# Wine little bit sour and bitterness, not sweet



## Raja (Dec 3, 2016)

Hi
I just in the stage of finishing primary ferment.. Ready to secondary ferment. I tasted that my wine is not good sweet. It tastes as little bit sour and bitterness and not sweet. Can you please advise me to go for secondary fermentation with any new modification.
Recippe:
10 Kgs of Grapes
14 Litre Water
6 Kgs of Brown Sugar
5 Gram East


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## Johnd (Dec 3, 2016)

Raja said:


> Hi
> I just in the stage of finishing primary ferment.. Ready to secondary ferment. I tasted that my wine is not good sweet. It tastes as little bit sour and bitterness and not sweet. Can you please advise me to go for secondary fermentation with any new modification.
> Recippe:
> 10 Kgs of Grapes
> ...



Firstly, your wine is still fermenting, so it's full of yeast cells and CO2, so not tasting wonderful at this stage is no cause for alarm. 

Some more information would be helpful, can you share the following?
Type of grapes you used
Starting SG
Current SG
pH or TA if available


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## salcoco (Dec 3, 2016)

wait util ferment is complete. rack into secondary rack again three days to remove from gross lees. rack again in three weeks to remove from fine lees. add k-meta at three day rack. wait at least another month when wine is clear to taste and assess. longer bulk aging is recommended to determine final taste.


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## Raja (Dec 4, 2016)

It is seventh day. The bitterness is clear. Only little bir sour is there. I am changing it to secondary fermentation. I am used airfilter as seen in YouTube like long small pipe and one litter water can with water. But there is no bubbles after one hour fermenting. Is there any problem. 
Also i sm not using scientific equipment to measure
I am using black grapes


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## Raja (Dec 4, 2016)

It is seventh day. The bitterness is clear. Only little bir sour is there. I am changing it to secondary fermentation. I am used airfilter as seen in YouTube like long small pipe and one litter water can with water. But there is no bubbles after one hour fermenting. Is there any problem. 
Also i sm not using scientific equipment to measure
I am using black grapes


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## John123john (Dec 4, 2016)

How much of sugar you add to your wine?


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## Raja (Dec 4, 2016)

6 KGS of brown sugar. In primary fermentation lot of bubbles has came. But in secondary fermentation there is no bubbles after six hours


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## Raja (Dec 4, 2016)

It is seventh day. The bitterness is clear. Only little bir sour is there. I am changing it to secondary fermentation. I am used airfilter as seen in YouTube like long small pipe and one litter water can with water. But there is no bubbles after one hour fermenting. Is there any problem. 
Also i sm not using scientific equipment to measure
I am using black grapes


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## NorCal (Dec 4, 2016)

What you probably have is a tannic, dry, low pH, high TA wine....which could be quite sour. Without knowing starting and finishing brix, TA or pH you are building a house without a tape measure.

So, what would I do, if I wanted a sweet wine? Add potassium sorbate, add sugar to taste and let it stay in bulk for at least 9 months to clear and be sure it's stable.


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## Raja (Dec 6, 2016)

Thx. Now there is no bubbles. But it is clearing now. It is third day. The bubbles are much more on first fermentation. Continuesly 4 days more bubbles and then settled down.


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## grapeman (Dec 6, 2016)

I highly think the wine had just finished fermenting before you moved it to the secondary vessel. A wine can finish fermenting in seven days and it probably did. If so you will see no bubbles. If you had used a hydrometer you would be able to tell. The fact that it is settling means fermentation has ceased and it will clear now. Your connection make be leaking just a little and be enough that the occasional bubble from outgassing is escaping rather than going through the hose.


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## Raja (Dec 8, 2016)

Thank you. I will plan to bottling after 15 days. How can i find it is good wine. If it is not fine what is symptoms to avoid drink.


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## NorCal (Dec 8, 2016)

If it tastes or smells bad, don't drink it. Give it 3-6 months to clear in bulk or else you are destined to have sediment in the bottle.


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## FreddyC (Dec 9, 2016)

One thing no one mentioned, but you should probably address in your next batch is that a plastic fermentation container is generally not a good idea. The high acid in the wine will leach chemicals out of the blue container into your wine. I recommend you get a glass container off Craigslist or a food grade "better bottle". The bottles for water are just not safe.


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## Raja (Dec 12, 2016)

After ninth day of secondary fermentation, my wine is not good taste. It's sour and not sweet and very hot. Hot means like brandy hot. Is my wine turned bad and not drinkable??
The sour taste is very high. Is this turned vinigar


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## Raja (Dec 16, 2016)

Second sample, that after two days of first samle, there is no much sour taste. But the more bitter taste is there. How it is possible with in two days the bitter taste came. If any oxigen will give bitter taste while taking sample.


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## Johnd (Dec 16, 2016)

Raja said:


> Second sample, that after two days of first samle, there is no much sour taste. But the more bitter taste is there. How it is possible with in two days the bitter taste came. If any oxigen will give bitter taste while taking sample.



Raja, my best advice to you, is to stop tasting your wine every few days. Juice turns rapidly into wine, over the course of a few weeks, and undergoes many chemical and biological evolutions, and yes, the taste changes during that time as well. It's also still full of CO2 and yeast cells, some live, some dead. 

We think about the evolution of the taste of our wines in terms of months and years, not in days. When the wine is finished fermenting, and all of the expended yeast settles to the bottom, rack and sulfite your wine into another vessel and let it sit. In three months, repeat that activity, and taste the wine. At that point, you will start to get a real sense of what your wine tastes like. 

Frequently, my wines are fermented, pressed, and racked several times before I taste them for the first time unless I sense some off smell.


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## Raja (Dec 17, 2016)

Thank you. This is my first experience. So exited. But I will do as you told. THank you


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## DoctorCAD (Dec 17, 2016)

Dont rush, you need at a minimum 3 months of sitting and you could easily let it sit a year before bottling. The taste will change drastically in a couple of months and then settle down and only change a little bit over the next several months.


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## Raja (Jan 9, 2017)

Yes, THe patient is essential. 

Now the 20 ltr wine smells good and taste is very nice. Due to local festivel 15 litrs are gone. balance I stored in Bottles after first racking. Only the problem is 300ml was gave more drunk. How we reduce the alcoholic content in further patches.

THis is first patch and feel excited.


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## Raja (Apr 6, 2017)

*my success second batch - pinapple wine*

THanks for all your guidence. my first patch is grape wine which i have confused so much in result of all the process. But thats gave me good wine around 20 ltrs. 

My second one is pinapple and that also gave me good wine. Unfortunately all my wine bottles are empty with in the month due to many bottles i had given to my friends. 

THanks you


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