What did I do??? Help on adding water.

[BonnieLynn]

Everything was going well. My wine kit was transferred to a carboy for second fermentation. It had been bubbling very little but steadily. Every seemed ok. However, in the beginning I was thinking I hadn't added enough water. (beginning reading was high in dessert section after adding yeast). I casually mentioned this at my wine supply store (the level on the carboy was way under the neck (even a few inches lower than the top of the side) and they said to add water. I added a few bottles. (reading was at about 1.005 beforehand). Then I saw that my kit said DO NOT TOP UP during second ferm. I didn't top up, it's still inches away from the top but now there is no bubbling whatsever. I've stirred the water well with a wine whip and it bubbles a bit of foam but settles and then there is no action whatsoever. Sits like water! Is is all ruined? Did the diluted wine stop fermenting?

 

[Rocky]

Bonnie Lynn, don't despair and make sure you have the wine protected by an airlock.

I would need more information to give you any practical advice.

What kit are you making? (Manufacturer, line and variety, e.g. WinExpert, Selection, Cabernet Sauvignon) What was the initial SG? What is the size (volume) of the carboy you are using? Exactly how much water did you add? Is the SG still at 1.005? When you stirred the wine and foam was produced, were the foam bubbles very fine (small) or were they larger as one would see in a coke?

Don't do anything at this point, just keep it protected. From what you have written, it would seem that fermentation has stopped as evidenced by the "no bubbling." When you stirred the wine and foam was produced that settled down would indicate that there is trapped CO2 in the wine that you were releasing (degassing). Depending on the variety of grape and the type of wine you are making (Dry to Sweet), you may want to re-start fermentation or may not.

 

[bkisel]

I think you're going to be okay...

It sounds to me like you didn't "top up" to minimize head space but rather to add water that should have been there in the first place. If there is active yeast and sugar left then my guess is you may have just shocked the yeast a bit. They should go back to work to bring the wine to dry after they've had a little time to recover.

 

[BonnieLynn]

It's a Vine Europa (Paklab) cabernet. I added to 23l using a measuring cup (Canadian litres). Started out at 1.105 aprox. After 5 days it was between 1.010 and 1.000 so I racked for second fermentation. 4 days in (yesterday) I mentioned that there was tons of room to the top of the bottle. (Pic where you see the blanket) Added the water. Stirred like crazy. This morning the wine looked flat nothing happening. I shook the carboy, it fizzed up (see second pic) but no bubble is coming to the top on its own as was happening every few seconds before. Yesterday the reading was in between 1.000 and .995.

 

[BonnieLynn]

The kit also says to stir a bit every day (optional) but now I think I should just leave it alone! (durin day 12 to 21 like the kit says).

 

[DoctorCAD]

You NEED a hydrometer!

Heck, kit makers ought to include one, they are cheap.

 

[BonnieLynn]

I do have a hydrometer. I just didn't know how to read it in the beginning.

 

[sour_grapes]

One factor that has not been mentioned yet is CO2 saturation. When CO2 is produced, it will remain in solution at first, but as more and more is dissolved into the liquid, the liquid is said to become "saturated" (or even supersaturated) with CO2. When in this condition, bubbles of CO2 will form, either spontaneously or upon agitation. This is the condition your wine was in before adding water.

You then added a fair amount of water. Consequently, you greatly reduced the CO2 saturation; there was still the same amount of CO2 there, but now there was much more liquid, so the percentage was smaller. This surely contributed to the diminution in the amount of fizzing upon adding the water.

With the SG that you have reported, there is no need to restart fermentation. You are nearly finished -- just let it finish quietly.

There seems to me to be something amiss with your volumes. Is that carboy nominally 6 US gallons/23 L? You said you measured carefully to 23L, but your first picture shows the liquid level far, far below the top of the carboy. Granted, carboy volumes vary quite a bit (most of mine are closer to 24 L than to 23), and I am sure you lost some liquid when you racked off the gross lees after primary fermentation, but that is a lot of volume to make up.

Also, the fact that you initial SG was 1.105 (which is fairly high) may be an indication that you did not add enough water to begin with. Even measuring cups have been known to be inaccurate, so perhaps you need to check the one you were using. (You could check against a 2L soda bottle, for example.)

 

[Rocky]

Bonnie Lynn, thanks for the additional information.

With a reading between SG 0.995 and 1.000, it may be very difficult to restart fermentation and you may have to settle for a "dry to off-dry" Cabernet. That is not all bad especially if the SG is closer to 0.995. I would still be concerned with the amount of airspace at the top of the carboy so I would either top up with a store bought Cabernet or move everything to a smaller carboy array.

Not that anything can be done about it at this point but what became of all the wine in your primary fermenter (which I assume was around 23 liters) when you first moved to the secondary fermenter? There is a lot of space in the top picture which appears to be between 1 and 2 gallons. That could not all have been gross lees. Your starting SG of 1.105 leads me to believe that you did not add enough water at the beginning. I have never made one of the Vino Europa kits but my understanding is that their SGs start out in the 1.080 to 1.090 range.

In any case, my advice is to top up with wine or size down the carboys and let the wine alone for a week or so. I would assume the next steps are stabilizing and degassing so you can pick up in the instructions at that point.

 

[BonnieLynn]

Thank you all so much for your advice. I was ready to just pour it all out and start over.The carboy is a 6L but the bucket used to start off was bigger so it was with the bucket that the water probably wasn't measured right to 23 litres.