Wineworks Wine kit is this normal.

[johncrobinson]

I would love a fermetasurus lots of members on here seem to really rate them.
Alas alack i will have to make do with the good oldfashined fermenting bucket

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Checked the temperature and it's 20.5 and done now. Yeast has dropped and taken off 500ml, wine yeast much runnier than the other fermentasaurus I emptied today that had an ale yeast in. Difficult to get the yeast out of the bottle it was so thick more clotted cream than double, wine yeast more single cream.
Word of note to those fermenting wine in Fermentasaurus from my brew one experience half way through a kit, poured in the bentonite and water to start and then added rest of wine kit. The whole lot of bentonite set at the bottom and completely blocked the valve opening. I had to turn the fermentasaurus upside down and poke the bentonite that was like thick clay ( no surprise there ) into the vessel. Behaved ok after that.
Next time I think I'll add it after all of the liquid is in the fermenter and swirl it a lot.
I'm hoping that the fermentasaurus will reduce the loss to a litre from the kit which is much less than with the old fermenter. But we'll have to wait and see.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

First time using the ispindel in a Winexpert Kit sav blanc classic.
Have got temp under really good control 22.6 celsius.
The ispindel will show me when the ferment is finished. I think it's going to be a lot quicker than 14 days as 1.087 down to 1.041 in 2 1/2 days.

How long really after the end of ferment should I leave it before adding the finings and potassium metabisulphite. Is there a cleaning up time like the diacetyl rest for beer?
Is a stable FG for 12 hours or more needed to signal the end?

 

[ChrisT]

@RoomWithABrew With the half dozen WinExpert Classics I've tried so far, I've found the SG drops to around 1.010 (ish) very quickly and then slows down considerably for the last few days. I've usually left it until the SG stays the same for at least 24 hours. I've fermented my last three kits (all white) at 21C, not really sure why, I think I can remembber reading somewhere sometime that whites prefer to ferment cooler than reds? Very pleased with the results, but don't have a hotter ferment to compare against, let's hope we'll get a Summer so I can perform the experiment!

Let me know what you think of the Sauvignon Blanc as that's next on my list to try! I might even splash out on the Reserve rather than the Classic, never tried one from the Reserve range yet?

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Thanks for the info @ChrisT .
As said above never tried a ferment for wine with the ispindel. An update though I kept reasonable temp control in the mid 22 according to the Ispindel, and it actually dropped about 20 gravity points a day for the first 3 days once it got going.
Day 9 today and bubbling is slow but the battery failed on Ispindel yesterday about 30 hours ago and it reckoned about 0.995 at that time. I don't tend to fully trust the gravity reading on the Ispindel but it was bang on at the start with the hydrometer reading and the angle in water looked the same as for the wine when it was in the 1.000 range.
I did add a measure of yeast nutrient, but I expect they put it in the kit anyway.
Have just bottled the pinot grigio and I did that ferment in a spare fermentasaurus. Very good to use, was able to drop the yeast out of the bottom ( repitched a good vol for the Sav Blanc ), then did all the additions and clearing so no racking across containers needed and I reckon that there was 1000ml only of loss this way. So far more utilisation than I was getting with a brew bucket. Nice to be able to see it was very clear.
It is still slowly bubbling when I look at the ferment but clearing a bit now so probably will finish a few days less than the 14.

The graph pretty much fits your findings, rapid to 1.010 and then slowing.

I did a Sav Blanc as the first kit and I was impressed, easy drinking, not as gooseberry, fruity as some SB but acceptable. I'm not the wine drinker in the household really but have drunk plenty of SB in the past.

 

[ChrisT]

@RoomWithABrew I have an (well several...) iSpindle and even if it's not correctly calibrated you can still tell when the fermentation is finished when the SG or angle stops changing. Don't skimp of the iSpindle battery, it will save you so much grief!

For my control I use Fermentrack, which also logs the iSpindle data, but have been fidling with my setup, adding a thermowell to the centre of my bucket lid so my graph is a mess...

This is from a WinExpert Classic Chardonnay, you can see when the thermowell was installed! The Thermowell and iSpindle differ by about 0.5C. The calibration equation for the iSpindle is off as I changed the battery but haven't recalibrated yet. However, the curve will still tell me when it's finished and it's not that far off. Plus I also have a BrewBubbles attached to double check!

Having got my bucket setup right, I'm now thinking about a Fermentasaurus . Comments like yours above are tempting me...

On a separate note if you see Dave, who's currently in day 7 of 14 of isolation in Auckland after spending a couple of years over here in UK is now "nearly" home, say hi from me

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@ChrisT
Well it's clear enough today, after a couple of miserable days to see a decent distance. But I'm at the South end of the North Island so a good 642 kilometers away from Auckland.

Almost the same distance from Brissle to Paris, I've got friends there if you see them !!

Couple of readings sneaked out last night from the Ispindel so I think it's also a network issue. I have the parts for a repetidor on order which will help with that but new battery essential I am sure.

Can you set up the fermentrack to control the fridge and heating belt ? It doesn't use a raspberry PI but something else I think?

Will have to revisit the websites for them both and get soldering.

14 days just long enough to brew a kveik raw ale I'd think or a kit. A good project to turn it round in a week, some beer in bag vessels and a collapsible bucket. Would be a good story.

 

[ChrisT]

@RoomWithABrew Let me know your friends details, bound to run into them

The iSpindle does sound more of a network issue, I've put an Access Point near by now, still get a couple of drop outs, but infrequently.

I do have Fermentrack running on a Pi, but you can also run it on a Vitual Machine on another computer if that's possible for you? I've got a couple of Pi's not doing anything so it was easy for me. If using Fermentrack to do temperature control, you will need some other hardware as well though, see here:
https://github.com/thorrak/thorrak_hardware/tree/master/ESP8266 BrewPi BoardsI built my first one without the PCB and it was ugly but functional. I've now got a couple of SMD PCBs and in mid build, just waiting on PSU from China! Oh and a suitable project box? I don't (currently) have room for a fridge so just a heating belt on my bucket.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@ChrisT
thanks for that will look it all up.

 

[Flan]

I’ve just done my first wine kit, a wineworks red wine (rioja supposedly), made to 23l i got 28 bottles out of it, which came with the equipment kit, i bottled it 3 weeks ago after 2 weeks fermenting and around 10 days clearing and conditioning at 12°c. The kit had 5litres of juice and 500ml of concentrate as well as oak chips and the finings solution, I added all as instructions said and de gassed with a wand after I’d syphoned from fermenter to demijohn. I thought I’d try a bottle yesterday to see how it’s doing as it says ready to drink after 3 weeks in the bottle, first impressions are it’s pretty weak tasting almost watery, there is definitely a dry red wine taste the more you drink but that initial sip tastes pretty watery. Is this normal, is this what would be described as a young wine, it certainly isn’t full bodied at the moment, will that come with more time in the bottle? I plan on trying a bottle every 2 weeks from now to see if it progresses to a more rounded fuller wine. Don’t get me wrong it doesn’t taste nasty and it’s definitely drinkable now but definitely wouldn't compare it to a rioja, I’m hoping that will come with more time in the bottle or am i expecting too much from a kit wine.

Just a quick update on my original post, my wineworks kit has now been 6 weeks in the bottle and is considerably better than the first bottle i tried which tasted a bit watery and thin, it’s definitely improving in the bottle and especially when left at room temp opened for a couple of hours. It’s by no means the rioja it’s meant to be but at around £1.20 a bottle I’m pleased enough with it. I’ll be leaving half a dozen bottles for a good few months to see how they do and will try a bottle every couple of weeks to see how it changes.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@Flan
I don't think there are any really good young Riojas. They all seem to shine when old but not before. Probably try a bottle every season and by the time the olympics after Japan come round all will be good for the last bottle!

 

[Flan]

@Flan
I don't think there are any really good young Riojas. They all seem to shine when old but not before. Probably try a bottle every season and by the time the olympics after Japan come round all will be good for the last bottle!

That’s always the way isn’t it, the last bottle always seems the best.