Help on fermentation please.

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leecornall

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Hi everyone I am after some advice please. I am new to home brewing and have bought a 30 bottle wine kit over the weekend. I started the fermentation on sat afternoon and noticed the bubble have stopped today, so I have just taken a hydrometer reading and this is 0.998. According to the instructions as this is below 1.000 it is ready to rack off to my second bucket, but this should (according to the instructions) only happen on day 6 (Friday). Should I leave it in the original bucket for another day or syphon it off and add finings and stabilizer? :-?
 
What kit was it?
Some need sugar adding and some don't.
If it was one that needs added sugar, did you add it and are you sure it dissolved?
What has been the level of airlock activity?
 
Thanks for the reply Ken. Sorry should have mentioned what the kit was. It is a Australian blend 7 day merlot kit by Yarrawanga creek and no sugar is needed for this kit. The airlock was bubbling away probably every 3-4 seconds at its peak but seemed to have finished now. I'm just worried about leaving in the bucket too long if the hydrometer reading said its ok. Cheers
 
No need to stress, it may have finished a bit sooner than the instructions stated but it will be fine if left a bit longer. How warm was it where you fermented it?

The couple of 7 day wine kits I've done always seemed to take way longer than the instructions stated but then I kept mine in a brew fridge at a steady 20°C.
 
Sounds ok to me. The temperature is key. At a constant 20 c, fermentation is pretty quick to complete, especially if the target abv is about 11%, which is typical of most kits.
 
Thanks for the replies. We have a warm house so it’s probably been fermenting about 20-21 deg. I have left it in the bucket and am going to rack off to my second bucket tonight. Is it better to have it warm as I have it or a bit cooler to make it ferment longer? Thanks again. First time nerves I think.
 
As a general rule too hot is not so good as it can stress the yeast and cause off flavours but for a kit wine anything in the 18-22°C range would be fine. Don't go any lower than 18°C or fermentation could stop altogether. Lower the temperature the longer it will take.
 
leecornall said:
Thanks for all your help. Should be bottling in a few days then I will try brewing a beer next.
Click to expand...

How did it turn out? I'm using a 14 day kit and due to cooler room, still fermenting on 3rd week. Took a sample and gently heated in a water bath to 20° and hydrometer reads 0.996. I also didn't know to take initial reading and now I'm worried it's gone too far!
I get a slight fizz when I tasted it and it just tastes like Ribena.
Any help appreciated
 
You only need the initial reading to work out %ABV and you do not need to heat the sample to 20c to take a reading, at .996 it has not gone too far (when do the instructions tell you to finish it?) it will probably get to .990 if you leave it long enough, you get the fizz because it has not finished fermenting and you have not degases it the ribena taste may be down to the quality of the kit which you haven't mentioned.

.
 
Hi Lee, welcome to the group. Where are you in Cornwall, I'm down here in Camborne.

Sounds like fermentation has finished already, nice one.

Get this one bottled like you say and crack on with the next. Even though these wines are quick to ferment, it helps to let the yeast settle and compact which makes it easier for racking before bottling. If you leave them in a cool place for a few weeks it will help. Campden tablets are no good by themselves for killing off the yeast, half a teaspoon of potassium sorbate with one crushed Campden tablet will do the trick.

We all do the process in different ways, so don't take what I say as gospel. What suits you is the best but we are all here to help if you need it.

Cheers

Neil
 
Chippy_Tea said:
You only need the initial reading to work out %ABV and you do not need to heat the sample to 20c to take a reading, at .996 it has not gone too far (when do the instructions tell you to finish it?) it will probably get to .990 if you leave it long enough, you get the fizz because it has not finished fermenting and you have not degases it the ribena taste may be down to the quality of the kit which you haven't mentioned.

.
Click to expand...

It's a Craft Range Sessions cab sav 14 day.
Instructions say at day 12 take 3 daily readings (rack off if same for 3 days...this is day 19). It has stayed the same but not moved passed 1.000 at 16°.
I read that hydrometer should read 1.000 at 20° so i just wanted to see what sample was at that temp.
 
The .1000 at 20c is used for calibrating the hydrometer if it reads above or below you can make allowances when you use it, .1000 is too high for a wine to finish I think the highest kit I have made said finish at .995 or lower at .1000 it will be sweet and either it is stuck or it is still fermenting slowly. You said 16c is that the temperature you are fermenting at ?

.
 
Chippy_Tea said:
The .1000 at 20c is used for calibrating the hydrometer if it reads above or below you can make allowances when you use it, .1000 is too high for a wine to finish I think the highest kit I have made said finish at .995 or lower at .1000 it will be sweet and either it is stuck or it is still fermenting slowly. You said 16c is that the temperature you are fermenting at ?

.
Click to expand...

Yep. I didn't want to change temp in middle of process. We have a heat belt for future.
So will hydrometer readings not be different at different temps? Sorry for stupid questions. Just getting impatient
 
The hydrometer is designed to read at whatever temperature the wine is at some members use a heat source so when you draw off a sample it will be above 20c I don't think a few degrees will make that much difference to the reading, I do not use heat and my kitchen gets down to 15c at night but is higher during the day and I have not had one stall, you may have noticed your wine will ferment a few degrees higher than room temperature so if the room is 16c at the coldest it should be fine.

It might be worth giving the DJ a good swirl in case it has stuck.

A word of warning on the heat belt you have to move it up and down the bucket until you get the right spot to give the correct temperature.

.
 
Chippy_Tea said:
The hydrometer is designed to read at whatever temperature the wine is at some members use a heat source so when you draw off a sample it will be above 20c I don't think a few degrees will make that much difference to the reading, I do not use heat and my kitchen gets down to 15c at night but is higher during the day and I have not had one stall, you may have noticed your wine will ferment a few degrees higher than room temperature so if the room is 16c at the coldest it should be fine.

It might be worth giving the DJ a good swirl in case it has stuck.

A word of warning on the heat belt you have to move it up and down the bucket until you get the right spot to give the correct temperature.

.
Click to expand...

Great advice thanks.
Would you suggest moving yo a warmer room or would it stir sediment too much? It's in plastic bucket (Sorry for lanes terms)
 

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