Mosti Mondiale Quick Fermentation on MM Alljuice

[seminarian]

Fellow winemakers,

I began my MM Alljuice Cabernet Sauvignon last tuesday. I followed the instructions, mixed the bentonite, pitched the yeast. On the 9th which was friday, the SG had dropped to 1.020 below the recommended 1.040-1.050 for racking but I went ahead and racked it in and left a little room because it was bubbling pretty strong after adding the yeast nutrient that came with the kit. The airlock was singing like a bird in spring. I have been going down every day and stirring the wine because I added the oak to the carboy prior to racking. Tonight when I decided to do an SG check it showed .0996. IS that possible this quick? It says that should take several days.

Is my kit ruined? is it okay? Should I just let it set in the carboy for the recommended 10-12 days and then re-rack and age in the carboy for several months? Did I do something wrong?

Both my MM Alljuice and the raspberry wine I made from Vintner's Harvest have fermented quicker than the instructions call for. I am a newbie and these are my first two batches, is this okay or am I doing something wrong?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Bert]

You are OK....The wine is fine...I would guess that you had a fairly high fermentation temp and that moved thing along pretty fast....But it's OK....I would leave the wine on the oak in the secondary for the number of days called for or even a few more....Good luck and enjoy....

 

[grapeman]

If you racked it on Friday and it was there on Monday, that is the several (3) days they say it should take. A week to get to this point is perfectly within range. There should be nothing wrong. Just proceed along as you are doing and it will be fine.

 

[PeterZ]

James, I have notice that kits tend to go faster than the instructions call for. I attribute this to the fact that all of the kit manufacturers are in Canada and it's just colder there than in Fairfax or here outside Memphis. Even in winter we tend to keep our homes warmer than they do there. The net result is the yeast works faster in the southern US than it does in the Great White North.

 

[Jack on Rainy]

I agree, kits go faster than the instructions say almost every time even here in the north where it is -40 as I write this. I'd let your kit sit on that oak at least as long as the instructions say to let the oak into the wine.
BTW what was the must temp?

 

[guitar309]

That is the same exact thing that happend to me! I think everything is fine! after transfering to the secondary it seems that my fermentation stopped at .998 though... I will give it a few extra days to see..

 

[seminarian]

the must temp was between 70 and 76 degrees.

Tonight I checked the SG and is continuing to drop. Here is my question.

I would like to age this for a while. So here is what I plan to do. I am going to let it see for another 10-12 days on the oak (with the sediment) then rack back into the primary clean the carboy and rack back into the carboy. Then I am going to add the kmeta and let it set for 4-5 months under airlock and then add the siligel and liquigel and bottle. Is there any problem with that plan especially if I keep the airlock filled with kmeta? Also when topping up it says to use finished wine, however I have a small bottle of the same wine, would it be okay to top up with that? I did add just a bit of water to it to top up to the neck of the bottle.

Any thing wrong with these plans?

 

[dfwwino]

First, you need to buy yourself another carboy. But for now double-racking is fine. But you'll save yourself a step if you expand your carboy collection.


You are better off letting it age 4-5 months. At the end of the bulk aging, I would rack again, add the finings and let it sit for two weeks. Then rack again and bottle.


If you have extra wine in a small bottle, you can add it to top up for the bulk aging, as long as you kept it under good condition (no excessive air space in the bottle to avoid oxidizing the wine). It sounds you have a good game plan.

 

[PeterZ]

Your plan sounds good, but at 3 months of bulk aging I would add 1/4 tsp of K-meta, and do that again at bottling.

 

[Jack on Rainy]

Be sure to stir up the sediments when you add the clarifiers and that "extra wine" you have in the small bottle should have an airlock on it too. ( I assume that is from the same batch, right?)

 

[seminarian]

it is topped up with an airlock.

 

[Bert]

And now the waiting begins...

....good luck and enjoy, now to start picking out the next wine..

 

[seminarian]

Bert,

Actually I have already picked out the next wine. It is going to be a candy cane wine for next Christmas. I got a deal the other day on Candy Canes and there is a recipe on another wine making forum. So we will start that once I have an empty 5 gallon carboy.

 

[uavwmn]

Seminarian, sit back and wait........meanwhile, get that candy cane wine going!! hey, what other forum? there is another forum? no way....

 

[seminarian]

uavwmn,

There are two other forums that i have found on the topic of winemaking. One is www.winepress.us and the other is www.winemakingtalk.com. Both have a lot of useful information, as does this site. As far as the candy cane, I only have two carboys and neither of my wines is quite ready to bottle yet (and my wife doesn't want me to add any more glass bottles or jugs we may have to move in a year or two to the two carboys I have) so I will start the candy cane as soon as I empty the raspberry into bottles.

 

[vcasey]

So when you make that candy cane wine please keep us up to date. I have it listed on my "I want to try this List" but it will be a while because its a long list. I did find a recipe for homemade cough medicine using candy canes or peppermints. You fill a jar with them and then add whiskey. When the candies melt you have cough medicine (so they say).
VPC