Punching Down during primary - will must be ok unpunched for a few days?

[Machine]

Was home last night for day 2 of primary, 2 gallons of must bubbling away like a freshly opened can of coke, but I'm stuck away from home from last night until tomorrow evening, will the lack of punching down for this long cause a problem? 5-gallon bucket covered with cheesecloth, and I further covered it to try to retain a little moisture in the air while leaving a large enough gap to let oxygen in/CO2 out, with the goal of trying to keep the floating must from completely drying out. If this is a huge problem I can try to run home late tonight, otherwise the ferment will be all alone for about 45 hours by the time I get home tomorrow.

thanks for any input,
Anthony

 

[salcoco]

Punch it down before you leave and it should be okay for the term mentioned.

 

[Machine]

I punched it at 7 and 10 last night. Grapes are in a nylon bag (open at the top), was really floaty, probably because a lot of CO2 gets caught by the bag. Was bubbling up a storm! Might make it back there by 1 am tonight and punch then and again at 7 am friday, if not then it will be all alone for 45 hours...hope it doesn't take over my house while I'm gone! House smelled like raw bread dough and faintly of wine when I left...aromas of nail polish remover and oxidation were nowhere to be found.

 

[Arne]

Ha Ha, bet it will survive just fine without your constant supervision. Don't take that wrong, I fuss over the ferments like an old mother hen too. I have left them for a long weekend (like 3 or 4 days) and they come out just fine. Mite be a bit slower because of it, but bet it will live just the same. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[Machine]

thanks guys, its such a small batch that I worried about the small surface area to volume ratio, worried the must would dry out on top and cause problems (though what those problems might be I'm not sure!).

when I left last night it was bubbling away like crazy, could see big bubbles coming up the sides through the transleucent bucket, almost like a pot of water on the boil. smelled pretty good to me. will check SG tomorrow (day 4 of primary ferment) and see how she's doing.

 

[grapeman]

You need to keep the cap moist with fresh must/wine otherwise it may mold on you. You want to extract the colors and solids by punching the solids into the liquids.

 

[yakhunter]

You got a small sanitary turtle you could leave in there for a day or two?

Got the same problem with my Syrah. I am going elk hunting for the weekend and the wine will be staying home alone.

I wish you good luck with yours and hope for the best with mine. To hijack the thread a little, would we be better off leaving it in a warm or cool place for that time? Thant is, is a vigorous, or slower ferment better for unattended musts early in hte fermentation process?

Thanks