Here’s the background. I’m not by any means more than just a beginner at this wine stuff. I’ve got a couple of kits behind me along with one batch of so-so pomegranate wine that was rated at “rustic” by the wine chef at the Cordon Bleu culinary school Las Vegas.
This year, my son and I (mostly him) picked and processed enough pomegranates to end up with 3 gallons of straight juice. It took several days, the last three of which I was off on a business trip.
A couple of days before I returned, Geoff noticed that the juice had started self-fermenting. He crushed up a couple campden tabs and dumped them in the juice like I did three years ago on another batch to kill off the wild yeast.
That didn’t work. Apparently the critters had too good of a head start. By the time I got home the airlock (one of those double twisty thingies) looked like it was boiling.
The bad news is, we (I) hadn’t done any tests. I had no idea of start point SG, TA, Ph, nuttin’. All I know is the room temperature was 74 +/-3(F).
When the fermenting quit, the TA (by titration) was 1.3 with an SG of 1.004. Subjective taste test…. Tart, verging on sour. Time since picking the first batch – 9 days.
Now, there is no way I was going to dump 3 gallons of that juice without trying something. By the time I worked the SG up to 1.065, TA down to 0.9, and Ph to 3.4, I had 5 gallons in a primary fermenter. I rehydrated a packet of K1-V1116 (Lalvin), stirred it in, closed the lid and plugged the stopper with an airlock.
The first burp came out of the airlock in about six hours.
I’m holding the temperature up to 84/86(F). The burp period is about 4 to six seconds. That to me seems very sssssllllloooooowww. Yesterday, after nine days, I did an SG test and it is down to 1.048. Subjective taste – sweet and palatable.
Here are my questions:
Is that fermentation normal for K1-V1116?
Should I try and speed it up? How?
Is it too late for yeast nutrient?
Am I thinking correctly about racking at 1.020SG? Before?
Is that a 9mm or .45ACP?
This year, my son and I (mostly him) picked and processed enough pomegranates to end up with 3 gallons of straight juice. It took several days, the last three of which I was off on a business trip.
A couple of days before I returned, Geoff noticed that the juice had started self-fermenting. He crushed up a couple campden tabs and dumped them in the juice like I did three years ago on another batch to kill off the wild yeast.
That didn’t work. Apparently the critters had too good of a head start. By the time I got home the airlock (one of those double twisty thingies) looked like it was boiling.
The bad news is, we (I) hadn’t done any tests. I had no idea of start point SG, TA, Ph, nuttin’. All I know is the room temperature was 74 +/-3(F).
When the fermenting quit, the TA (by titration) was 1.3 with an SG of 1.004. Subjective taste test…. Tart, verging on sour. Time since picking the first batch – 9 days.
Now, there is no way I was going to dump 3 gallons of that juice without trying something. By the time I worked the SG up to 1.065, TA down to 0.9, and Ph to 3.4, I had 5 gallons in a primary fermenter. I rehydrated a packet of K1-V1116 (Lalvin), stirred it in, closed the lid and plugged the stopper with an airlock.
The first burp came out of the airlock in about six hours.
I’m holding the temperature up to 84/86(F). The burp period is about 4 to six seconds. That to me seems very sssssllllloooooowww. Yesterday, after nine days, I did an SG test and it is down to 1.048. Subjective taste – sweet and palatable.
Here are my questions:
Is that fermentation normal for K1-V1116?
Should I try and speed it up? How?
Is it too late for yeast nutrient?
Am I thinking correctly about racking at 1.020SG? Before?
Is that a 9mm or .45ACP?
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