WINE KIT-Onto second stage, and the wine is ahead of itself!

[NickW]

Hey guys,

I'm just doing my redwine kit.

Took a hydro reading at the start as normal, it was at the exact recommended range of between 1.080 - 1.095. Reading came out at 1.090

I've left it 7 days as it says. It says "recommended gravity should be less than 1.010, but if not wait a few more days" - only problem is, the gravity is at 0.994!!! Just past the "DAY 20 Stage 3" recomendation which sayins Target <0.995.

But I'm only 7/8 days in!

The taste and smell is fine. Is it ok just to carry on as normal as if the readings were accurate :lol: ??, I guess the fermentation went pretty darn fast!

Cheers : : ,

Nick

 

[percival]

tastes good, smells good, i wouldn't worry
were you fermenting it at the top end (or beyond) of the temperature range of what was recommended?

but someone who does kits will probably give you a more informative answer than that!

 

[BrewStew]

my Beaverdale Merlot rushed off the startline... i just followed the instructions as per the hydrometer readings, rather than timescale. i was doing bits earlier than the guideline time and mine came out great :)

 

[NickW]

Well the temperature varied - it depended on the time of day that the heating came on! When the heatin was on, it could peak at 23-24'c, when its off it was around 18-19'c.

The temperature it recommended was 20-25'c.. so i dont know if I was overdoing it!

It tastes great apart from it was a bit gassy, but I havent reached the de-gassing stage yet.

As you say as long as it smells and tastes good!

I'll leave it to rest for the recommended 12 days anyways, just to see if any further fermentation will take place - doubt it though!

I'll just let it take its course!

Cheers : ,

Nick

 

[percival]

yep, i don't think you'll get anymore fermentation. the gravity suggests that there's little or no sugar left, and the yeast is probably finding it quite a hostile environment now (poor little critters). racking it after fermentation, to get the wine off the sediment, is probably your next step, sooner rather than later.

i'm really quite amazed how much faster its fermented than the kit instructions suggested. c'mon fellow brewers, is this normal for kits? i've never done a wine kit.

 

[NickW]

So even though the kit says the wine needs to stand for 12days to "finish" the fermentation - I should go onto the degassing and then racking phase?

If the "finishing fermentation" is all that it needs to do in the 12days, and its already fermented (worked out its at 12.7%ABV rather than the 11.5%-12% it suggested!) should I just skip these days? - Will it degrade the quality of the wine? Or am I being inteligent enough to realise that the wine may get infected just sitting in an airing cupboard for 12 days, and start degassing it now?

Oh so much confusion!!

:

 

[BrewStew]

i degassed by swirling the demi... so i didn't need to risk infection popping the lid off every day.

if it's in a bucket now, and you plan to rack to demi, that's the plan i'd take

one of the packets of stuff you get with the kit should contain a stabiliser which would include campden, to knock out the yeast and give it some resilience to bacteria after the ferment so degassing with a sanitised spoon shouldn't be as risky as it is at the moment.

 

[NickW]

Cheers brewstew.. that sounds like a good plan.

Although its in a demi at the moment, not a bucket. I only racked it into this new demi yesterday.

A wine isnt going to mature or perform any real function sitting in a FV for 12 days when its fully fermented.

Any more suggestions before I take a shortcut with this kit and ignore 12 days of "fermentation" which isnt going to happen?! :shock:

 

[percival]

it all sounds good to me. as you already only just racked it i reckon its mainly down to time now.

the main thing that go wrong now is infection. its very unlikely tho if you can resist the temptation to keep sipping and tinkering with it. As Stew says the campden tablet or stabiliser will also give you some peace of mind. i'll be racking and stabilising my rosehip soon.

 

[NickW]

Cheers percival,

I think I'll do that then.... Perhpas not tonight as I'm nackered and its getting late. As soon as I get in from work.

Then its just degassing and putting it in the winebox and bottling a few.

Some of these are going out as christmas presents so I hope all is good in the end! I'll have to let you guys know!

 

[percival]

brewing is great for xmas pressies eh! around half of what i'm making is never gonna touch lips cos of this!

 

[NickW]

Ha, its a cheap and good way of getting your brewing out there, as well as sorting out christmas presents for those aunties and cousins you rarely see!

It also raises questions about how to get started homebrewing too! Hopefully more people will start.

Although... saying that. It'd probably only be a matter of time before Gordon Brown makes it illegal. Bah :evil:

 

[BrewStew]

It'd probably only be a matter of time before Gordon Brown makes it illegal. Bah :evil:

if he does, i suspect it'll go underground but i doubt he will as it'll cause alot of upset

 

[NickW]

:grin: