Mosti Mondiale MM Fresh Juice S.G. still high...

[Dspag]

I have the MM fresh juice Amarone and Cab Sauv kits from George that arrived frozen on 10/26. The instructions from Mosti suggest racking off the gross lees to a topped off carboy at a SG of .990-.992. The instructions suggest this will be reached in the two week timeframe, but my SG remain higher than that at the 30 days mark on both kits. Cab is at .998 and the Amarone at .996. Suggestions ? is this a stuck fermentation (I haven't picked up any clinitest strips yet to check for sugar..)? Should I just wait longer and see - if so, should I keep the kits on their gross lees or go ahead and rack off them...?

Relevant data: both kits warmed up quickly and started fermenting vigorously as expected. I have checked the calibration on my hydrometer, and it read 1.000 in water. The juice has remained in the 70-74 degree range in temp since it thawed, and I have stirred the lees every few days after I hit the two week mark and was behind schedule...


Thanks for the help !

 

[grapeman]

It's hard to say if they are done or not. I would however rack them off the lees if they haven't moved. They have been on the lees close to a month. That would be as long as I would want them in there. Rack it and top up and put an airlock on. It may go a little lower, but if not it is pretty close so it will be fine. Rarely do they ever go quite to .990-.992.

 

[Dean]

Something to remember about full bodied reds is that they very rarely go below 0.998. Too many residual solids and some unfermentable sugars always remain in full bodied reds. This helps to contribute to mouthfeel in red wines that seem "thicker". I'd say they are most likely done.

The only time I've ever managed to get a full bodied red to go below 0.996 was when I started fermentation during a heat wave we had here, and the juice never dropped below 82F. Fermentation was fast and quite violent. Took it right down to 0.992, but again very rare.

 

[bonvec]

My amarone is down to .994. Did you add any nutrient dap or other food to your must.

 

[MartyMart]

Dspaq, I have 3 Cabernet at home. All of them Fresh Juice from MM. I never reached the .990-.992 desired SG. One is at .996, the other two are at .998.

Thrust me, it doesn't matter, they are exquisite!

I tried to let the lees in one of them for 35 days, as an attempt to reach the desired density proposed by MM. After 25 days, when I racked it taking the lees out, my wine had a terrible smell and taste of CO2... I had to transfer it 5 more times to finally get rid of that taste and smelling. I spoke with someone I know working in the Lab at MM and he told me I was lucky to have been 'able'' to save my wine. 14 days with the lees in the carboy is the maximum without taking risk of ''loosing'' the wine...

MartyMart

 

[MartyMart]

I wrote 35 days but it's 25 days...

 

[Wade E]

terrible smell of CO2, do you mean sulfur as that would be H2S?

 

[Dspag]

Thanks for the comments, sounds like I need to rack those kits tonight, worry a bit less, and look forward to some nice wine....

 

[geocorn]

Is this your first or second racking?

 

[MartyMart]

Wade, you're right! I meant sulfur... Sorry guys about my english, my first language is french, english, the third and the one I need to improve!

Mart

 

[MartyMart]

Bonvec, I don't know about other kits but for MM Fresh Juice, they recommand not to add any nutriment or yeast.

 

[Dspag]

George:
Ihave already racked once into carboys out of the buckets (taking the gross lees with the wine). I have been waiting for the SG to get down to the .990-.992 range before racking again , leaving the major lees behind. Based on these comments , I decided it was time despite the higher SG and have just racked a second time.




P.S. : I ended upreceiving the kits with about agallon missing out of each with the freezing/expansion issue. Still, I am sure excited to be part of the test group and will be forwarding data sheets to you soon...Did you ever receive initial SG info on the kits so that I can calculate final % alcohol?


Thanks.

 

[MartyMart]

For my 3 Cabernet, the SG was the same: 1092

 

[geocorn]

After talking with Nino (president of Mosti), he was concerned that the wines might not finish fermentation. If the wines don't taste too sweet then I would move on. Otherwise, you might try adding more yeast and some yeast nutrient to try to finish the fermentation. Your taste will be the deciding factor.

 

[MartyMart]

Did he say about which yeast and which nutrient?

 

[geocorn]

Lavlin EC-1118, RC-212 or KIV-1116 should work the best. A DAP based product is the best like Fermax or Fermaid-K.

 

[MartyMart]

Thanks George for the information. Could be usefull someday!


M.