Temperature question

[Fotogrf]

I am at work this morning and my wife called and said the temp on the stick on thermometer that came with our kit is reading 68 F I dont have all the info here with me, but this is our first attempt at Wine making, the instructions that came with the kit say to have a temp of 72 to i think 78. We keep our house 68 degrees. My question is do I need to panic or will we be ok? If not ok how do you heat it up when the air temp is lower than what it needs to be?

My next question is, our drain in our fermintation bucket is leaking, its not bad there was a small puddle under it this morning. I assume i cannot take it out and fix the leak and pour it back in. Any suggestions are more than welcome on both questions.

 

[Julie]

The drain in your fermetation bucket? I'm not sure if I know what you are talking about, is this a bottling bucket that has a spigot on it? If so, I would go get a primary bucket that does not have the spigot on it and rack to that.

68 degrees should be find but if you do need to warm up the must buy a brew belt.

 

[JohnT]

68 should be fine. you are only talking 4 degrees low. Most likely, this will simply mean that you fermentation will be slower.

The recomended temp is simply what the yeast perfers. Colder temps should not really have any adverse effects on your wine, except for running the risk of not being able to kick off fermentation or getting a "stuck" fermentation.


Check if the fermentation is active. look for signs of bubbles being produced by the yeast. If it is actively fermenting, you should be ok. Also, fermentation creates its own heat. Continue to monitor the temp of your wine.

I would not recoment a brew belt. All you need to do is to raise the temp another 4 degrees. if it really bothers you, adjust your house thermostat.

johnT.

 

[Fotogrf]

Julie Thank you I think the kit we got had a bottling bucket that doubles as a Fermetation bucket we are looking at ordering 2 more buckets and another carboy. Thanks also on the temp question i was starting to panic LOL this is our first one. Will it hurt to rack it over to another bucket since we just added the yeast to it last night if not I would love to transfer it over to another bucket. I got the info off the box. Its a zinfandel blush 4 week wine kit by Spangnols Grand Cru

 

[UBB]

I assume you are talking about something like this:

I have a couple of these as well. Perhaps you just need to tighten up the screw on the spigot. Mine don't leak and work quite well. I have an older different style primary that does leak a bit at the spigot and I just keep a little dish under to catch any drips.

 

[Fotogrf]

John thanks I am not to happy with the stick on thermostat as i dont feel it gives me an acurate reading My wife is going to try and get us a floating thermometer at lunch or if she has time a hydrometer with the thermometer either way i would like a little more acurate reading.

 

[Julie]

Fotogrf, just so you know, you would have to do a major screw up to ruin your wine. Wine i svery forgiving and I bet even with a major screw up, someone on her would know how to fix it.

 

[Fotogrf]

UBB that is pretty much it. Julie that sounds great, we know we are going to make mistakes but we are going to try and keep them to a minimum

 

[Fotogrf]

Julie wow I just checked the link in your signature. You have been busy.

 

[robie]

The stick on ribbon-style thermometers are pretty reliable for wine making. I would not worry about that. Just make sure it is stuck on very tightly with no raised spots.

As already said, if you are going to keep making wine, it would be a good idea to purchase a brew belt for the future. When fermentation gets going, it will supply its own heat. Once it slows down again, it is nice to have the brew belt to apply to keep the temperature a little higher. Having the extra heat helps insure a completion of fermentation at the lowest possible SG.

 

[Flem]

I have a suggestion to make. Instead of buying a couple more fermentation buckets, I would spend the money on carboys at this point. The wine/must only spends a week or two in the primary fermentation bucket whereas it may spend several months to a year or more in the carboys. IMHO - Good luck!

 

[Fotogrf]

I agree on the buckets vs carboys we are definatly going to buy extra carboys but since we need a bucket that dosent have a hole in it LOL we are going to pick the bucket up first.

 

[North_Ga_Jug-Or-Not]

Yes I agree with the above, I have only one primary and several carboys. I add carboys regularly when amazon has the $30 deal or if I come across a yard sale or something. You wont hurt yourself buying another bucket as you may need the backup in a pinch one day, but rule of thumb in my book says their is no such thing as an "extra" carboy. haha Goes along with that law written somewhere stating empty carboys are illegal.

 

[Fotogrf]

Empty is illegal?

 

[jdrum]

i believe the law was first set down by Dionysua the greek god of harvest, wine and winemaking, in effect it means if you want to drink wine you need to keep the wine vessels full. so if you don't keep the carboys full you pay the price (you have nothing to drink)

jim

 

[Teamsterjohn]

I always use a brew belt when needed. I would plug it into a light timer. The timer that I used to use had ajustments evert half hour. On...off...on and so on. Now I just invested in a johnson temporature control.

 

[pete1325]

Try a lamp (without the shade) and a 100 watt bulb, amazing how much heat it will give off. Move the lamp closer for more heat, further away if it gets too warm. Small Halogens work even better. A lot of first timers use this trick until they buy a heat belt.

No big deal to switch buckets at this stage (actually good to mix the yeast a bit anyway). It will also save you the hassle of cleaning the spigot with all the gross Lees that will fall during primary. JMO.

 

[Runningwolf]

I have a suggestion to make. Instead of buying a couple more fermentation buckets, I would spend the money on carboys at this point. The wine/must only spends a week or two in the primary fermentation bucket whereas it may spend several months to a year or more in the carboys. IMHO - Good luck!

I have about 8 primary buckets besides all the ones Chilean/Califonia juice comes in. I like them because they are so much easier to clean than a carboy after fermentation and they're an easy way to buy juice in bulk. There are times I'll have at least 8 primary buckets fermenting at a time.

I do agree you need way more carboys than you do primaries though.

 

[Fotogrf]

Allright Racked into new bucket I feel better now that the leak is fixed plus I picked up a new spigot also. Oh and we couldnt resist we bought another carboy. My local shop is Awesome!!!!! If you are from around upstate South Carolina try Grapes and Grains, Ken and Janel are a trip and super helpful. They stock all kinds of stuff for wine and beer making www.grapesandgrains.com

Thanks to everyone for the help and information I checked the temp and we are at 71 degrees in the liquid so its closer than I thought.

 

[Julie]

Allright Racked into new bucket I feel better now that the leak is fixed plus I picked up a new spigot also. Oh and we couldnt resist we bought another carboy. My local shop is Awesome!!!!! If you are from around upstate South Carolina try Grapes and Grains, Ken and Janel are a trip and super helpful. They stock all kinds of stuff for wine and beer making www.grapesandgrains.com

Thanks to everyone for the help and information I checked the temp and we are at 71 degrees in the liquid so its closer than I thought.

Where at in upstate South Carolina?