When is wine finished fermenting????

[mmadmikes1]

I have watch hundreds of times now when new winemakers get this wrong and cause them selves problems. I did it to.
You need a hydrometer to check wine, your eyes are not going to do the trick. When the SG is stable for 3 days, it is finished.Just because the kit instruction say 5 days or list SG between .0998 and 0994 doesn't always mean at .0994 you are finished. Wine is not that exact.
Being said, I haven't needed to check SG to tell is wine if finished in a long time because I wait months before I bottle or backsweetin(in do this rarely).
Backsweetin a wine that is not finished will feed the yeast and away it wll go weather you added K-Meta or not. Why wont wine clear?, Wine is gassy, Corks are coming out of bottles, there is stuff on bottom of bottles are all questions that are asked and caused by incomplete fermenting. I will add corks flying across the room and wine squirting all over is also a good possibility.
If you are new trust the old wine makers when they say PATIENCE. They have all learn for experience also know as the hard way

 

[winemaker_3352]

Agreed - the ending SG can be anything - i have had some at .996 others at .998 and some at .990. Like stated above - use your tools they will benefit you and save you time and heart ache in the long run.

 

[Sirs]

LOL and if you make your yeast work till it drops dead like I do sometmies your SG might be as high as 1.020 but to do that you have to have a wife who likes sweet wine(she's starting to want to do them not so sweet now), slowly but surely LOL

 

[djrockinsteve]

Wine stops fermenting when;
There is a lack of sugar and/or nutrients.
Temperature is too high or too cold.
Alcohol concentration becomes too high.
Lack of oxygen.
Environment becomes too acidic.
Yeast die or become dormant.
Any combination of the above.

A simple but necessary tool, the hydrometer. Learn how to use it and read it.

 

[samwisegamgeese]

What is your estmated time period for fermentation?

 

[DoctorCAD]

What is your estmated time period for fermentation?

Till its done.

 

[samwisegamgeese]

Till its done.

Thanks for that full and erudite answer. So I will pose a fuller question. Some books like Turner's book on wone making (a Brit book) say 4-6 weeks but I am gaining the impression that wines in demijohns (brit 1 gallon versions of the American carboy; a carboy in England is for beer making - not sure why!) are left for months before racking to bottles to ensure the yeast is finished. Am I assuming that to wait several months is the normal "modus operandi" for experienced winemakers?

 

[cpfan]

Thanks for that full and erudite answer. So I will pose a fuller question. Some books like Turner's book on wone making (a Brit book) say 4-6 weeks but I am gaining the impression that wines in demijohns (brit 1 gallon versions of the American carboy; a carboy in England is for beer making - not sure why!) are left for months before racking to bottles to ensure the yeast is finished. Am I assuming that to wait several months is the normal "modus operandi" for experienced winemakers?

DoctorCad was correct. Fermentation is complete when fermentation is complete. I am a kit maker, and sometimes a kit will be finished fermenting in 5 days, other times 7 days, sometimes 14 days, and maybe even longer.

Finished fermenting is not the same as a finished wine. Finished fermenting means that the yeast has converted all of the sugars to alcohol (and CO2 and ...). Finished wine wine will be degassed, cleared, aged, etc etc.

Even though kits typically say 28 days or 42 days or whatever, I don't think the wine is really ready for longer than that. Waiting several months is definitely the "modus operandi" for experienced winemakers. For good reds in particular, a couple of years is appropriate.

The most important additive a winemaker can give to their wine is patience.

Steve

 

[jswordy]

Yep, cpfan, those days on the kit are more to entice people into trying it the first time "because it won't take all that long."

Wine is the epitome of the saying "Good things come to those who wait," and proves it again and again.

I am not as hydrometer-centric as many of you at the end. I use it to determine when to rack to secondary, but after that I find I don't need it. But then, I am a patient man and in no hurry to rush it through to the bottle, so all my wines are definitely done by the time any back-work is done and they are bottled. I sweeten and flavor to taste, not readings.

Not to hijack, but I have a friend who just sticks his carboy in a fridge for 7-10 days before he bottles. No stabilizers. He says he's never had a problem chilling out the yeast like that, but I'm happy with how I do it now. Comments on that technique?

