To top with juice or not

[jboyer]

I've done some searches and read but still not quite sure what to do. Here is my dilemma. I currently have 3 6.5 gallon carboy's in secondary fermentation. Just started secondary fermentation less than a week ago and its still going strong. The wine is concord grape. The level of wine in the carboy's now is about 4 inches from the bung. I plan on racking in about another 3 weeks when fermentation is finished. I'm sure when I rack I'll need to top up to prevent oxidation and put the level near the bung. I messed up and did'nt save any grapes for a f-pack. I also made the newbie mistake of probably diluting flavor with water in the primary stages. So to keep the concord flavor I was hoping to top up with concord grape juice. How will this work out? I know I should sorbate first but how exactly would you go about this? How do I add sorbate to a carboy when it finishes fermentation? Then how long does the sorbate need before I can add the concentrate? If I added sorbate while racking it would be in a new carboy but be too low and risk oxidation right? Hope you understand where I'm going with this. Any help is greatly apprec.

John

 

[lloyd]

you could lay a layer of c02 on top of the carboys. you could top up the 2 carboys with wine from the third and put the remaining wine in a 3 gal carboy.

 

[djrockinsteve]

When the fermentation is complete you will rack the wine off of the lees. Add a little sulfite and clear the wine. When the wine is clear you will rack again, adding just a pinch of sulfite and sorbate if you will sweeten. Sorbate acts right away placing a film so to speak around the yeasts preventing them from budding (breeding).

I would suggest allowing your wine to age. This will improve flavor (you may wish to add oak), allow some of the acid to mellow, and between the alcohol and lack of air any remaining yeasts should die off so you may sweeten a few weeks before bottling.

 

[jboyer]

Alright thanks for the advice guys. I'll follow it so I don't screw up my first wine. Just waiting for the fermentation to quit now which I will verify with a hydrometer before I do anything.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

Adding juice

I don't know the answer, but here's what I did. I have a 5 Gallon carboy of Pear wine, There was hardly any flavor and what flavor you couldn't tell what it was. I racked a half gallon off and added a half gallon of pure 100% natural apple juice. Don't know what is going to happen, but now it does have some flavor. This was done after the wine was made and waiting for it to clear. We'll see what happens?

Semper Fi

 

[Torch404]

Bud,
Hope you added some sulfite and Sorbate in there as well or your ferment might take off again.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

Campden

I think I'm safe, I added 5 Campden tablets to the carboy 3 days after it stopped bubbling, that was about 2 weeks ago. Question ? I'm not adding any Sorbate because I don't plan on any wine getting very old, I'll give about 90% of the wine to friends, and it won't last long with them. Should I still add Sorbate, as I understand it, Sorbate is added if you plan on keeping it for very long. Also, the wine has a little taste now, not too sure what it taste like but it taste pretty good now.

Semper Fi

 

[BobF]

I think I'm safe, I added 5 Campden tablets to the carboy 3 days after it stopped bubbling, that was about 2 weeks ago. Question ? I'm not adding any Sorbate because I don't plan on any wine getting very old, I'll give about 90% of the wine to friends, and it won't last long with them. Should I still add Sorbate, as I understand it, Sorbate is added if you plan on keeping it for very long. Also, the wine has a little taste now, not too sure what it taste like but it taste pretty good now.

Semper Fi

The sorbate is what inhibits the yeast when you add sugar or juice.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

Confussing

All of these new terms are a little hard to keep seperated?????
I've tried to keep notes on what I learn, is this right=
Campden Tablets are potassium metabisulfite or sodium metabisulfite, sometimes reffered to as k-meta or na-meta. It is used to kill any and all yeast. You add it at a rate of 1 table per gallon of must after you have mashed up all the fruit and you let it set for 24 hours before adding your ingredents and sugar. At this point you take a SpGr reading, if the SpGr isn't 1.090 you add more sugar to bring it up to 1.090. Let that set for 24 hours and mix your yeast up in warm water and add that. The Campden Tablets will have been used up and have no effect on your must after the 24 hours.
Let the must work (stiring a couple of times a day) until the SpGr reaches 1.020, then rack (I just dip it out and pour into carboy ? ) to carboy with air lock. After it stops bubbling rack with racking tube to another carboy and wait for it to clear.

