Skittle Wine

[Micah]

Quick question - I was inspired to try this recipe as my first non-kit wine. When I racked to start the clearing stage I found the wine looks like grapefruit juice in both color and clarity (or lack there of).

During the clearing stage, what should I be looking for to know it has cleared?

Hopefully I'm not asking too dumb a question. I was just caught off guard by how it came out and I'm not sure what to watch out for.

 

[Runningwolf]

Not a silly question as I kept waiting also for a change in color. I racked several times as I kept getting floaties all the way up to the end. The color was some what opaque even after super kleer. The dramatic change only came after filtering and then it ended up looking like a white wine. I added a bottle of Niagara and two Concord for a more fruity flavor and this gave it a nice straw color.

Incidently welcome to the forum!

 

[Micah]

Thanks for the info (and welcome).

I actually just picked up a vacuum pump off eBay and a whole house filter based on recommendations from here.

Considering the amount of dissolved solids in this wine, what sized filter did you use? I'm waiting on delivery of 1 and 5 micron filters but I wonder if I should start off with a higher sized filter and work my way down.

 

[Runningwolf]

Personally I don't enjoy clean up anymore then I have to. I do a good job but try not to make extra work.

I would wait at least several months and rack off of all sediment. Then at that time just use the one micron filter. It's just my opinion if you have to filter down several times you are rushing things and your wine is probably not ready or you missed a racking or two. I know you're new here but I'm sure you learned the 3 p's lesson from Tom. If not just ask.

Keep the questions coming and we'll walk you through anything.

 

[Micah]

Appreciate the pointers.

I've done 3 batches of "6 week" wine kits before this and it looks like I mistakenly made the assumption that this would have a similar time frame.

I don't want to derail this too much further but I'll see if I can track down a discussion on the 3 p's you mentioned.

 

[greyday]

Ok, opinion time--still hasn't restarted, and yesterday I added 3 more packets of ec-1118 to the must, along with more wyeast. No change, so EITHER I wrote down a starting sg of 1.12 when I MEANT to write 1.2 or there's some other pretty major problem, as if it started at 1.12 then it's only at 4% abv currently (and if it started at 1.2, then it's at around 15%, which still seems a bit low for EC-1118 to have died off.

So here's the question: After a month in primary, and either fermented as far as it'll go, or at 4% (which is more likely and then a definite indicator of a serious problem), do I A) transfer to a secondary for a week or two and see if fermentation restarts; B) assume I wrote down the wrong figures and rack and see if mold forms; or C) dump the whole thing and start from scratch? Honestly, I'm kind of leaning towards C at this point.

This is just like American Idol. I want your votes. And I promise I won't sing, so really it's a win-win...

 

[UglyBhamGuy]

Have you REALLY tasted it?
like a glass?
Drink a glass or 3 and see if you feel drunk, if you do, chances are it isn't 4%.

 

[tjbryner]

Ok, opinion time--still hasn't restarted, and yesterday I added 3 more packets of ec-1118 to the must, along with more wyeast. No change, so EITHER I wrote down a starting sg of 1.12 when I MEANT to write 1.2 or there's some other pretty major problem, as if it started at 1.12 then it's only at 4% abv currently (and if it started at 1.2, then it's at around 15%, which still seems a bit low for EC-1118 to have died off.

So here's the question: After a month in primary, and either fermented as far as it'll go, or at 4% (which is more likely and then a definite indicator of a serious problem), do I A) transfer to a secondary for a week or two and see if fermentation restarts; B) assume I wrote down the wrong figures and rack and see if mold forms; or C) dump the whole thing and start from scratch? Honestly, I'm kind of leaning towards C at this point.

This is just like American Idol. I want your votes. And I promise I won't sing, so really it's a win-win...

Did you add any Acid blend when you started it? I have made many batches of this stuff and never had any issues with a stuck fermentation. Stop adding yeast you have enough in there for probably closes to 20 gallons.

I would check the PH and post back here, I'm going to bet that you need some acid in there or you messed up the Starting SG. You could also try adding more sugar and then take another SG and see if it starts back up.

 

[seanstermatic]

In an attempt to resolve the issue of clearing I thought I'd take more effort to remove the scum that initially forms. I stayed true to the initial recipe but didn't add all that sugar.

For 5 gallons:

4 lbs skittles
12 cups sugar (~ 6 lbs)
4 welche's concentrate (~1.6L)
1 tsp pectin enzyme (i don't even think this is necessary??)
2.5 tsp nutrient
1/2 tsp tannin
5 tsp acid blend

O.G. was 1.084 (potential alcohol 11.5%)

I boiled about 1.5 gallons of water then added the skittles and stirred until dissolved, with boiling. I noticed a bunch of waxy stuff floating on top so I tried skimming it off but this didn't seem to work well so I decided to siphon off the bottom layer and leave behind the waxy top layer (see photo). This was stupid because I siphoned it off hot and ruined my plastic carboy. It's now about half the size (see attached photo). After this I still noticed some waxy stuff surfacing.

