One final question ( hopefully )

[zember311]

You guys ( gals ) have been great so far, here ; here is my last question for awhile.


I had a gallon brewing for 10 days, the bubbles in the double bubble lock were slowing, yet still consistant.


so I got my hands on some Campden tablets, I crushed one up, dropped it in the jug, went to do a gentle stir as directed and VALCANO ! that reaction took place , I ran the jug to the sink and about 10 ounces bubbled out of it in the process. So I had nothing to top of the jug so I decided to stir the snot out of it to degas it, I then placed what was left of the gallon ( about 3 1/2 quarts ) into a plastic gallon jug, shook it like mad to degas it as much as possible, then I figured on throwing it in the fridge.


The other 1 gallon jug I have, I crushe dup one campden tab and just poured it in without stirring, it bubbled up, but nothing left the jug, I placed the lock back on it and it is there on the table still bubbling away. the bubbling is about 20 seconds apart.


So my concerns,


people talk about no more fermentation for longer then 7 to 10 days. ( just what I have been reading )


my SG for sugar starts out at 1.10 to 1.2. I add a bit of yeast food to the jug, then add 1 to 1.5 grams of yeast to each gallon.


Am I to wait until there is absolutely no bubbling in the lock before adding the tabs and doing a first racking ?


Or was it ok to add the tabs even though there was a small amount of bubbling going on after 10 days of fermenting ?


I took a sample taste of my wine, and it was right where I wanted it even though it was still slowly bubbling.


Open to ideas,


Kyle

 

[myway22]

Last question

!!!!


I must have said that ten times, just keep asking. Everyone loves answering them.Edited by: myway22

 

[Wade E]

Im guessing your trying to stop fermentation early and leave it sweet
so that being said adding campden will not work to do this. You have to
get it to almost freezing temps, say 40* for at least a few days. After
it has stopped fermenting, then you add both campden and potassium
sorbate to prevent it from starting back up. When adding
campden(k-meta) you have to stir very slowly and carefully at fisrt so you dont end up with this!

 

[PolishWineP]

I'm assuming you fermented right in the glass jug, not an open bucket.
What is your SG at this point? Some wines, especially non kit wines, tend to move at their own speed in fermentation. Beyond 10 days, especially if they are in a cooler area is not unheard of or bad.
Instead of just dropping a campden tab into the jug and stirring, you really should rack it into a clean, sanitized gallon jub, leaving behind the majority of your sediment, but not worrying if you bring some of it along to your clean jug.
The movement of the wine could restart active fermentation and you shouldn't really need to top up right now. I wouldn't add any campden at this time. If you still have fermentation going on, it will slow it down and muck things up for you.
There will be a protective layer of CO2. Don't be in a big hurry. No need to degas right now.
What else can you tell us about your wine at this time?

 

[zember311]

Ok, so it's good that I am workign with small batches and that I took my digital thermeter to adjust the fridge to 40 degrees ...
So mental note ( Fridge for a couple days then add Campden, and stabilizer )


Can I then bring the gallon jug back out of the fridge and start my racking /aging period at room temp or do I have to keep it fridged the entire racking .


Yup Wade,


Thats what it looked like, at least my mini me bottle could be sink bound with minor effort.

And how long can the fermentation go on for ? ( bubbling )


Myway22, your right, guess that wasnt the last question,

PolishWineP , This gallon wasn't even real wine yeast, though I am now using lalvin 71B1122 this batch that went crazy was ten days on just active yeast for breads and such, not the rapid rising ckind though.


I wanted two batchs to see what taste differences where in the two wines and the Alc % tolerances of that common yeast.


I never took a SG reading after the valcano, but that wine was started at 1.200 and menting like crazy for 7 days, then steady for 3.




KyleEdited by: zember311

 

[grapeman]

my SG for sugar starts out at 1.10 to 1.2. I add a bit of yeast food to the jug, then add 1 to 1.5 grams of yeast to each gallon.


Kyle

Hopefully Kyle you mean a SG of 1.100 to 1.120. If you are starting with a SG of 1.200, it will be either very sweet when done or you could probably fuel your car with it. Don't add campden until it is done fermenting or you could stall it out and it could restart when the S02 levels drop after a while. Start with a little lower SG than you are, ferment to finish(no bubbles) and then add campden and sorbate and after that resweeten to taste. That gives the most reliable and reproducible results.

 

[Wade E]

It can keep bubbling until your yeast is overpowered by alc or when it has run out of food(sugar) to eat. What yeast did you use as those are some high SG's to start odd with for a fruit wine. You will want to rack off the sediment for the 1 you are trying to finish sweet and have thrown in the fridge to get rid off all the yeast cells so it has less chance of starting back up.

 

[zember311]

Yup, reading all your inputs and thinking about it, the sugar level was way too high ! I was setting it at 1.20 only because when I was trying this in a 1500ml bottle, the math added up to make it into a gallon, but when I metered it, that is where it was sitting.


It was easy with the 1500ml, because I always fridged it when the bubbling was next to nothing, then kept it cold and drank it after 2 fridge rackings.


So this batch that went vented in the sink, is in the fridge, it was racked 1 day before I did this tonight, so the lee was removed. I will let it sit in the fridge, settle some more, then rack it again, probally at that point ( about a week in the fridge ) I will just siphon it off and bottle it in a screw cap and just consume it asap.


The other gallon batch that I added the Campden in is still fermenting, I will let it go for a day or so ( since this one as well started at about 1.20 ) then if the menting is still going, I dont want it to crazy strong this one has the lalvin yeast in it. I will fridge it off and rack as with the one above.


I just started another batch tonight ( 1 gallon ) of white grape/pomagrant.


I added sugar till it read 1.095, from this finding online

The 1.090 specific gravity is a rather magical number. It produces an alcohol level of about 12.3%, a level that ensures the wine's preservation. I usually start at 1.095, or about 13% alcohol, because I know I will lose some volume in racking and add water to make it up, thereby diluting the wine and the percent alcohol by volume. In truth, a hair over 10% alcohol is all that's required to preserve grape wine. But some fruit wines actually require the 12% level for unrefrigerated preservation, so using 12% as a rule of thumb errs, if at all, on the side of safety.

Figured that made the most sense to me.


So I got the batch at 1.095 I added 1 crushed Campden tablet and stirred it in well .


I will wait 24 hours, then add in the Lalvin yeast. Each 5 gram packet states its good for 5 to 6 gallons, so I will add 1 gram of yeast tomorrow.


That should get me back to the ( basics ) from there just follow this batch out step for step. waiting for fermenting to stop on this batch, then adding another campden tab at the first racking, then add a tab every other racking till I am ready to bottle.


Should be about right from what I am gathering from all of you .


I got all the time in life to tinker and learn from my mistakes and I am in no hurry to have a 300 count bottle room, so it's all fun and games to me until I get it all just right.


Kyle

 

[Wade E]

If you are making these from juices on the shelf or frozen concentrates you dont have to add any campden in the beginning. You only do that with fresh fruit as they will have wild yeast on them. It wont hurt anything as long as you add only what is prescribed but still not needed.

Edited by: wade

 

[PolishWineP]

You probably don't need to add the campden tab at your first racking. There should be enough CO2 in there to protect it.