I thought Sorbate was something you added if you wanted to age or keep the wine for a while, (say, 6 months or a year) mine will probably be gone in a month.
*I kinda got on a roll there and got carried away, but thats okay. How about telling me what I'm doing wrong or right

Semper Fi

 

[BobF]

All of these new terms are a little hard to keep seperated?????
I've tried to keep notes on what I learn, is this right=
Campden Tablets are potassium metabisulfite or sodium metabisulfite, sometimes reffered to as k-meta or na-meta. It is used to kill any and all yeast. You add it at a rate of 1 table per gallon of must after you have mashed up all the fruit and you let it set for 24 hours before adding your ingredents and sugar. At this point you take a SpGr reading, if the SpGr isn't 1.090 you add more sugar to bring it up to 1.090. Let that set for 24 hours and mix your yeast up in warm water and add that. The Campden Tablets will have been used up and have no effect on your must after the 24 hours.
Let the must work (stiring a couple of times a day) until the SpGr reaches 1.020, then rack (I just dip it out and pour into carboy ? ) to carboy with air lock. After it stops bubbling rack with racking tube to another carboy and wait for it to clear.

I thought Sorbate was something you added if you wanted to age or keep the wine for a while, (say, 6 months or a year) mine will probably be gone in a month.
*I kinda got on a roll there and got carried away, but thats okay. How about telling me what I'm doing wrong or right

Semper Fi

This will vary slightly from winemaker to winemaker:

Campden tablets/k-meta/pot-meta/so2 is used to stun and/or inhibit wild yeast and spoilage organisms. This is added at a rate of 1 tablet per gallon (or equiv if using another form) 24 hours prior to pitching yeast.

[Optional] At the yeast-12 hour point, add pectic enzyme

At the 24 hour point, I measure sugar and acidity, adjusting as necessary. An SG of 1090 isn’t mandatory; this ultimately determines the final alcohol level and can be varied according to the style of wine and personal preference. Many use an SG of 1080-1085 for country wines to keep alcohol from overpowering the flavor of the fruit.

Rehydrate the yeast according to package directions. Optionally, some prefer to use a yeast starter. Instructions for yeast starter are elsewhere in this forum’s articles. I generally use a yeast starter.

Pitch the yeast.

Stir a couple of times daily (more or less) until the ferment has reached the stage you want it to be for racking to the carboy. Some go by SG, others by appearance. I don’t bother measuring – I rack when there is a dramatic drop in ferment activity.

Within a few days I rack again. This is to remove the wine from the sediment that falls out during the initial clearing.

There are several different approaches to managing sulfite (SO2/k-meta) levels from here. I add sulfite solution every-other racking.

There is no set number of times to rack before bottling. It depends on how long you age in the secondary (carboy) and how clear you want your wine to be.

If you are bottling dry, there is no need for sorbate. When the wine is ready, give it a dose of sulfite (k-meta/SO2) and bottle.

If you are backsweetening your wine, you need to add sulfite AND sorbate ( this is called ‘stabilizing’), then sweeten to taste. Sorbate keeps the ferment from taking off again in the presence of the newly added sugar..

I wait another month or so from here before bottling – I always get another round of sediment after stabilizing and sweetening. Another reason to wait is to make certain that no new ferment starts. If it starts fermenting again in sealed bottles you have a potentially dangerous situation on your hands.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Bud, go to the home page and select "Wine Wikipedia". I created a glossary of the most common terms used in wine (some beer) making to help "all of us". I learned a lot creating it. It should help you understand everything.