Becks the Elder
Country Wines.
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2009
- Messages
- 71
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi everyone,
Today I looked at my 6 demijohns and decided that fermentation looked pretty sluggish so I decided to rack them into my new carboy. They had been in demijohns for about 17 days. Once racked I measured the SG and found the elderberry wine had dropped from 1098 to 992. I guess that's it then. At the moment it is sitting in the carboy with an air lock in it. Gas bubbled out slowly for the first hour but now seems to have stopped.
I think the ABV should be about 14.4% at the moment and I don't really want it to go any higher. So, the next step is to add the potassium sorbate and campden tablets but should I do that now or should I leave it a few days / weeks? If I leave it how much higher is the abv likely to go?
Once I add the sorbate and campden should I leave the airlock in and let the wine sit for a month or two before racking again to give the gas a chance to escape naturally? I've heard that fruit wines don't generally need to be 'degassed' as time tends to do it.
Thanks for all the help and advice I've received, the winemaking has been great fun and so far I'm pleased with the way the wine has been going.
Cheers!
Today I looked at my 6 demijohns and decided that fermentation looked pretty sluggish so I decided to rack them into my new carboy. They had been in demijohns for about 17 days. Once racked I measured the SG and found the elderberry wine had dropped from 1098 to 992. I guess that's it then. At the moment it is sitting in the carboy with an air lock in it. Gas bubbled out slowly for the first hour but now seems to have stopped.
I think the ABV should be about 14.4% at the moment and I don't really want it to go any higher. So, the next step is to add the potassium sorbate and campden tablets but should I do that now or should I leave it a few days / weeks? If I leave it how much higher is the abv likely to go?
Once I add the sorbate and campden should I leave the airlock in and let the wine sit for a month or two before racking again to give the gas a chance to escape naturally? I've heard that fruit wines don't generally need to be 'degassed' as time tends to do it.
Thanks for all the help and advice I've received, the winemaking has been great fun and so far I'm pleased with the way the wine has been going.
Cheers!
Last edited: