I made a batch of white welch's and pinapple juice(8wg, 10pa, 4 gal WGJ) on Tuesday...this is my first attempt with a non kit wine...I thought I'd make a little more than 6 galsso that I'd have some extra for topping off my carboy (so maybe 6.5 gals). I used lavin yeast that is supposed to go up to 18%A and I was shooting for 15%. Anyway, I check on it today and I found this oatmeal looking stuff next to the bucket...looks like the fermentation was pretty fierce and it bubbled over?? Ever happen to anybody? What's that oatmeal looking stuff? It's kinda beige/yellow in color. I've never really looked in the bucket while a kit is fermenting, is this normal? Guess I put too much juice in? Thanks, I'm not on here much so if I've left out something important, let me know.
White grape Welch's 1st try
- Thread starter voz63
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Unfortunately I had already cleaned everything up before I thought of posting these questions, so there are no pics...I could take a pic looking into the bucket. Is this "boiling over" common? I really noticed the smell when I came in this morning...I think it's the pinapple juice...smeels great!! I'm in the middle of my work week (4-12hrs shifts), so I'll try to get a picture posted.
JWMINNESOTA
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I just made a pineapple myself, very vigorous ferment. With that much sugar that very well could of been the reason for the boil over. Will take some good aging time for the flavors to balance at the level of alcohol, would be a good one in a year or so. What size fermenter are you using?
I'm not sure what size the bucket is...it has a lip that's the 6gal mark. All the kits I have made have been filled to that mark. That is the yeast I used and I was shooting at 15% for no specific reason. This was my first shot and I just jumped in...I figured I'd learn what I liked/didn't like by trying different things. I had also read where some folks had had their fermentation stop prematurely and ended up with a real sweet wine...and I guess I thought if 15% is too strong, I could back sweetin or just let it age. It smells really good so now I'm pretty excited about how it'll taste. I guess next time I shouldn't fill it up quite so much. I tried to up load some pics earlier but had problems. It looks normal today...a little fizzy with little chucks of stuff... the sg is 1.02 (I think that's right). Thanks for the help.
i like to use an slightly oversized fermenter at first when the yeastis colonizing. at this point, i just cover it with a sanitized cloth to keep visitors out. i even believe that the gasses produced will displace the air and protect the the juice during final fermentation under lock. i just don't go overboard with the extra space at this stage. it seems to work for many batches of wine so far.
