Primary to Secondary ?

[cowgirlallison]

Ok here is the question....I made a batch of Plum in a 5 gallon primary bucket, when I transfered it to my secondary (5 gallon glass carboy) it was about 3/4 full so I stopped to wonder where exactly on that glass carboy is the 5 gallon mark??? So I commenced to measuring 20 quarts (4 qurarts to a gallon so 4x5 is 20...I am really a math genius!) and to my surprise it was not even to where the bottle begins to narrow. It came to just below the 2nd from the top ring on the jug (which is 11" from the floor exactly!). Now I wondered should I now add H2O to bring the level up closer to the neck to minimize airspace? or will this dilute my wine??? So I added 4 cups of water to bring it up to about 13 1/2" but decided to get some input before adding anymore. My other 2 batches were made in the 6gallon primary and filled the secondary almost to the neck are so I was not concerned about adding water to them. So, this is the first of many new issues I will face as a newby so please bear with me!

 

[Wade E]

Are you sure its a 5 gallon carboy and not a 6 gallon carboy? If you added the proper amount of fruit and not enough water then you would have had to cut down on the sugar for this batch or you will have over shot your starting SG. What was your starting SG so as we can determine what to do at this point. I dont want to tell you that you can add water if until i have a better grasp on this wine. Can you post the recipe that you followed exactly including your starting SG, lbs of fruit, gallons of water, and lbs of sugar?

 

[Joanie]

I wouldn't water it down! I'd put it in a smaller carboy...like a 3 gallon with the extra in a one gallon jug and maybe a wine bottle or 2.

 

[cowgirlallison]

Ok here we go. I am not exactly sure of how much fruit was used approx 3 gallons (my in-laws were helping so they did the fruit mashing part) anyway that is another story.... I used 10lbs of sugar, 1/2 tsp x5 of acid blend, 1/2 tsp x 5 of pectic enzyme, 5 tsp nutrient, 5 campden tabs, Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast (made starter). This was a recipe for a 1 gallon batch so I just did everything by 5.
Must SG was 1.070 and I wanted to make it 1.085-1.095 so I added 1 cup of sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup of h20. Was very frustrated and disgusted at this point in time b/c I had never had to add sugar and was not really sure how much to add to change my SG so I knew 1# would raise the SG 1% but I did not want to raise it 1 whole % so I just added a cup to see what happened and guess what happened.....SG went to 1.136! So not knowing what to do at this point I said a few choice words and moved on. So the next day I added my yeast starter and let it go. The SG that evening was at 1.028. So it was 10 days later and it was at 1.030 so I transfered it last pm to carboy. And I read the bottom of the carboy and it says 131 liters, 5 gallons on the bottom so that is why I was confused.

 

[grapeman]

After reading this post, now I am totally confused!

None of your numbers make sense. Either you typed some in wrong, or they went up and down at will, which I doubt. Check your numbers here and if they are what you had, it wasn't stirred well when you read it.

 

[Wade E]

And I read the bottom of the carboy and it says 131 liters, 5 gallons on the bottom so that is why I was confused.??????? Which does it say cause those 2 #'s arent even close to being close!!!!!!! this is going to ferment dry and be hot as heck with an abv of 18%. Do you have any more fruit as this really needs to blended with another batch to mellow it out. To be honest with you Ill have to let someone else take a stab at what to do besides add this to another batch or put this wine on the shelf and forget about drinking t for 1 1/2 years or longer. When making a batch of wine, the fruit sit in the bucket for 12 hours, stir well then take a hydrometer reading as sugar from the fruit will have leached into the must and raised the SG. Stir again and dble check to see if you get the same reading.

 

[cowgirlallison]

correction on that I went and looked at 2 others and I could make out that that should be 19 liters not 131...sorry made in Mexico what can you expect. But it does say Net 5 Gallons for sure. I don't have any more fruit so whatever suggestions of what to add to this monster of a mess are more than welcome.
I guess that could be the case of not stirring well after adding the 1cup of sugar b/c that does not make sense to me either. I tasted it along the way and when I transfered it at 1.030 it still tastes good so I can hope I just got a wrong reading on that initial. I may let it go and see what happens....Edited by: cowgirlallison

 

[Wade E]

Refresh my memory please, how much approx is missing to get this wine topped up?

