best way out of a mess

[daz342]

hi ppl got various questions hoping you can help.

1 started a batch of damson wine on the 5th of september, let it sit for a week with fruit yeast sugar and pectolsase then strained it off on the 12th into two 1 gallon demijohns. its now the 22nd and tonight i checked the sg and it was between 990 and 1000 with a tiny sediment on bottom so i bottled it. leving sediment behind. am i bottling it to soon.(sorry forgot to mention that i had done a first racking at around 9 th september there was nearly a 2 inch sediment on bottom was advised to rack it off)

2 having a simalar problem with a batch of wow its dropped a massive sediment after about 5 days so i racked it off leaving sediment behind at this point the sg was again around 990 so after ten days its now in bottles is this too soon.

i seem to have the problem where everything is happening too fast im getting really good fermenting under air lock and then it just dies off.

3 i now have about 26 bottles of wow and damson wine in a mixture of glass and plastic screw tops is there any danger of exploding

ok thats it any help welcome cheers

 

Sounds like every thing is normal and you are doing ok!
As you didn't mention priming, there will be no danger of the bottles over pressurising.

 

[Moley]

Sounds like every thing is normal and you are doing ok!

I'm sorry, I have to disagree, you're going WAY too fast and your volume losses will be ridiculously unnecessary.

If you started a Damson on 5th September I fail to see how you could rack it on the 9th and strain it on the 12th. Damson carries a lot of pulpy mush and will throw a large sediment, but GIVEN TIME that will compact. I wouldn't even contemplate first racking until at least week 4, and it certainly wouldn't get bottled this year.

Likewise with a WOW, leave it for at least one week after fermentation has finished before you think of racking.

What sort of temperature are you fermenting at?

 

[daz342]

ok i think i may be using the wrong termanology so ill try again i put the damsons yeast and sugar water and pectolase in a bucket on the 5th sept left it for about 4 days (9th sept) then strained it through muslim cloth into 2 1 gallon demijohns then left it for another couple of days (12th sept) when i noticed a massive sediment on the bottom nearly 2 inches in a 1 gallon demijohn.so i siphoned the clear stuff off top and back into clean demis and then left under air lock until the 22nd. temperature wise it around 18 to 20 degrees the bottles are sat in my living room and we havent had any central heating on

 

[daz342]

would i be better off tipping it all back into clean demis ? can i do that. also is it possible to siphon the wine off to often does it cause any harm. im sorry if i keep repeating myself but dont know what to do for the best one says im doing ok one says not.

 

[Moley]

First off, sorry if I sounded terse earlier, I only had chance for a very quick look at the forum during the 30 minutes we get for a lunch break.

Fermentation temperature is spot on, from the speed you indicated I thought you must have had the heating full on.

You started off well, but as I said before, damson gives a lot of mush, even if straining through a fine mesh nylon bag. That's quite ok though, you can let fermentation finish, the mush will form a fairly thick sediment but you won't lose as much wine as you must have done.

As to bottling on the 22nd, I can't see how it could possibly have cleared by then, did you rack, stabilise and use finings?

would i be better off tipping it all back into clean demis ? can i do that. also is it possible to siphon the wine off too often does it cause any harm?.

It's not necesssary to rack a wine too often, with most of my country wines I will rack at 1 month and again at 3 months. Every time you rack is an opportunity for infection and you should always use a Campden tablet to guard against that and reduce oxidisation.

I think I would recommend tipping it back into clean demis under airlock and leaving it in a cool place for at least a month.


Regarding the WOW, it is quite possible to ferment one out, clear and bottle it in a fortnight, but I wouldn't particularly want to drink it. A massive sediment after a week isn't a problem, it will settle and become much thinner after another week.

 

[daz342]

ok so correct me if im wrong. im going to tip the wine back into the clean demijohn ill add a campden tablet then ill tuck it away and leave for a month. now even if there is little to no action in the air lock ans the sg is 995 then im to leave it alone is that right . think i need to stop trying to hard thanks for your advice again. think ill just wing it with the wow and see what happens