Stuck Zinfandel

[BikerShannon]

I have a VR Zinfandel going that I racked to the carboy on Feb. 19. The SG was 1.000. Today, its still 1.000 and there is absolutely no action in the airlock. The instructions say to clear and degass and that when it reaches .996 or less. What should I do?

 

[Tom]

Hmm.. Check the temp? Try degassing VERY SLOW. It may be that you may need this as the gravity has droped and it dont show up. When you ck the gravity, do you put the hydrometer in the wine or take a sample out?

 

[BikerShannon]

The temp is 68°. I take a sample out. That way I can taste it

 

[BikerShannon]

I degassed for about a minute and the SG is now .996. Is this just weird? Should I add the other ingredients and degass it more?

 

[Tom]

Not really. Some wines have alot of gas and can give false readings.

From here on just follow the WE directions. You are back on track.

 

[BikerShannon]

Cool, thank you!!!

 

[Wade E]

Great advise Tepe!

 

[Tom]

Why thank you Wade.

FYI, I just filled 120 bottles this week and am down to only 23 carboys aging... LOL !

Ain't winemaking great?

 

[Wade E]

You are a sick man. Now lets see a picture of your bottle cellar!!!!

 

[Tom]

LOL wade.

Ask Joeswine...

I already sent pic of my somewhat empty shelves. Will try again if I can find them

 

[Tom]

You are a sick man. Now lets see a picture of your bottle cellar!!!!

WADE,
Ask and you shall receive. All the box's you see are full. There are more that are not in the pictures. Have 25 carboys aging. So that should help my inventory. LOL

 

[Wade E]

Looks like you have quite the supply there, about how many bottles we would like to know!

 

[Tom]

Looks like you have quite the supply there, about how many bottles we would like to know!

MY MY INQUESTIVE MINDS WANT TO KNOW….

60 cases full and about 350 on the racks = 1,070 full. 23 6 gallon carboys aging = 690 to be bottled.

What about ALL of you? What do you have bottled

 

[Wade E]

812 on the racks and just bottled my Black Currant and Blackberry today so in bottles I have 866. I also have 6 gallons Peach Ice wine and 3 gallons of Orange Chocolate port ready to bottle but dont have bottles for these as of yet. That leaves me with 1 6 gallon batch of Lodi gold Chennin Blanc and thats all the wine I have or will be making for some time probably, but you know how that goes with all those carboys sitting empty. oops, i forgoy, i just started another 3 gallons of OCP about an hour ago!

But really , thats it!!!!!!! If I do anymore wine this year it will be something free like the apples, raspberries, or hopefully a lot of Mulberries.

 

[Tom]

Nice to see you have a good supply. I need alot since SWMBO and doughter drink 2 bottles a day min. When I am home in the PM well... I have wine from (juice) Italy Chile and California as well as fruit wines in bottles. A few limited editions.

Last club meeting I tasted the choc port ..Hmm I bet your orange choc will be a good one. Tell us more on the orange icewine when you bottle. I have aging 5 gallons of Canidian Ice Wine from juice and am looking forward to bottling in the Fall.

What is the OCP you just made?





What about all you other members... What do you have bottled?

 

[Wade E]

OCP = Orange Chocolate Port. Its a Peach Ice wine that I have and its a W.E. kit which tastes extremely good, it even tatsed very good before I added the f-pack to it, kind of grape fruity and i almost didnt add the f-pack, I still think I should have left a gallon alone but I didnt!

 

[gaudet]

I have bottled last year

6 gallons of blackberry (first attempt 6/08)
6 gallons of blueberry (7/08)
6 gallons of a minute maid blueberry pomegranate juice from the bottle (its ok I haven't had a bottle in a while so I might crack one tonight)
6 gallons carlos muscadine wine (10/08)
6 gallons carlos muscadine aged with hungarian oak heavy toast (10/08)
1 gallon tomato wine ( surprisingly nice tasting wine)
1 gallon blackberry mead ( also was good I tasted [drank] a bottle last month)
1 gallon peach wine [needs to age a while before I even think of opening another bottle]
1 gallon JAO mead

Yet to Bottle (YTB)

6 gallons of Orange Blossom Honey Mead (born 11/08)
6 gallons cranberry wine (born 12/08)
5 gallons cranberry muscadine (born 1/1/09)
1 gallon JAO but used kumquats (ready to bottle any day, started 1/1/09)

Just hit the primary 2-26-09

6 gallons muscadine
6 gallons muscadine port ( see the Waldo/Gaudet dualing ports thread in Fruit wines for more info)

plan to make at least 6 gallons each


Strawberry
Mulberry (if I can get enough fruit)
Blackberry (12 gallons if possible, I'd like to make some more mead with it as well)
Blueberry ( maybe 3 gallons of mead as well)
Cranberry might be an annual item to make after Thanksgiving or Christmas
Maybe some more muscadine if I can get my hands on them
Possibly try more peach or tomato as well.
We'll see how much elderberries I get from my bushes

 

[grapeman]

I degassed for about a minute and the SG is now .996. Is this just weird? Should I add the other ingredients and degass it more?

Tepe has helped you out. I will add that it is likely all the C02 gas in suspension that is making the hydrometer float higher than it should- giving a bit of a high SG. Like he says follow the instructions, but I would say more degassing will be needed. Good luck with it BikerShannon!

 

[BikerShannon]

WOW!!! Thats alot of wine. Thats BikerShannon Heaven. I have bottled one kit and have 2 more in the carboys. I can't decide what to do next. I have a request for a cabernet though so that will most likely be it.
Thanks for all of your help!

 

[Tom]

WOW!!! Thats alot of wine. Thats BikerShannon Heaven. I have bottled one kit and have 2 more in the carboys. I can't decide what to do next. I have a request for a cabernet though so that will most likely be it.
Thanks for all of your help!

Some here have passed the "hobby" and got to "obsession" like me and others here in this forum.

Something to look forward to... LOL