

[LJPelletier]

Do you have a bucket larger than the one it came in? I would likely dump it back into the bucket, and add about 10 cups of sugar. If you do that, make sure to stir it until dissolved. The sugar will provide more alcohol. Pure juice will not usually have enough sugar to get the proper alcohol content. You would likely have a wine that is around 7% ABV. If you can get your hands on some yeast nutrients, it would be a good idea to add some at the time of adding sugar.

You can definitely open the air lock to take a reading. However, being that is has already fermented 5 days, you will never really know how much alcohol is already in the wine if you didn't get a starting gravity. Try tasting a sample and see what you think. Maybe you would rather not add sugar. You could have a low alcohol wine, and it could still be enjoyable to drink.

As I mentioned before, if it is sitting on a ton of lees (dead yeast), you may want to rack it off the lees. If you don't have another carboy to do so, it is acceptable to rack into the bucket, clean the carboy, then rack back into the carboy. A bit of oxygen exposure is okay, but if it is fermented dry, you will want to minimize exposure and add potassium bisulphite and potassium sorbate so keep it safe from bacteria. Keep in mind, if you want to add sugar and ferment it more, you can not add the potassium bisulphite and potassium sorbate until after that fermentation is complete.

 

[djrockinsteve]

If it is still fermenting then stir it and siphon it into a bucket. Let it finish fermenting. When it reaches 1.000 stir it and put the lid on but cracked a bit to allow CO2 to escape. 2-3 days later open the lid and transfer to Carboy and let it clear. Add 1/4 teaspoon potassium metabisulfite to it (5 gallons). Use a fining agent if you like.

During fermentation yeast need to breath. If there is a lack of oxygen they can become stressed and give you trouble.

Not knowing your starting gravity could be a problem. Wouldn't it be great if these buckets had directions. What a wonderful sales tool.

 

[Julie]

.... I would likely dump it back into the bucket, and add about 10 cups of sugar. If you do that, make sure to stir it until dissolved. The sugar will provide more alcohol. ....

I would not recommend to put in a certain amount of sugar. If you ever look at any of my posts, you need to put in the amount of sugar to bring you to a certain hydrometer reading. And never add the sugar and stir to disolve. This method will never get all the sugar disolved. If you need to add sugar to a must, take out some of the must, add the sugar, heat it up but do not bring it to a boil an stir until disolved.

I do agree with others, sounds like you bought a juice bucket, if so, sugar, acid and yeast have already been added.

 

[Kramnuko]

It has been 17 days SG is 1.000. Hasnt bubbled in days eve after agitating. I have racked off the sediment put in a clean carboy with water lock. The stuff tastes good just a little raw. It is now in the basement how long before racking again? The instructions say nothing about adding any chemicals.

 

[rhoffart]

Kramnuko, welcome to the forum. Your doing great. Did you add any sulfites yet? You said you have Camden tablets? What size is your carboy, 5 or 6 gallons? Is it full, within 2" from the top?

 

[djrockinsteve]

Hope you added sulfite. Allow 4-6 weeks to clear. Expedite with sparkolloid or similar. Then rack again. Did you degas?

 

[grapeman]

This is why I suggest new winemakers start with a kit. They come with good instructions to make a sucessful wine. If you follow that, you quickly learn the basics that you can use for a lifetime. Once comfortable, then you can move on to fruit wines, wine from juice buckets like you have now and even from grapes. GOOD LUCK and I hope you haven't gotten confused from all the help offered up.

 

[Kramnuko]

Kramnuko, welcome to the forum. Your doing great. Did you add any sulfites yet? You said you have Camden tablets? What size is your carboy, 5 or 6 gallons? Is it full, within 2" from the top?

No sulfites added, used the campden tablets to make a sanitizer for the carboy and all tools. It is a 5 gallon carboy now filled just below the neck.