 

[cowgirlallison]

If you take a tape measure and measure from the ground up it is at 13.5" on the carboy.

 

[Wade E]

Do you prefer sweeter wine or dry wine as another option is to put this batch in the fridge and stop it from fermenting so as not to produce anymore alc. It will require some time in there like 2 weeks and then immediately add k-meta and sorbate to keep it from starting up again. This is not preferred metho of stabilizing a wine but does work MOST of the time.

 

[Wade E]

And what does the whole carboy measure?

 

[Wade E]

Im in my basement measuring my 5 gallon carboy and what looks to me like you are right at where the carboy begins to taper to the neck from the biggest part which tells me that you are approx. 1/2 to 5/8 of a gallon short of being correct. Right now since it is still fermenting there is no need to top off your carboy as gases are protecting your wine from oxidation. As to what to do when it is done then there are a few options.
1) you could sweeten back your wine by taking a fruit juice such as Plum smart which s a juice in your grocery store. Ive done this before to add more flavor. What I do is to buy 2 of these juices, put them in a pot on the stove and reduce them by simmering them both down to about 1/3 its original size at medium heat with NO LID so as that the water is evaporated out but the flavor and sweetness are concentrated. For your batch I wouldnt cook these juices since your abv will be so much and just add the juices straight into it so that it WILL dilute the abv and bring it down and raise the level in your carboy. Remember that you have to add k-meta and sorbate to this batch once it has STOPPED fermenting. You check this wine for stabilization by using your hydrometer a few days in a row to make sure that the SG is not changing. After it is stable and you have added the k-meat and sorbate you may add your juice and take a SG reading again. After a few days make sure it is not fermenting again by taking another SG reading. give it a few weeks and then you can egin to add fining agents or let time clear this wine. Please be careful when adding juice not to make it too sweet as this is very hard to undo!

2) The other option is to back sweeten after wine is stable by making a simple syrup. This method would be better if you are happy with the flavor profile and just want to make it a little sweeter which will bring out a little more flavor. we do this by taking 2 cups of sugar and putting this into 1 cup of boiling water to make sure it is dissolved and slowly add this to our stable wine which has been sorbated and k-mete'd to prevent re-fermentation. Again be careful not to over sweeten. This probably is not the best solution to your batch since you are needing quite a bit to top off.

3) This is the best option most of the time but again in your situation where your starting SG was so high it needs to be brought down. When making fruit wines you should have an assortment of different size carboys such as 3 gallon with multifit bung
<div align="center">5151
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and 1 gallon jug with
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and wine bottles with
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to hold any left overs for topping up after you have racked.

 

[cowgirlallison]

I will measure the whole carboy tonight and let you know. Thank you so much for the help and I will try your first suggestion if I can track down the Plum Smart juice...I have never heard of it but that does not mean we don't have in TN. Is it frozen concentrate or is it in the regular juice section?

 

[Rocky_Top]

In TN it can be found in the produce section of Bi-Lo "fresh juice" next to the apple cider and fresh cut fruit.

 

[Wade E]

It is a regular juice that is bottled in a plastic bottle.

 

[cowgirlallison]

update on the plum...i did find the plum smart..thanks...and for 6 days now the sg has not changed 1.010 so should i go ahead and add k-meta and k-sorb?

 

[Wade E]

Did we ever figure out what the starting SG was as this is impossible to happen. SG went to 1.136! So not knowing what to do at this point I said a few
choice words and moved on. So the next day I added my yeast starter and
let it go. The SG that evening was at 1.028. Seeing as how it has not changed it is ready to degas and stabilize. Be careful when you sweeten this wine as it is already left with residual sugar and you might not want to add much more.
Edited by: wade

 

[cowgirlallison]

sorry I forgot to make that correction I got a reading of 1.136 and 1.128 after the yeast was added. I still think things may not have been mixed well or something but anyway I will stabilize tonight and top off with the plum smart only. I will let it sit awhile and see what happens. I will let you know.

 

[Wade E]

What I like to do is use a few of those juices and reduce them down on the stove top on medium heat with no lid on so as that you can reduce the amount of liquid you are adding. I typically take 2 and add them together and then simmer them down to 1/3 its original size. You may not want to do this as you have a very high SG and actually need more diluting so adding them as is may be your best bet.