Hi, I have been growing vines for a few years and this year decided to make some wine from the grapes. Unfortunately I added too much sugar and had to throw the must away. So instead I bought 100kg of Montepulciano grapes imported from Italy. I have the must in 4x25L plastic buckets and it has been fermenting for a week. The SG has fallen below 1.00 but there are still alot of bubbles appearing whenever I punch down the cap. Should I rack off the wine now into secondary fermentation vessels, or should I wait until the bubbling significantly decreases? All advice appreciated.
Newbie looking for advice
- Thread starter Foldyard
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A lot of the bubbles that you see when punching down the must is just trapped bubbles not necessarily new, active fermentation bubbles. If it has been fermenting for a week already and down to 1.000 then I would go ahead and press. There has been enough skin contact. I wouldn’t want to risk waiting too long and not having enough CO2 blanketing the wine from oxidation especially with that much wine.
Thanks. Makes sense.
Wine in the early steps is very forgiving. When your ferment slows you could press into a carboy or you could try to hold in a CO2 head and try to extract more/ extended laceration. I am lazy so press and forget it.
In reference to the high sugar batch. Many country wine makers produce a sugar wine/ add lots of non-fruit sugar / add extra water. I would have added extra water or apple or grape to reach alcohol target.
welcome to WMT
In reference to the high sugar batch. Many country wine makers produce a sugar wine/ add lots of non-fruit sugar / add extra water. I would have added extra water or apple or grape to reach alcohol target.
welcome to WMT
Welcome to WMT!
OK so I pressed yesterday and got about 75L. pH is 3.4, SG 0.996. It has gone from being a delicious fruity taste about 4 days ago to being rather sour, but I expect that is normal?
I believe the "sour" taste comparative to four days ago is fermented residual sugars. Gravity of 1.000 still has some sugar while 0.996 will have less; so less sweet. Now, your exercise in patience begins. How are you planning on aging the wine?
I was thinking about malolactic fermentation but is very difficult to buy the relevant bacteria in the UK, so I guess I will have to pass on that. I will be racking to carboys in a day or two and then racking again in another 3-4 weeks. After that I guess it is leaving it for about 6 months in a cool place before bottling. I have some oak chips which I will add after the second racking.
A week old wine still has a lot of CO2. Carbonation gives a sharp, prickly on the mouth, slightly bitter flavor. For kitchen testing I will heat 50 ml in a microwave for 30 seconds then stir then cool then test or taste.
I was looking at de-gassing after the first racking. Does that make sense?
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