RJ Spagnols problem

[dcrnbrd]

The blackberry merlot has been in bottle 2 weeks now. I pulled the clear one out to inspect and I have alot of floaters in it. Why? and what is it? Is it safe to drink?

 

[grapeman]

It is a good indication that it wasn't quite ready to bottle. This is one reason why a bunch of us wait longer than the recommended times. We can avoid having to filter to prevent the floaties. A wine can look fairly clear, but if you rack it and give it more time, you will get more sediment out- and it's that stuff that cause what you see.

 

[Dean]

This is a problem with all the OB, Mist, and any other sweet wine kits. They market these wines as 28 day kits, when really, due to the extra sugar, they should be marketed as 42 day kits! When you added the F-pack and all the other goodies, you still had a lot of residual yeast in the wine. Sorbate doesn't kill them, but just prevents them from replicating. So, all those live yeast still had a while to munch on all the new sugars you introduced. If your temps were on the low side (69F and under), you actually had a LOT of yeast in suspension, and alive after the primary fermentation.

I recommend that anyone who does mist kits to wait at least 3 more weeks after day 28 to make sure the wine is fully done.

 

[dcrnbrd]

Thanks all. I have the straw zin in primary now. I added extra sugar to it to bring up abv. It has been almost 2 weeks in primary and really slowed down a lot. The sg today is 1.020, so it still has a little ways to go. Do I need to wait til sg gets down to 0.998 or rack over to secondary and add more yeast? If I do need to rack over do I add k-meta to the secondary or without?

 

[Wade E]

I would rack it over now and not do anything else till it is done which should be an SG of under 1.000 and stable for 3 or more days. Then I would go on with the next step. Never add k-meta while still fermenting as it will slow down fermentation and end up stuck which could start back up later in the bottle. Just follow the instructions but remember that with the additional sugars added it will take longer then the instructions have noted as you started with a higher SG. You do not need to add any more yeast.

 

[dcrnbrd]

Ok thanks wade. I will rack over to a clean carboy tomorrow. I only have 2 and I already have the other one full. Does that mean I need to buy another one? I think it does. I will call George in the morning.