First Batch EVER - pointers please

So I thought I would chronicle making my first back of wine in the hopes that the more experienced people on this forum can give me pointers as I go along.

I am making a batch of Grad Cru International Collection, Argentian Malbec Syrah. It is my understanding from the wine store where we bought everything that this is a good mid-range kit and should produce a decent wine for our first try.

June 7, 2011

We mixed everything up on June 7, 2011. We are using a plastic primary with a loose fitting snap on lid. This should allow ample oxygen into the batch. The kit came with grape peels and an oak "teabag" which we added to the liquid prior to sprinkling on the yeast.



We measured the SG with a reading of 1.080.

June 8, 2011

Worried about the temperature in the room, i went out and bought a belt heater for the plastic primary. I'm still on the fence about using it on the glass carboy as has heard you are not suppose to do that.



We are leaving for vacation on June 29, Instruction say that the kit should be ready for stabilizing and clearing in approx. 20 days so our fingers are crossed - June 27 will be that 20 day mark.

June 9, 2011

Opened the lid and took a reading, siting at 1.040 SG and starting to smell like something is happening. First time I have opened the lid so far and the batch is fizzing like crazy.

Let me know if you have any tips or tricks as I go along. Will try to keep everyone posted every couple of days.

Thanks in advance for assisting another newbie to the obsession!

Chris

I'm new at this too. My first batch of wine started fermenting in April. I just racked my 3rd batch of fruit wine to it's secondary.

To me, your wine is going pretty good.

Everything looks good, Chris. You appear to be right on track. I, and many others, use the brew belt on glass carboys. I don't know of anyone who has had a problem. I hope I didn't jinx anyone with that statement. LOL
Good luck!

Chris - looks like you're off to a good start. Your starting SG is a bit low - it should be closer to 1.085 - 1.090 so you may not have stirred the original juice well with the water; they require vigorous stirring to mix well. It could also be too much water was added so make sure your 23 liter mark is accurate on your bucket. This is not a problem, just a heads up for your next batch.
The other thing is to punch down the grapeskin back a couple of times a day to make sure it doesn't dry out and stays in good contact with the wine.
I use a brew belt on glass ( sometimes two belts) with no problems.

Sounds like your right on track. As for it being done on the 27th, don't count on it. if you bottle it then you will have alot of sediment in your bottles. I would always figure that after the kit says your done let it age for a month or so after. you should have a crystal clear wine when you bottle it no sediment. It will not hurt to age it and will improve it. Just make sure your So2 levels are correct, and it is topped up properly.

While aging is always good, if you are convinced that it is done and you want to bottle before you leave, just set aside the last two or three bottles for personal use because everything above that should be quite clear and free of sediment since the kits generally clear very quickly.

Rather than feeling pressured or rushed, however, you might just want to plan on racking the wine out of the carboy back into the cleaned/santized fermenter, then cleaning/sanitizing your carboy and racking back into it (this assumes you don't have a spare, empty carboy). Let is sit under airlock while you are away... bottle any time after you return. There will be less sediment to worry about when you bottle.

You say your going on vacation on the 29th if your SG is stable about a week before you could always rack over inot a carboy and put it under airlock till you got back that way you got no worries about it then, I agree I would'nt hurry into bottling on any certain date just cause it's supposed to be ready to. Wines like a woman it'll be ready when it wants to be even if it's supposed to be ready earlier it may or may not.lol

Hi Chris, My guess is that fermentation has started working. You will find that this generates its own heat. I would think you will not need a belt to keep a temp of 72 plus.

I just started a batch of Italian Valpolicella Ripassa this morning. My starting SG was 1.100.

I'm somewhat of a new winemaker also, and still have a lot of leasons to learn. Here are a few suggestions.

1. All will likely go well if you follow the instructions. One issue I find the instructions fall short on is the discussion of gas. If you just use a spoon to mix with you will likely end up with excess gas in you bottles. I just bought a medical suction pump from a local medical supply shop. I payed $90 for it. I used in on my 6 gallon strawberry wine and boy did it suck the gas. Excess gas in the wine should be an area of you attention before bottling. Use the spoon for gentle mixing. Get a drill mounted whip or propeller to aid in degassing. Use them often as you age the wine in the carboy to degas along with a vacume pump if you get one.

2. If you follow the instructions, you may still have sedimen in the carboy. I suggest racking a time or two to clear the wine first.

3. Long term storage in the carboy is a good idea. It helps to clear the gas and helps with clearing. It's not a problem to keep the wine in a carboy for 4 or 5 months.

