Recently I have fermented 7 liters of berry tea wine. I used two bottles. I started at 1120. The second bottle was half filled. The second finished at 1020, a week ago. Yesterday the must in the first bottle finished fermenting at 1040. I didn’t do transferring during fermentation. I wonder why I come up with these strange results.
Two different final sg from the same must
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pete1325
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Same temp conditions through primary??
sour_grapes
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And are you certain they have stopped fermenting?
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Those SG's sound a little high to be finished. One batch fermented in a 1 gallon bottle that was almost full? The other fermented in a 1 gallon bottle that was about half full? You didn't do the fermenting in a single primary bucket? Is that all correct?
I took it and measured again, it still point at 1040 (didn’t use campden tablets). I’ve already consumed the wine in the half full bottle. I put the must in primary for a week. Yes, one was almost full, the other was half full. Those two bottles fermented at the same temp conditions through primary. I did do the fermenting in a single primary bucket. I used a 15% tolerated yeast. The temperature was probably 28-30 degree. I am sure they have finished fermenting.
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sour_grapes
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Was it very sweet when you drank it?
And what made you sure that they finished fermenting?
They are obviously sweet but not too sweet. I personally choose to begin with at higher levels to come up with sweet wines. The last one I bottled is 10,5% of alc. The half filled secondary finished early but it had 13,12% of alc.
Because I gave them a one more week when I decided the bubbling inside the tube is ceased.
Because I gave them a one more week when I decided the bubbling inside the tube is ceased.
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Well, not obvious to us. The question @sour_grapes asked about sweetness was possibly to confirm your SG reading. Many less-experienced wine-makers will mistake 1.040 for 1.004. They are very different, and caused a lot of confusion in a recent thread, where the member reported 1.080 when it was actually 1.008.
We usually say "finished fermenting" to mean "fermented dry." To me, your fermentation is not finished, it is "stuck" or "stalled." The high SG and sweetness indicate there is still food (sugar) for the yeast, but some other condition is preventing it from multiplying, in your case probably the alcohol concentration or lack of oxygen, or both. Air lock bubbling is not a reliable way to determine the state of fermentation, only SG readings are. It is a good thing you drink this quickly, since bottling it now and aging it would risk popping corks or exploding bottles.
The half full bottle possibly fermented quicker because of the much larger surface area for the yeast to obtain oxygen. Most people will not put wine into secondary at such high SG for this reason. Now, if the SG is really 1.004... that's a different story. But from your description of the sweetness, I trust you reading is accurate.
Thanks.
Guess I would do transferring during secondary to take the SG to adequated levels or below zero.
My second question is that does dry wine has certain effects on alcohol durability? What are the benefits of “dry fermented” wine?
Guess I would do transferring during secondary to take the SG to adequated levels or below zero.
My second question is that does dry wine has certain effects on alcohol durability? What are the benefits of “dry fermented” wine?
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sour_grapes
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Oh, the only concern is that, if the wine still has sugars in it, fermentation could restart after you bottle it. The so-called "bottle bombs."
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It sounds like you got interested in tea wine from a recipe then started adding more sugar in the primary to make it sweeter.
You should spend some time in the Skeeter Pee forum, the Country Fruit Winemaking forum, and/or the DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine thread. There is a wealth of information there about making interesting and often inexpensive wine, and how and why to backsweeten properly.
Very basically, you only start with enough sugar to get the alcohol level you want and that your yeast can handle. You ferment it until dry, which makes it very easy to tell when all of the yeast is dead and the sugar is completely gone. Then you stabilize it to prevent possible refermentation, and let it clear. Take the clear wine and add as much sugar and/or other flavours to your taste. Wait a while to make sure it doesn’t start fermenting again, and then bottle it.
