Beginners problems 101 (add your tips and tricks)

[sjjan]

Build up the pipeline by making Skeeter Pee or Dragon Blood quick drinking fun wines. But definitely degas them before bottling!

I would assume that the active degassing is limited to smaller batches of wine. On larger batches there is no other way than to wait months for the wine to degas.

 

[winemaker81]

After stirring/punching down the must during fermentation, take a clean cloth or paper towel, soak it in K-meta water, and use it to wipe the inside of the fermenter above the must. Remove any solids that may be clinging to the fermenter.

The idea is to remove potential places for mold and bacteria to grow. Additionally, I suspect that having SO2 in the air may contribute to keeping mold and bacteria from growing on the cap.

 

[Scooter68]

Something to think about. The top notch wineries have a master vintner on staff. They make the exact same wines every year so why do they need special oversight? Because every crop of grapes will have different characteristics, different adjustments need to be made and the human taste buds cannot be replaced by a robot, computer etc.
Point is - Your results from someone else's recipe may vary a great deal due to differences in fruit, environment and your processes. Your own reipes tried and true could come up short someday because some factor you didn't think about changed the outcome.

Also remember those movies - "We'd like a bottle of your 57 Château Lafite."
different years different outcomes at least the the discerning taste buds.



Just something to remember

 

[winemaker81]

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER seal a container with wine that is still fermenting or has residual sugar and has not been stabilized. If the ferment re-ignites, the bottle can literally explode if the pressure is great enough. Use an airlock or vented bung.

If carbonation is desired, use beer or champagne bottles, which are designed to handle pressure.

Make sure you understand how much sugar to add when carbonating.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

After stirring/punching down the must during fermentation, take a clean cloth or paper towel, soak it in K-meta water, and use it to wipe the inside of the fermenter above the must. Remove any solids that may be clinging to the fermenter.

The idea is to remove potential places for mold and bacteria to grow. Additionally, I suspect that having SO2 in the air may contribute to keeping mold and bacteria from growing on the cap.

That's an excellent suggestion! I will definitely do that on future batches.........Thanks.................................DizzyIzzy

 

[Mike53154]

And a good wine aged 6 months will be better than a good wine aged 1 month but a good wine aged 12 months or longer is likely to be closer to a great wine.

Well said

 

[Ohio Bob]

Lots of good advice has been stated, but I’ll get back to the original question “why hasn’t anything started after a day”. One good tip (for reds) is to determine ahead of time what temperature you’ll be fermenting at. My basement is typically 66F-68F so I HAVE to use heat belts to get things up to 75F or 80F. Some yeasts can tolerate the higher temps and I always try to stay on the high end (even accidentally exceeding it a few times with no apparent ill effects). If you do this your more than likely going too see bubbling/foaming after 24 hours. I use an adjustable timer where you push the little clicks up or down to get it to come on or off. Right now I have a GSM kit fermenting at 74F, heat belt is on for 30 minutes, off for 30 minutes.

Whites are better off fermented cool so I start mine in my wine cellar where it’s probably 55-60F in the fall. Fermentation can be slow to start and often not very noticeable. Patience, as stated above, is called for.

 

[jlt22]

The problem is that many novice winemakers do not have any pipeline so when they make a batch they want/need to bottle and drink it. The bigger problem is not simply the need to degas (in my experience wine will self degas if you allow it to age enough) but the need for patience. Patience is the number 1 secret that separates a drinkable wine from a delightful wine. You cannot teach patience. You need to learn it. And having a pipeline helps.
What also helps - in my opinion - is for novice wine makers to NOT emulate their brewing cousins. A brewer will look down their nose at a fellow brewer who brews beer in single gallon batches. But for wine makers just starting off who are making country wines (wines from fruit other than grapes, from vegetables and from flowers and honey) there is no natural law that prevents us from making gallon batches and making a batch a week or 4 batches a month means that after a year we will have almost 50 batches (hopefully, each batch better than the previous one) and that means we have a solid pipeline after about 6 months. And a good wine aged 6 months will be better than a good wine aged 1 month but a good wine aged 12 months or longer is likely to be closer to a great wine.

For me as a newbie, this has been my biggest mental hurdle. Reading about the value gained with proper aging, while at the same time, racing to get a pipeline stocked as quickly as possible. I have found myself buying an additional carboy almost weekly as I make 1-gallom batches to ramp up an initial stock of wine. But also figured the more I start simultaneously, the quicker I develop compare and contrast information for future fine tuning. But yes - balancing patience and pipeline is a tough act.

 

[winemaker81]

For me as a newbie, this has been my biggest mental hurdle. Reading about the value gained with proper aging, while at the same time, racing to get a pipeline stocked as quickly as possible. I have found myself buying an additional carboy almost weekly as I make 1-gallom batches to ramp up an initial stock of wine. But also figured the more I start simultaneously, the quicker I develop compare and contrast information for future fine tuning. But yes - balancing patience and pipeline is a tough act.

You are broaching a LOT of good points, some of which appear conflicting, but really are not.

For most folks, patience is learned, especially if not coming from a family winemaking tradition. Have patience with yourself while learning patience with wine.

The folks counseling 6,12, or even 24 months of bulk aging have been making wine for years and already have a long pipeline. Building a pipeline is one of those patience things. @BernardSmith's point about a batch per week may be one of the best illustrations of how to build a pipeline, learn about wine aging, and learn patience that I can recall.

Nine women cannot produce a baby in 1 month, and analogously, making 12 one gallon batches of wine will not be the same as having 12 months of experiencing a wine aging. Experience takes time and there is no substitute. [This is another of those "patience" things.]

Learn vicariously from others' successes and mistakes. It doesn't replace experience, but it avoids some disappointment.

Understanding "why" is far more important than understanding "what" or "how".

Taste at every step along the way to teach yourself how wines age. Understand that all wines do not age in the same way.

Make a variety of wines -- both quicker drinkers and longer aging wine, so you have a selection and a choice.

NEVER apologize for your tastes in wine. Ignore anyone who tells you that you are wrong in what you like

 

[ChuckD]

For most folks, patience is learned, especially if not coming from a family winemaking tradition.

BINGO

I’m making quick drinkers to “fill the gap” I’m starting a hard lemon this weekend. Maybe a hard cranberry lime next week. Apple wine doesn’t require a lot of aging… but a few of my 2020 bottles are still in the cellar and I can tell you it continues to improve with the extra aging.

 

[BernardSmith]

BINGO

I’m making quick drinkers to “fill the gap” I’m starting a hard lemon this weekend. Maybe a hard cranberry lime next week. Apple wine doesn’t require a lot of aging… but a few of my 2020 bottles are still in the cellar and I can tell you it continues to improve with the extra aging.

Sorry, but I gotta disagree. Sure, you CAN drink an apple wine after a few months of aging BUT if you leave that wine to age about 12 months or longer the malic acids in the wine often transform into far less astringent acids and the wine completely changes into a very different animal. It's almost the same level of transformation as one from a caterpillar to a butterfly. But you can only know that if you allow some bottles to age and when you do, you really cannot drink them too early again.

 

[ChuckD]

Sorry, but I gotta disagree. Sure, you CAN drink an apple wine after a few months of aging BUT if you leave that wine to age about 12 months or longer the malic acids in the wine often transform into far less astringent acids and the wine completely changes into a very different animal. It's almost the same level of transformation as one from a caterpillar to a butterfly. But you can only know that if you allow some bottles to age and when you do, you really cannot drink them too early again.

Exactly. Which is why I included my observation on the few bottles that made it 12 months. It was pretty good at 3 months but much better at 12! Compared to reds I would still call that fast.