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TJ2You

TJ2You

TJ
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Messages
88
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Location
Benfleet, Essex
Hi all,
I may have made a faux par, I did my crush of grapes all by hand, the Skins and pips left in but not crushed, did that and put 1 1/2 campden tablets in, I did a hydrometer test and needed 856g of white sugar, that was added, left it for 24 hours, added yeast and left for a week, drained of wine to another sterilised bucket, I added finings A, hour later might have been 2 then did finings B this morning looked at the bucket, and there was a scum like substance on top, so I have drained it off through a sterilised muslin, into another cleaned bucket, my question are now,
1) do I add another yeast?
2) is it another finings I add?
3) leave it alone ?

All help greatfully received

Steve.
 
A scum usually appears in the early stage of fermentation after pressing, as fine pulp is brought to the surface by the action of the yeast. As you have left the skins and pips in, I presume you are making red wine. After a week, you should have pressed or strained to remove the skins and pips. This will leave a fair amount of fine pulp which will rise to the surface as fermentation will still be active at this stage. I skim this off with a fine sieve until most of it has gone. Straining through muslin is ineffective as the particles are small. Using finings at this stage is pointless because fermentation has not finished. If the hydrometer shows a reading of 1010 or less, siphon the wine off the sediment and allow fermentation to complete. Fining red wine is not usually required and is inadvisable because it removes tannin. The wine should be left on a thin layer of yeast sediment for at least a few weeks, preferably months, before bottling. Thereafter it should be left to mature for the same length of time.
 
tonyhibbett said:
A scum usually appears in the early stage of fermentation after pressing, as fine pulp is brought to the surface by the action of the yeast. As you have left the skins and pips in, I presume you are making red wine. After a week, you should have pressed or strained to remove the skins and pips. This will leave a fair amount of fine pulp which will rise to the surface as fermentation will still be active at this stage. I skim this off with a fine sieve until most of it has gone. Straining through muslin is ineffective as the particles are small. Using finings at this stage is pointless because fermentation has not finished. If the hydrometer shows a reading of 1010 or less, siphon the wine off the sediment and allow fermentation to complete. Fining red wine is not usually required and is inadvisable because it removes tannin. The wine should be left on a thin layer of yeast sediment for at least a few weeks, preferably months, before bottling. Thereafter it should be left to mature for the same length of time.
Click to expand...

Thank you Tony, I will leave it alone And see what I end up with. Then bottle in a couple of weeks
 
Well hits been nice 7 days so took a sterilised glass and took some out to check the colour, well it was more like a very pale rose last week, this week a bit more colour, but boy the fumes are a bit powerful please see the colour in my attachment 🍷I think it looks ok, but may need. Bit of sweetness added

IMG_0582.jpg
 
After 7 days that's as good as the colour will get. I wouldn't rush to add sugar yet. Just leave it somewhere cool and dark (or covered) to mature for a few weeks, preferably with 10 g of oak chips per gallon.
 
I did a test with hydrometer and it was on the red band, so think sweet enough, will bottle later today when I have sterilised the bottles I have, but need to get tapered corks as I have straight ones but a little too big for my bottles or is there a way of reducing these ones down? I am not fond of the oak chips, so will leave them out.
 
I purchased from wilko corks with plastic tops which are reusable they say so washed and soaked them, now de cantered into bottles, and corked will go down the shed for a couple of weeks to see how they go. Thanks for the heads up Tony.
 
Those corks are not as secure as true wine corks and are best suited for opening and re-stoppering port, sherry, liqueurs and spirits. For this reason, it is best to store the bottles upright rather than on their sides.
 
I have seen some posts where blackberries/ blackcurrents are used to darken the wine, my question is when would this be put in the mix, once fermentation complete or before? As I have mine on the go at the mo, but would like a deeper richer colour.
 
Best to add while still fermenting, unless you want to use the fruit to sweeten the wine. Also fermentation will extract the colour from the skins. Dried elderberries are good colouring agents too.
 
Never thought of elderberries, where if you don't mind me asking where you get them from please. And thank you for all you info.
 
Thanks tony.
I decantered my wow's in to 2nd dj's, put in my finings sat eve, and one went clear next day, the other 2 were still cloudy, looked today and all three are nice and clear, but boy is there a lot of sediment at the bottom.
I will transfer to new dj's tonight hope I do not disturb the rubbish at the bottom.
 
Well I have brought these down to the shed today, as you can see look a nice colour, so on Tony's advise will leave until Thursday and then decant, the middle one is the one with ribeana in it and a nice dark colour that I like.
Hope you guys agree.
The 2nd photo is with spotlights on them to show the colour better.

IMG_0594.jpg


IMG_0595.jpg
 
Okay a question on sugar, white granulated which is bleached white, would brown natural coloured sugar make a difference?
I have done a measure on my WOW And all three were 1.050 when I started, and put in 660grm of sugar, should I have put less in as I didn't take into account the sugar amount that was in the juice already? As mine is like rocket fuel, and the reading is 0.900 it says dry on my hydrometer.
What are your thoughts please.
 
Hi the 2 slightly rose ones you can see, are 0.990 And the one with black current is 0.996. So how would you make them more palatable? Some simple syrup. White sugar boiled and cooled say a table spoon to each, that should if I am correct bring them back to say 1.050. Dry medium sweet drink?, thank you again for all your replies and suggestions.
 

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