WELCHES GRAPE UPDATE

[LA-BOY]

Well after waiting 16 more days on my maiden batch the sg was still 1.010.I racked it over into my secondary, added one of the fining agents with the 2 parts as directed, 3 campden tabs crushed w/water and topped it off. Attached airlock and I am just waiting for it to clear. If any of this does not sound right or do I need to do something right now please let me know. This is a 5 gallon batch , starting sg was 1.100, primary ferm was 7 days, added the yeast etc... airlocked on the 3th of april, checked the sg it was 1.010. waited another 13-14 days rechecked the sg and it was the same, so I did what I did. thanks LA-BOY...

 

[admiral]

Is it clearing? Did you degas? It will clear faster if you degas. Looks like you have made a wine with an ABV of 11.9% that will be sweet. Way to go!

 

[LA-BOY]

It is not clearing yet but I just racked it over this past friday. When should I expect to see significant clearing. Degasing??? how do I do this...thanks la-boy

 

[admiral]

Degassing means that you are driving off the CO2 that is in suspension in your wine (a by-product of fermentation.)There are several ways to degass. The first way, that I know of,and most labor intensive, is to stir the wine with your spoon. Be careful when you do any degassing or you could get a wine volcano. Just a little bit at a time. You will note some foaming. Let it subside, then stir a little more. Wait for the foam to subside and repeat. Do this several times until no foaming is noticed. Let the wine sit for a day and then stir again. If no foam then degassing is complete.


Another way is with the Fiz-x mixer attached to a drill. See this link:http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=15262


Again, be careful! Wine volcanos are legendary on this forum.

Yet another way uses an electric suction pump: http://www.finevinewines.com//Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7430


I hope this helps.

 

[Fly*guy]

LA-BOY which yeast did you use for this batch & did you expect it to finish at 1.010 or did you stop it at this SG?

I made a raspberry and peach welchs and both got to 1.010,(started each at 1.080 SG), and I was told that I should not have stopped them, they would have gone lower and therefore been safer to bottle. I used a lalvin 1118 yeast cause that is all I had at the time and should ferment to .998 or less without any trouble... but has not at this point. I too started these batches on April 4th, '09. Added some yeast nutrient and energizer to them the other day and they started fermenting again.

 

[Fly*guy]

Admiral, was that your volcano? been there done that myself.... has good color though

 

[LA-BOY]

can I do this anytime in the next 2-3 days or do I have to do it now. No time to make a mess, work-kids-work, etc... la-boy

 

[Fly*guy]

If you have already added your K-meta and Sorbate you can wait a little but it won't clear well till it is done(degassing that is).
You would normally want to take care of degassing right after you mix your stabilizers into the wine. and as Admiral stated, do a little now and some more a few hours later and so on till it stops getting foamy. Most kits tell you to degass 5 or 6 times over a 24 hr period.

If you have a small clean, sterilized container, say an old liter or qt jar, you can syphon off some of your wine and then degass your larger carboy and it shouldn't foam out on you then but go slow to start with till you see what it is going to do. I then take my small container and shake it by hand or stir it a bit,(with the lid on tight), so it is degassed as well, then re-add the smaller container back into the larger carboy. Then you would add your clarifiers last and let stand till it clears.

 

[admiral]

Admiral, was that your volcano? been there done that myself.... has good color though

Oh no, I never had a camera around to photograph mine. This eruption belonged to wade. I just borrowed it as an illustration.

 

[LA-BOY]

yeast used was the lavin 71b 1122, the sg had stayed the same for 10 days so I thought it was over. i think my starting sg was 1.100. UPDATE, I syphoned a little out today 4-23 and it looks great. It even tastes great, the harsh yeasty taste a week ago is pretty much gone. It appears clear to me that is but I'm sure it could clear alittle more. I hold the glass up and can see my fingers on the other side. Will it clear alittle more with me doing nothing or is there something I can do. thanks for the help and patience. i will be starting some dew berry today or tomorrow. By the way a dew berry come ripe early in louisiana before the blackberries do and is alittle sweeter. LA-BOY.

 

[grapeman]

Yep, that is the infamous Wade Wine "Wolcano"! Do a search in google for Wine Volacano and Wade's picture pops up! (just kidding- I think...... maybe I better try it out!).


Edit: I just tried it- entered Wade Wine Volcano and it came to it as the first choice!

 

[Fly*guy]

yeast used was the lavin 71b 1122, the sg had stayed the same for 10 days so I thought it was over. i think my starting sg was 1.100. UPDATE, I syphoned a little out today 4-23 and it looks great. It even tastes great, the harsh yeasty taste a week ago is pretty much gone. It appears clear to me that is but I'm sure it could clear alittle more. I hold the glass up and can see my fingers on the other side. Will it clear alittle more with me doing nothing or is there something I can do. thanks for the help and patience. i will be starting some dew berry today or tomorrow. By the way a dew berry come ripe early in louisiana before the blackberries do and is alittle sweeter. LA-BOY.

LA-BOY as far as clearing is concerned you can allow it to just sit for some time,(Month or 2), or add a clearing agent like Sparkoloid or isinglass or gelitan, and it will clear very nicely in a week or so. My last batch of Welches, a peach, cleared in a week after using Sparkoloid in it. Then I ran it thru my Vinbrite Gravity filter to polish it.... You can see a BIG difference in the wines from those that are not filtered and those that are. And the Vinbrite gravity filter works well if the wine is cleared fairly well before you start just be careful not to shake it any when getting ready to filter if you choose to do this. I put my final racking in a carboy that sits about 4' off the floor and then let gravity and the filter do the work. Others use a mini jet electric filter that is much faster but more expensive.

However, if you have time and patients, you can put an airlock on the carboy and just let it stand for a while..... I need more forum therapy to be able to do this though

Still others say only filter the white and rose' wines and let the darker ones just age a month or so and then bottle.

It really is a preference of you the maker as to what you want in a finished wine.

 

[joe and linda]

Here's a dumb question. How's it taste?

 

[LA-BOY]

It tasted likea semi-dry with a hint of sweetness, not too sweet, but just enough to give it a very good mellow goodness. I cannot wait to bottle it so I can re-taste it in a couple of weeks.... it's miller time La-boy

 

[joe and linda]

Nice to hear. Myself, drinkin a Bud after racking my second batch of Niagra to the carboy. I'm tellin ya, you're gonna be happy with it