Is it right to ignore the instructions in the kit?

[Oh mad one]

Hi everyone

I don't often brew anything, but a few days ago I made a start on a 30-bottle Wilko white wine (dry) kit.
I bought a 5g sachet of Wiko Gervin Yeast along with it (just because I know it's good). However, a 5g sachet of that yeast is only supposed to be for a 5 litre batch, really.

Without being too wordy, here's the situation:

- No way to check OG (sorry, I'm casual and didn't buy a hydrometer)
- Chucked in the separately-purchased yeast sachet just after throwing in the kit's (bigger) yeast sachet.
- The Gervin yeast appeared healthier - immediately started to swell up. I could see it was in better shape than the kit's yeast.
- Used the nutrients as per the instructions.
- Kit calls for 3.5 kg of brewers sugar, but they only had 2kg of the stuff in the shop, so I bought that and threw that in, along with 1.5kg table sugar. Not sure if this makes a difference.
- Put lid on the container but left bung hole open but covered with tissue paper.
- Could smell strong sulphur after first day, so I gave it a swish every few hours. Sulphur smell went away completely by 3rd day.
- Stuck airlock on it on the 4th day: it bubbled vigorously (at the airlock).
- It's now the 5th day and it's still bubbling vigorously (at the airlock). I'd say it's still in primary. No foam layer though. Just no sign of being anything wine-like.

I am surprised it's still going strong, as conditions (temperature) are currently very good. Am I right to conclude that the kit's yeast was dead (I'm lazy and didn't prove the yeast before throwing it in), and that primary fermentation is still going on because the Gervin yeast I added to supplement it wasn't enough for the entire 23l? I don't know much about this stuff.

All I can tell is, just from the smell, it's still sickly sweet, not much different from sugar water.

The instructions say throw in the finings after 7 days. Should I ignore this and leave it alone if it's still bubbling like crazy? Going by the smell, there's plenty of brewing sugar still in there for the yeast to eat.

 

[Cwrw666]

Ignore the 7 days. Do it when fermentation stops - could be as much as3 weeks, easily.

 

[MmmBeer]

I'm not a big winemaker, but from what yoou have said it sounds like the Gervin yeast is a faster acting strain than the kit yeast (I'm assuming that the kit and therefore the provided yeast was in date), so the kit yeast will get going eventually.

Table sugar (sucrose) requires additional processing for the yeast to consume it than brewers sugar (glucose), but that shouldn't be a problem.

While there is still strong airlock activity, let it do its stuff and keep the finings until this has subsided completely. Kit manufacturers routinely underestimate fermentation times to make their products seem easier and quicker than they really are.

A hydrometer would have been useful to track the fermentation, but I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[Oh mad one]

Thanks guys - I'll leave it alone then until it's still, and pressures are the same inside and out.

 

[Clarence]

All sounds good to me. Isn't Wilko Gervin a beer yeast? It might struggle with the higher alcohol level of a wine. Nevertheless, I've never even looked at a wine until a couple of months have passed. If you want to get ****** quicker then make ginger beer. Not kidding, you can have a deadly brew ready in a week!

 

[soupdragon]

All sounds good to me. Isn't Wilko Gervin a beer yeast? It might struggle with the higher alcohol level of a wine. Nevertheless, I've never even looked at a wine until a couple of months have passed. If you want to get ****** quicker then make ginger beer. Not kidding, you can have a deadly brew ready in a week!

Wilko do a Gervin wine yeast as well as the Gervin (Nottingham strain) beer yeast.

Cheers Tom

 

[Oh mad one]

I'm still a beginner, and I'm happy I'm beginning to grasp the principles of this hobby.

I'm writing off this batch, unfortunately, because I suffered a break in the screw-on spigot at the bottom of my bucket. Day 6, and I've just poured the whole lot into new, empty spring water bottles, to try and save what I can (it was a bad leak). Lots of CO2 in there - I had a taste and it was actually quite nice. Would have turned out well, I think. At a wild guess, somewhere around 4% ABV? Still sugary though.

The plan is to leave it in the 2-litre water bottles (the lids are very loose) for a couple of weeks, to see if it improves. If it does, it's going into proper 1-litre brewing bottles. along with fining. If it doesn't, it's for the bin (as is my brew bucket). No worries - it's all a learning experience. Already thinking about the next batch, and it's going to be a 5-litre (glass demijohn fermented) hard cider. No kit involved this time. I'm gonna get creative. Thanks again for your tips.