Starting Pumpkin Tonight....

[Eland]

Skinny,
One thing to keep in mind is that you should add 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon of must whether the recipe mentions it or not. I don't boil any of my fruit as I think it would probably change the character of the fruit. You know like eating a fresh peach as opposed to a cooked one...

 

[Wade E]

Oh crap, did not know that you added yeast already, we thought that you just forgot to add the pectic enzyme. You will probably be fine cause its pretty hard to stop a fermentation once it starts. Not sure if you know this and this is why we were confused, First you add the 1 campden tablet per gallon and then wait 12 hours and then you add the pectic enzyme and wait another 12 hours and then add the yeast. Keep us up to date on this 1 cause Ill feel really bad and want to compensate you on this batch if this goes bad but it should do fine. this is the reason why when someone posts a question we usually ask a few questions back before answering but I was pretty sure you just forgot to add anything to the must.

 

[skinnydipper]

Wade-


No need to compensate me for anything. The confusion occurred when I copied and pasted the recipe from Jack Keller's site and the recipe was different than the one I printed a week or so earlier. I thought I mentioned that I added the yeast in one of my posts, I should have repeated it when I realized a made a mistake. The onus is all on me.


When I punched down last night there seemed to be a little bit of yeast party action, but it was subtle. This morning there didn't seem to be anything going on. I think I'll run by the store and grab another yeast packet and add it tonight. Is there any such thing as over-yeasting? IS that even a word?

I really do appreciate the help. This is a learning experience for me and have no hard feelings if I lose my first batch. Edited by: skinnydipper

 

[Wade E]

Skinny, I love the avatar and actually wanted that one but was looking for a animated GIF image but couldnt find it!What yeast did you use for this batch, another sachet of yeast would not harm it at all, as a matter of fact some of the specialty 3 gallon wine kits come with 2 packets. If you have the pumpkin in a fermenting bag then pull it out and really give that wine or must a good stir if in fact it has stopped fermenting to get the S02 out of suspension and give it till tomorrow night and then add the yeast again. I really hope this starts back up.

 

[skinnydipper]

When I punched down and stirred laast night there was all kinds of action going on under the floating grated pumpkin flesh.


Should I rack into a secondary now, or give it just a little more time?

 

[gaudet]

Skinny,

You want to take a reading of SG, if you are between 1.02 and 1.03 then you should rack to secondary. Any sooner than that and you risk volcano action.

 

[skinnydipper]

That was a fast response!I'll take a reading after work tonight.


Wade - I used 71B-1122.

 

[gaudet]

Great news about the fermentation action. You just happened to catch me online this morning before I left for work. Now I am here and just settling in to the morning. I check in periodically during the day. This place has become an obsession to me

I didn't notice an initial sg on this. Where did you start with your fermentables?

Edited by: gaudet

 

[skinnydipper]

I didn't take an initial reading.

 

[Wade E]

Gaudet is giving you very sound advice, You should always take an initial SG for a few reasons.
1) so you know how much abv you will have.
2) if you start with too high an sg you will overcome some yeast strains such as Coted Des Blanc which is only good to about 13%.
3) If your sg is way to high you will not get it started fermenting as it will be too much sugar for any yeast.
4) To much abv will hide a delicate fruit wines flavor!
5) to low an sg and your wine wont have enough abv to stay good for long after bottled.

Im so glad that this is fermenting, like I said once its fermenting its hard to stop without adding so much sorbate and k-meta that it will ruin your wine and this is why we stress not to try it, always let it finish fermenting and then sweeten it back.

Edited by: wade

 

[skinnydipper]

Okay, I'm at 1.02 now so I'm transfering to a secondary.





Thank you for the hand holding and spoon feeding. I'll keep this thread going as I blunder my way through this.

 

[skinnydipper]

If it bubbles up out of the airlock, does that mean I transfered to the secondary too early?


Dang, dang, double dang.

 

[Wade E]

It just mean that you have too much in there at this early stage. You should have more room at this point as it is still fermenting so there are plenty of gases to protect your wine. I would transfer some into a smaller bottle until fermentation is done and then transfer back unless it is doing better now.

 

[skinnydipper]

Wade-



If you keep responding so quickly people are going to start talking about us!
I think I did overfill. I had two one gallon bottles, with some juice left left over. I have read that you fill the jugs to within 1" of the bung, I am more like 1/2", did I overfill?

 

[Wade E]

You dont want to fill them that high when they are still fermenting, just when they are done to limit the amount of 02 to your wine. At this point you still are expelling lots of gas so that pushes out all 02 and and will keep your wine protected.