Then decided to put it outside where it's cold and let it sit for about 4 hours. This worked well because the waxy layer became solid and allowed me to siphon off the bottom layer without picking up much of the wax at all (see photo)

There's still some residual wax but it looks really good compared to earlier. I'll let you know how it turns out.


Better thing to do in retrospect would be to dissolve the skittles in the boiling water and then just take the whole pot and put it somewhere cold. There's probably so much wax that once it got cold you could probably just lift out a whole sheet of it. Or just siphon.

 

[greyday]

Did you add any Acid blend when you started it? I have made many batches of this stuff and never had any issues with a stuck fermentation. Stop adding yeast you have enough in there for probably closes to 20 gallons.

I would check the PH and post back here, I'm going to bet that you need some acid in there or you messed up the Starting SG. You could also try adding more sugar and then take another SG and see if it starts back up.

I did add acid blend when I started (and I don't currently have a ph tester); I was able to pull an extra half gallon when I transferred to secondary, so I just added 1/4 tsp of acid blend to it to see if it restarts the fermentation; if it does, I'll add more to the 6.5 gallon carboy...

 

[saramc]

Many times wines won't start because the acid level is TOO high. I don't have a Skittles package in front of me, but I bet they have a good amount of citric acid in them.
I did not add any acid to mine and it started within 2 hours. Will adjust acid level at bottling if need be.

I also allowed my Skittles syrup to rest overnight and lifted the waxy layer right off the top. Still get some residual white fluffy scum, but it floats to the top and you can actually skim it off (I just reach in with a sanitized spoon and remove it).

Patiently waiting for wine to clear...have 1 more racking to do and then will filter it with my All In One and household filter setup.

May make some Skittles vodka/simple syrup to backsweeten. Just dissolve skittles of color choice in vodka in a glass container...let them rest overnight and you are done!

 

[greyday]

Mine started (and one of the most active starts I've ever seen), it just seemed to drop dead at about 1.09. The smaller batch that I added a bit more acid blend to has shown no signs of change. I'm less concerned now that they're in carboys, however; I was worried about the extended time in the bucket/exposure to air and plastic, and what effect that would have on the wine. I can leave them in secondary ferment for months without concern, though I probably will rack to age before too long (after I do a "two glass test" of the abv).

LOVE the skittle vodka backsweetening idea! If it turns out to be too weak I may just pick up a bottle of everclear and dissolve skittles in that...

 

[greyday]

So I transferred to a secondary about a week ago, and now there is sediment falling (which is good), but also some more white stuff on the surface. I am trying to convince myself that it's more of the same crud that was on the primary batch, but I'm concerned now that it may be mold (or flowers of wine). I plan to rack it this weekend and crush Campden tablets into it and just cross my fingers, but I think this batch may have gotten contaminated by sitting in the primary for too long (plus I'm not convinced it fermented to dry, five total packets of ec-1118 notwithstanding). I should probably just dump it and start a new batch, but it's hard to admit defeat!

 

[Runningwolf]

HOLD ON THERE BUDDY! I had the same white junk floating on mine even after using super kleer. The only way I got rid of it was by filtering and that cleared my wine right up. You did good fermenting to dry. Now stabilize it if you haven't and backsweeten.

I would stay away from Campden tablets at all costs and you kmets powder. The tablets have fillers in them that will leave floaters in your wine.

 

[greyday]

I forgot it's a new page, I posted a lot more about the problems I was having a couple pages back (possible miscalculation in my SG readings, so it's either at 18-19% or it's at 4.5%). But I'm glad to hear that the white, mold looking stuff could be the same as the foamy crap during primary, that makes me feel a bit more confident. I am DEFINITELY doing Campden tabs, though; I have a filtration system now so I'm not concerned with floaters. EDIT TO REMOVE smiley because for some reason, the normal smiley face is laughing.

EDIT2: also, at 1.09, I don't think I need to backsweeten, it's already almost dessert wine level.

 

[Micah]

I reracked my wine and then added Super Kleen over the weekend.

Holy cow. Within a few hours it went from looking like grape fruit juice to actually looking like wine. I'd been waiting with little to nothing happening and then *blamo*.

That really is amazing stuff.

 

[tjbryner]

I don't think anyone has got there SG down below 1.0 something. It's the same way with my Spearmint just stays around 1.09 - 1.05.

Your be good with that SG as long as your temp's are up and you hold steady at that SG for a few days.

 

[Runningwolf]

I don't think anyone has got there SG down below 1.0 something. It's the same way with my Spearmint just stays around 1.09 - 1.05.

Your be good with that SG as long as your temp's are up and you hold steady at that SG for a few days.

Tjbryner, my wine rarely starts out as high as 1.09. How did you finish at that point or did you mean 1.005-1.009

 

[tjbryner]

Tjbryner, my wine rarely starts out as high as 1.09. How did you finish at that point or did you mean 1.005-1.009

Sorry I did mean 1.009, I replied during a demo of my bathroom and missed typed typed it.

Thanks for the catch

 

[greyday]

Yeah, that makes more sense. Mine is NOT a typo, it's at 1.09 (hence not needing back sweetening)...