Other Use the Hydrometer

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tjgaul

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Last year about this time I made an experimental 3 gal batch. I used Alexanders concentrate - most of a can of zin blush, one can of pinot noir and about 100 ml of gewurztraminer, plus water and sugar to get 3 gal @ 1.084. This was a total guess to see what would happen. Fermented it down to 1.004, racked it and got a 1.000 2 days later. Degassed, added the K-meta, but no sorbate and racked again in 3 months. At 6 months I filtered and bottled the wine, but did not retest the SG (idiot). I ASSUMED it was fully dry. I let it sit for 2 months and sampled a couple bottles. I was not impressed. Following other's advise I decided to leave it sit for a while . . . my notes said to taste again in January.

Last week my wife needed some red wine for a recipe so I thought that might work and it would give a chance to see how it is progressing. When I pulled the cork it really popped, then gassed off and the wine even gave a little fizz when poured. Definitely tasted gassy. SG was still at 1.000. I opened the remaining bottles, poured them back into a carboy, degassed and pitched EC-1118 to see if I might get it to go further dry.

Assuming I get no action my plan is to sorbate and blend with another partial batch that might compliment it. This is my second blunder resulting from failing to use the hydrometer to ensure that the wine is really dry. At least I caught it before they became bottle bombs.

Any suggestions would be welcome.
 

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