Super fast ferment?

[bmwr75]

I started a batch of blackberry wine (Tom's recipe) on August 27 at 8 am in an eight gallon bucket. S.G. was 1.120.....might have been a false high reading since most the liquid in the berries had not yet integrated with the must.

August 28 at 8:30 am pitched the yeast rehydrated with Go-Ferm.

August 29 at 8:30 am ferment very active and foaming over top of bucket. 2:00 pm checked S.G. and it was down to 1.072.

August 30 at 3:30 pm SG is down to 1.030.

I've never had a wine ferment this fast, but this is my first time using Go-Ferm. Is this an unusually fast ferment (not that there is anything wrong with that)?

 

[ceeaton]

What is your ambient temperature (in the room) and did you monitor the temperature within the must? Also, what yeast did you use? Did you follow the Go-Ferm directions as far as the amount you rehydrated with?

These are the normal things that the "experts" need to know to address your question.

 

[bmwr75]

I followed the Go-Germ rehydration instructions exactly. The yeast is Lalvin 71B 1122. Room temperature is an air conditioned 76 degrees F. I did not monitor the must temperature.

EDIT - the carboy is degassing like crazy now through the airlock. Put the carboy in a secondary containment bin to catch any must that bubbles through the airlock (don't want to stain the concrete).

 

[ceeaton]

I went back and looked at the fermentation notes I had with the Forza kit I'm in the process of doing. My ambient temperature was 73*F and I think at one point I was around 80*F internally. The yeast was knocking off at least 0.020 in eight hours, so I don't think yours at a higher ambient temperature is out of line. I was using Lavin RC-212 yeast.

It was the fastest ferment I have had to date, but I've only been making wine for 10 months. The wine is young but tastes fine at this point.

 

[bmwr75]

Thanks ceeaton. The CO2 generation rate has dropped to one bubble every 3 seconds now and the S.G. is 0.998. Ferment done. Now to let it sit and start to clarify.