hello all i am new at this site.. hope i am doing this right. just trying to figure out if my juice has gone bad? it started out at 1.032 before adding yeast and sugar. after adding the yeast and sugar, it fermented for about one week then it stopped. i transferred the juice to a new container and let it sit for three months without testing: after the 3 months i tested with hydrometer and it had dropped to .994 or so.. not sure what to do now is it too late.
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- Thread starter jestvick
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SmokeyMcBong
Guest
welcome. 0.994 means that the yeast has converted all the sugar in your juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide. congratulations, you've made wine!!!
seth8530
The Atomic Wine Maker
Yep, what kind of container did you rack it into? Did it have a lot of headspace? Could you describe the colour and clarity of the wine?
well the color is brownish to tan, taste a bit champagne like at first then sourish. I added 3 lbs of sugar in the beginning to 4.5 gal of fresh grape juice, in an glass car boy and an air lock. when it stopped bubbling, I transfered the juice, and the lees was super hard like coral. It seemed weird. Just thought everyone should know how it started.
seth8530
The Atomic Wine Maker
When you transferred it how much headspace was their?
jswordy
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Sounds oxidized to me, or maybe infected too. You don't state your starting specific gravity after the sugar addition, but I doubt 3 pounds in 4.5 gallons would have brought it up to the minimum 1.080 needed, based on the 1.032 initial reading.
The wine then turned out to be low in alcohol and also in dissolved CO2, both of which protect against spoilage. You always need to take your starting gravity after the sugar has been added and note it. You are looking to finish with 10% alcohol or more, and that is a direct result of how much sugar is available to the yeast. At 10% or greater, the yeast have infused enough dissolved CO2 and added enough alcohol to help protect the wine from oxidation and to deter unwanted bacterial growth.
You help preserve the wine after primary fermentation by adding powdered k meta or Campden tablets. Hope I'm on the right track here and this helps you some.
If it is spoiled don't be discouraged. Try again with clean and sanitized equipment at 1.080-1.090 SSG (starting specific gravity).
Always keep your secondary vessel topped up. You can do that with like wine (many folks make an added gallon for topping up) or with marbles to raise the fluid level, or with water. Adding water does dilute the wine's alcohol and flavor each time, however.
The wine then turned out to be low in alcohol and also in dissolved CO2, both of which protect against spoilage. You always need to take your starting gravity after the sugar has been added and note it. You are looking to finish with 10% alcohol or more, and that is a direct result of how much sugar is available to the yeast. At 10% or greater, the yeast have infused enough dissolved CO2 and added enough alcohol to help protect the wine from oxidation and to deter unwanted bacterial growth.
You help preserve the wine after primary fermentation by adding powdered k meta or Campden tablets. Hope I'm on the right track here and this helps you some.
If it is spoiled don't be discouraged. Try again with clean and sanitized equipment at 1.080-1.090 SSG (starting specific gravity).
Always keep your secondary vessel topped up. You can do that with like wine (many folks make an added gallon for topping up) or with marbles to raise the fluid level, or with water. Adding water does dilute the wine's alcohol and flavor each time, however.
Last edited:
Arne
Senior Member
Try adding a bit of sugar to a glassful and try it. Not enough? Add some more. If you get it where it is drinkable, you can make the whole batch by measuring the specific gravity of the test glass and then you can bring the batch up to the same amount. Before you sweeten the batch, tho, make sure you stabalize it. You are probably low on alcohol, so drink it up fairly soon. The low alcohol will all it to spoil faster than if you had a higher abv. Next time try and start the batch with a specific gravity of 1.085 or so and that should give you in the 11% range or so which is enough to help retard spoilage. If the sugar helps and you have more questions, just ask away and you will probably get more answers than you know what to do with. Good luck with it, Arne.
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