10 gal apple wine

[Sas-c]

Hello, this is my first time posting on this forum; I'm Sas-c and have been making wine with my own fruits for 4 years now. Until this month have had pretty good results. Here's my story: Sept. 11, I put about 6 bushels of apples through a crusher/press and started with 2 - 6 gallon buckets - 5 gallons each of pure apple juice. I added 2 TBSP. Yeast Nutrient, 1/2 tsp. Pectic Enzyme, 2 1/2 TBSP Acid blend, 1 tsp Wine tannin and 5 campden tablets to each bucket. The SG was 1.05 so I added 6 1/2 lbs sugar to each bucket to bring SG to 1.09. The next day I added EC-1118 yeast. Stirred daily...First 3 days the must was VERY active, filling the bucket with foam. Then on day 4 our weather dropped ( my house went from 67 to 60 degrees, and the fermintation just stopped. I let it sit for the full 7 days and on Sept 18, I racked to the secondary. The SG was 1.00. It smells normal but no activity. My next racking is due around Oct. 10.
What do you think? The temp since has been 67 - 68 degrees. Still no activity. Have I lost it, is there something I should do or should I just follow proceedure? Any advice is welcome.

 

[PCharles]

Seems Ok

With you SG dropping to 1.000 I'd expect the fermentation to slack off. I believe you indicated you've racked it into your secondary. I figure you'll continue to see sediment for a while. If your topped off and have your air lock on, I'd believe you were fine, just having a fast fermentation.
Paul

 

[surlees]

Sas-c,
Welcome to the forum!

I don't think there's anything seriously wrong with your wine. As for the temperatures you've experienced, that's no problem. EC-1118 will ferment much lower than the 60s. I often intentionally ferment my fruit and white wines in the 55-65F range. I think your wine has finished or near finished fermenting. Now that you've racked it to the secondary, are you getting any bubbles at all in the airlock? If not, then it's finished. The fact the wine smells good with no rotten egg odor is a good sign that it's okay.

You mention you're scheduled to rack again on Oct. 10 and that date may be okay, but it's better to rack when needed, rather than according any predetermined schedule. Apple wines drop a lot of lees in the first several months. When the lees level is higher than 1"-2" that's a good time to rack. Racking more often than necessary exposes it to air and causes more oxidation (browning) to occur.

Hope this helps,

Fred

 

[Sas-c]

Thanks for the prompt reply fellas! Fred, I am not getting any bubbles from my air lock. Do you recommend I rack it earlier then Oct. 10? It does have sediments to settle yet. What is lees? I do understand the exposure to are issue, so will be Cautious with that.

 

[Julie]

Welcome to winemakingtalk, Sas-c,

Just because there are no bubbles does not mean there is no fermentation, once it gets down to 1.000 it will go very slowly and you will probably n sot see any bubbles in your airlock.

Don't rack yet, let it sit until it is done with fermentation, then rack and sulphite. After that, don't rack any more than monthly. Actually once it is done fermenting, sulphite, and sorbate if you are backsweetening, then leave it for 3 months before racking.

 

[loumik]

As Julie said, do not go by bubbles in the airlock. Use your hydrometer. Check the SG and when it has remained the same for 3 consecutive days you can assume the fermentation has finished. At that point rack to a clean carboy, add k-meta, sorbate and degas. After you have thoroughly degased your wine you can then add a clarifier or bulk age and let it clear by it's self.

LOUMIK

 

[Sas-c]

Welcome to winemakingtalk, Sas-c,

Just because there are no bubbles does not mean there is no fermentation, once it gets down to 1.000 it will go very slowly and you will probably n sot see any bubbles in your airlock.

Don't rack yet, let it sit until it is done with fermentation, then rack and sulphite. After that, don't rack any more than monthly. Actually once it is done fermenting, sulphite, and sorbate if you are backsweetening, then leave it for 3 months before racking.

Thanks Julie, just to make sure I understand, by sulphite, do you refer to Campden? Should I add this each time I rack? And I usually don't add the potassium sorbate until bottling time. Should I add it earlier?

 

[Sas-c]

Thanks Loumik, I'm not familiar with K-meta. And by degas, what method do you use?

 

[Arne]

I believe I would be careful with this batch. When it cooled down, it was almost done fermenting. You racked it then, and took a lot of the yeasts that were left off the must, but there are still some left. For some reason, apple tends to restart fermenting, sometimes even after adding sorbate and sulfites. Check thru old threads about refermenting and you will find a lot of them are about apple. Anyway, after sweetening and bottling, I would keep a close watch on this stuff. This mite be a batch that will blow corks. I would let it bulk age for quite some time before bottling. Also I would warm it up to about 75 degrees for a couple of days before bottling to make sure it doesn't restart. Had this happen once, don't really want it again. If you have a nice wine room it will make a mess, didn't bother mine much as the cellar has a cement floor and only used for storage. Actually the three bottles that were left were very good. Put them in the referigerator and drank them shortly thereafter. Was nice sparkling apple. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[loumik]

Sas-c,

K-meta is Potassium Metabisulfate, the reason your using Campden tablets is because they have k-meta in them as well as other ingrediants that bind the k-meta into a solid tablet form. Most of us use the powder form because it doesn't have all the fillers and doesn't have to be crushed to powder form as Campden tablets have to be. But k-meta should be dissolved in water or wine before it's added to your primary or carboys. K-meta is used at the rate of 1/4 tsp to 5-6 gallons of juice or wine.

To degas I use a drill powered mixer after I add the k-meta and sorbate because I feel that it mixes the wine better than a spoon, then I finish degassing with a vacuum pump. A drill powered mixer will do a good job by it's self if you don't have a vacuum pump. It's much quicker and easier than trying to do it with a spoon, much more effective as well. But you will still want to mix several times for 1-2 minutes each time till you stop getting the tiny little bubbles.

There are several tutorials at the top of the home page that cover just about everything about wine making including degassing and chemicals used in the process. I usually advise everone to take a look at them and go back and review them periodically .

Hope I have helped some and good luck with your wine.

LOUMIK

 

[Sas-c]

loumik, thank you so much for the advise! I will review. Good tips. I appreciate your time to reply to my quesions.
Sas-c