 

[btom2004]

I haven't needed to check SG to tell is wine if finished in a long time because I wait months before I bottle or backsweetin

Do you do any additional racking to clear? Do you add any clearing agents? Or do you just wait months before you rack again from the secondary Carboy? I'm trying to find out if you are leaving that old dead yeast at the bottom, or removing it but just not back-sweetening or bottling yet. I've read dead yeast can ruin wine flavor and want to get this right.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Thanks for that full and erudite answer. So I will pose a fuller question. Some books like Turner's book on wone making (a Brit book) say 4-6 weeks but I am gaining the impression that wines in demijohns (brit 1 gallon versions of the American carboy; a carboy in England is for beer making - not sure why!) are left for months before racking to bottles to ensure the yeast is finished. Am I assuming that to wait several months is the normal "modus operandi" for experienced winemakers?

Just in case you didn't get the gist of this ENTIRE THREAD...there is no "time until fermentation is done" period. Yeast is a living organism and is subject to all of the laws and rules of the universe, including chaos.

Would you have been satisfied if I said "exactly 168 hours and fermentation is done" and you bottled a wine, only to have it explode because 10 million yeast cells didn't follow the rules?

It is kind of like asking when a sculpture is done, an artist will tell you "it is done when it is done".

And, YES...several months is normal, 12 to 18 is better.

 

[cpfan]

Not to hijack, but I have a friend who just sticks his carboy in a fridge for 7-10 days before he bottles. No stabilizers. He says he's never had a problem chilling out the yeast like that, but I'm happy with how I do it now. Comments on that technique?

Has your friend ever sweetened a wine that was 'stabilized' that way? I'd be concerned that the cold wouldn't kill the yeast (or at least not all of it), just make it go very dormant. Sweeten and warm (or warm and sweeten) and the yeast goes nuts loving that sweetener.

If your friend doesn't sweeten, then sure it will work. But so would doing nothing.

Steve

 

[Runningwolf]

I'm also a bit confused on this technique. If the wine wasn't fully fermented or sugar was added they are certainly setting themselves up for bottle bombs.

 

[samwisegamgeese]

Just in case you didn't get the gist of this ENTIRE THREAD...there is no "time until fermentation is done" period. Yeast is a living organism and is subject to all of the laws and rules of the universe, including chaos.

Would you have been satisfied if I said "exactly 168 hours and fermentation is done" and you bottled a wine, only to have it explode because 10 million yeast cells didn't follow the rules?

It is kind of like asking when a sculpture is done, an artist will tell you "it is done when it is done".

And, YES...several months is normal, 12 to 18 is better.

Thanks, would you leave the wine several months on the lees or rack off the lees?

 

[DoctorCAD]

Thanks, would you leave the wine several months on the lees or rack off the lees?

Rack every 30 days until no more lees drop.

I don't like the "buttery" flavor that sur lee creates. Chardonnay is awful to me, tastes like the part of the must I rinse down the drain, but that's just me. I know it is the biggest selling wine in the world, so I must be wrong.

Taste is subjective...

 

[samwisegamgeese]

Rack every 30 days until no more lees drop.

I don't like the "buttery" flavor that sur lee creates. Chardonnay is awful to me, tastes like the part of the must I rinse down the drain, but that's just me. I know it is the biggest selling wine in the world, so I must be wrong.

Taste is subjective...

Thanks - very helpful mate!

 

[saramc]

Also, if your wine is clear and you decide to backsweeten (including stabilizing with sorbate + k-meta) you need to be sure to allow the wine to rest for a good 7-10 days. This serves several purposes....to ensure it does not start fermenting again (use your hydrometer), and to allow any additional sediment to drop caused by the addition of your backsweetening agent. Rack it off the sediment one final time, filter if you want to, and bottle. Why rush it---think of all the time (and money) you have invested. Patience really is a virtue when making wine.

 

[Bambam205]

I have added a surup like mixture made from boiling water and adding sugar then i let it cool to room temp before adding to wine i have added twice since i started this batch about 7 weeks ago my wine is still chugging along but is sloweing down i am thinking of letting it go back to zero and running it through a strainer to remove any yeast or anything else i can get out i was gonna add the potassium sorbate at that point and give it another week dose this sound like a stable plan

 

[mmadmikes1]

Yes I rack off the lees, but if it is only a little no. I do use Sparkaloid and Bentonite to help clearing. That way I dont have to rack as much. Every racking you lose winer to the wine gods and they are thirsty bastards

Do you do any additional racking to clear? Do you add any clearing agents? Or do you just wait months before you rack again from the secondary Carboy? I'm trying to find out if you are leaving that old dead yeast at the bottom, or removing it but just not back-sweetening or bottling yet. I've read dead yeast can ruin wine flavor and want to get this right.