Trying something but sg hasn't come down enough or has it?

[mcoltezo]

Hi everyone,

We've got 2 Merlots on right now that have supposedly just done their initial stage in the P. fermentor and are to be racked over to our carboys. As a test for fun we started one in a 6 gal and one in a 5 gal bucket to see how the more juice to water would taste. The 6 gal has come into the right sg range and we're racking it (err...right now). The 5 gal has not. But it also started different.

The 5 gal started at sg 1.1 and is now at 1.034. It's been over a week (9 days). The 6 gal started at 1.094 and is now at 1.006.

The range at this point should be 1.010 to .990 according to the kit. Should we assume that the 5 gal isn't ready? It does have a different ratio of water to juice than the 6 gal. It even started at a different (sg).

The wine kit is Chateau Four-week premium wine kit from Costco.

Thanks in advance!
Deanna

 

[KSmith3011]

Deanna,
I would be curious what temp you are keeping them at. I like to keep my reds at about 80* for the primary. In a few weeks you should let me know what you think of the 6 vs 5 gal experiment.

 

[mcoltezo]

Deanna,
I would be curious what temp you are keeping them at. I like to keep my reds at about 80* for the primary. In a few weeks you should let me know what you think of the 6 vs 5 gal experiment.

Hi,

We don't keep our house very warm but find that the wine still does its thing. We did bring it up a bit to a balmy 67 degrees for it though. It does ferment even at that temp...really....(we were going to try to do more in the summer but couldn't because of work).

Because we were doing this tonight I thought I'd also call a local brew place that I know does this where they'll put a kit into a 5 gal instead of a 6. Thankfully they were open. The guy said to check if the sg changes in a couple days. But also, they keep theirs in primary fermentation for 14 days to make sure it's completely done so that's what he recommended us doing.

He figures that right now it's at about 9% alcohol given the sg but they normally get to 12-13%....so that's what we'll aim for.

Supposedly it also makes it very dry going to the full 14 days and then the store I called adds sweetener if their client wants it a little sweeter.

So, thanks to all who read this. I think we're okay. Whew!

oh, interestingly, we're also doing this with a Cab-Sauv that we've previously done in a 6 gal but this time it's in a 5 gal. It's starting sg was 1.1 and now it's less than 0.995. It tastes good and we just moved it into its last stage before bottling. It's a different brand though. (Our Zellers special!...they're actually not that bad)

Cheers,
Deanna

 

[sly22guy]

id rack the 6 gal and wait a couple more days on the 5 gal. you could do them both now, if the 5 gal is not bubbling like crazy you should be fine racking it. If it is bubbling like crazy wait till it settles down a little bit more, you really don't want to clean up a mess! Just ask wade.

 

[Arne]

Mite want to be a little careful when racking the 5 gal one. You get oxygen in there and it can turn into a volcano. I would put it in some kind of catch pan at least. Don't ask how I know this. lol Arne.

 

[mcoltezo]

Mite want to be a little careful when racking the 5 gal one. You get oxygen in there and it can turn into a volcano. I would put it in some kind of catch pan at least. Don't ask how I know this. lol Arne.

We ended up just racking the 6 gal and its airlock is busy. There's a fair amount of foam on the top...in fact we had to wait a few minutes to put the last bit of wine in and then wait again for the airlock 'cause the foam was up the neck!

The store had recommended we leave the 5 gal a little longer. They do 14 days....I'm thinking that this particular kit brand may just need a longer ferment time. The other brands we've made and are also at the moment, are very quick to drop their sg. They go right down as far as is ever required in the first go of it.

We'll keep our eyes on the two merlots for messiness, though. Thanks for the tip. (We've taken to also starting the other wines with a little less water in the primary ferment exactly for that reason....they end of foaming over. Then we just top up with what would have been the normal amount of water in the first place. It's been tidier since doing that.)

Cheers

ps....so a volcano, eh???

 

[sly22guy]

So your sayin the sg is dropping now?

PS. id never use water to top up, use a like wine.