Hello,
This is my first post here, and it's about my second wine making attempt.
I started off the primary ferment of my gallon of elderberry wine-to-be on 04/10/14, and it started off with an SG of 1088. I had used a Camden tablet in the elderberry mash to dispense with wild yeasts, and I used nutrient with the yeast. Its been bubbling away since then. I haven't been able to rack it until today -12/13 days later - and in doing so found that it's now showing an SG of 992 or so. I did not expect that. So my first question is: why might it have fermented out so quickly, and what should I do in response?
The second issue I have with it is an eggy smell that revealed itself early in the fermentation. On racking, it's been very obvious. I've researched potential remedies, and have so far tried the only one immediately available to me - stirring with a bit of copper (which felt a little mystical). I've read that adding a campden tablet is a solution. So, given that my wine is already at something like 14-15%, is this my best tactic?
Finally, can I happily sweeten it up with a little sugar?
This is my first post here, and it's about my second wine making attempt.
I started off the primary ferment of my gallon of elderberry wine-to-be on 04/10/14, and it started off with an SG of 1088. I had used a Camden tablet in the elderberry mash to dispense with wild yeasts, and I used nutrient with the yeast. Its been bubbling away since then. I haven't been able to rack it until today -12/13 days later - and in doing so found that it's now showing an SG of 992 or so. I did not expect that. So my first question is: why might it have fermented out so quickly, and what should I do in response?
The second issue I have with it is an eggy smell that revealed itself early in the fermentation. On racking, it's been very obvious. I've researched potential remedies, and have so far tried the only one immediately available to me - stirring with a bit of copper (which felt a little mystical). I've read that adding a campden tablet is a solution. So, given that my wine is already at something like 14-15%, is this my best tactic?
Finally, can I happily sweeten it up with a little sugar?