Blackberry wine

[Jim P]

I stared a batch of blackberry wine on 6/4/10 in my 7.9gal primary with starting [email protected] , and on 6/9/10 , SG was 1.035 , so I transfered into 6 gal. carboy with airlock attached.
The first 2 days , I had a problem with it foaming up thru the airlock , so I removed it and just kept a strainer bag over the top. I later installed the airlock , and it was fermenting along good for about 5 days , and now it has slowed down to app. 1 bubble in 10 minutes , plus the wine is very cloudy with bubbles floating on the top.
I kept the fermenting temp at 72 - 74F , and it smells like sour grapes, being contained in the freezer box with a temperature controller.
This is my recipe:
26lbs Blackberries
12lbs sugar
3tsp yeast nutrient
3tsp yeast energizer
6 campden tablets
3 tsp pectic enzyme
1 pk Red Star Pasteur yeast
[email protected]%


I haven't checked the SG , and was wondering if I should rack it now , and try to stabilize ? What did I do wrong?

 

[Tom]

Without a gravity reading we can't say.

 

[Jim P]

I will try to check the SG tonight.

 

[grapeman]

I would say from the description that it is done fermenting and is just now venting off gasses. Check the SG. You can probably rack it to a clean jug. If it is down around .994-.996 for a couple days in a row, add your metabisulfite (k-meta or campden). Let us know SGand we can give you more info.

 

[Waldo]

I agree with appleman..confirm it has quit fermenting with sg readingsand then rack, stabilize and degass

 

[Wade E]

And if yo plan to sweeten this wine also add sorbate when you add your sulfite but only add these after verifying the sg is stable for 3 days straight.

 

[Jim P]

[email protected], and temp @ 74.3F


Thank you all for your quick response.

 

[Cracked Cork]

Jim, if you already didnt figure it out, racking at 1.035 is a little early, some people like to wait to it gets below 1.020 or even lower, if the wine is bubbling away its better to just let it keep doing its active fermentation before you put it under an airlock.

Crackedcork

 

[smokegrub]

I pay little attention to the SG when racking from primary. I focus more on how vigorous fermentation is. When it has slowed considerably I rack it to a carboy and place it under airlock. Some wines ferment very slowly and can be placed under airlock with a higher SG. Others ferment very rapidly and will cause foaming into the airlock unless a large amount of head space is left whic, in my opinion defeats the purpose of racking under airlock. Just my thoughts.

 

[Jim P]

Very good information.


Yes , I did find out thatI racked from primary to seconday too early , but I did remember reading some booksthat saidrack to secondary when SG is between 1.030 to 1.040.


Thank you guys

 

[Tom]

Don't believe everything you read. Ck here now that you can see we kinda ;-) know what we are doing...

Alot of what you read may be outdated or not verified