4. Get a siphon pump. Sucking on the end of the tube to start flow is no way to do it.

5. Be very careful when moving your carboy. If the carboy gets wet, it is a bit like a greased pig. Make sure you limit moving it. When you add the liquid weight to the glass carboy, it gets rather heavy. One slip and CRASH!

6. If you are using old wine bottles, goof-off is a good product to use to remove old labels. Of couse don't put any inside the bottles. A small wire brush also helps getting the glue off.

I hope this helps or provides food for thought.

Happy fermenting,
Paul





2.

Good luck with everything Chris. I too am new I just bottled my first ever wine kit last week. it was a Grand cru Merlot the 10L package it is a 4 week kit. While I found everything went pretty much perfect during the 4 weeks, I think I need to wait until at least September before the wine will be ready to drink. It has good abv and I can taste the fruit and it is beautifully clear, it just needs to mellow for a while. You will probaly find the same but I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on the wine when you bottle it becuase my local shop has the Grand Cru International as well

cheers

It should be ready for stabilizing and clearing before you leave. Make sure the temperature is up to at least 72F during fermentation, else it could take longer to finish. Be sure to degas it well before you start the clearing process and leave. It can clear while you are gone.

Don't be too hasty to bottle. As already mentioned, it wil continue to drop some sediment for months to come. If you don't want that in your bottles, bulk age it in the carboy for 6 months or so.

At least a month before you bottle, add 1.5 teaspoons of Tan Cor Grand Cru and stir it in. It will help with the mouthfeel of that particular wine, as most kit wines end up a little thinner than you might expect.

Fantastic feedback... I love this community!

Will keep everyone posted with how things are going.

chris

Friday - June 10, 2011

Checked into the old barrell just a few minutes ago and the "fizzing" has stopped. Took Dugger's advice and pushed the grape seed back down in the liquid and it started to fizz a bit more.

Took a SG reading and it is about 1.012. According to my instructions it says secondary fermentation in the Carboy is to occur around day 6 - 8 when SG is 1.020 or lower. I am wondering if it is ok to move into the secondary fermentation carboy at this time or since it has only been about 4 days, or should i give it more time in the primary fermentation "bucket"

as always - thanks in advance

I usually rack to secondary (off the pulp) once vigorous fermentations slows around 1.01. This way you don't have to worry about airlock volcanoes.

It is also ok to allow it to ferment dry in the primary. If you do this, try to be quick to rack once fermentation completes to limit exposure to oxygen.

Yes, it is okay to rack it into the carboy at this time. After you do so put it under airlock. Their time frames are just estimates. Different variables, temperature being one of them, can affect the time it takes for the fermentation to reach a certain level. Good Luck!

I would leave it in your bucket for the recommended time period to get maximum extraction from the grapepack. Spagnols have this figured out to about 8 days, I believe, and this may be reflected in their revised instructions which should be out sometimes this fall. If you rack early you will lose the full benefit of the pack. Keep an eye on the SG though and rack it if it looks finished before your 6-8 days. The fermentation slows some near the end so you should be ok.

If you decide to leave it in the primary, make sure you snap the lid down tight and keep it under airlock. As fermentation slows, you're losing your protection.

All good insight. I ferment mine to dry in the bucket all the time as it helps to ferment to dry. This being said you should sap down the lid and airlock it around 1.015 to keep it protected. Sometimes if you rack it you can leave behind to much of the viable yeast makingit struggle to finish fermenting and thats why I go dry in the bucket. I get better extraction that way also.

Unfortunately, this type of bucket doesn't have a tight lid so, Chris, you're going to have to keep a close eye on it, unless you have a 30 liter bucket you can transfer to with a snap down lid.
Also, when you do rack to the carboy, squeeze everything you can out of the grapepack before you do so. Don't be afraid to carry over some sediment and if you do have a lot of sediment left you can put it in a bottle under airlock and let it resettle to reclaim some more wine.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Went ahead and did my first racking to the glass carboy. SG was around 1.005 so thought I better move it. Squeezed the grape skins as much as i could to get all the flavor out of it. It did not take to long to get to such a low SG. Not sure if the belt heater was needed or not, but it sure seemed to speed up things quite a bit.


When the racking was completed- it was fizzing like crazy. below is a quick 10 sec video showing it - is this normal? I am also thinking that now that I have an airlock on it, the fermentation will slow down a bit.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tJwBhdlHsY"]Is this normal?[/ame]

Wine making... it is all so exciting!! Thanks again for all of the great hints.

chris

That looks like mostly CO2 coming out of it in the video.... racking it helped degass it some.