Confused first timer

[elswitzer]

I have three 1 gallonbatches of fruit wine sitting in their secondaries (2 cherry and 1 strawberry/blueberry), and am coming up on their 3rd week after taking them out of the primary. They all have come down to .998-1.000 sg, and have been that way for awhile now. My recipes say to rack them again now, but I have seen a few variations on additional steps to take at this time. Do I add a crushed camden or anything else at this time? When can/should I backsweetenand degass? It seems that every recipe I see has different or vague directions at this point, and this being my first try at winemaking I would rather not learn the hard way.

 

[Tom]

Rack and degas
add meta and sorbate
add f-pac if doing one
let it clear more
add clearing agent
rack and degas
add simple syrup to taste

 

[elswitzer]

Thank you very much for clearing that up for me. Theres alsoone more question I forgot about. I had an extra gallon of apple cider from the orchard that I started a batch with a couple of days ago. I remembered reading somewhere on here to not make it too strong so I think I started it with an sg of 1.06-1.07. It seems the flavor I want should already be there and I dont care about clarifying it. Do I need to follow the same procedures as my other wines? Do I backsweeten?

 

[vcasey]

If you plan on back sweetening - Please add kmeta & sorbate first or it will continue to ferment. If not back sweetening use beer bottles. What yeast did you use.
VC

 

[elswitzer]

I think It was calledEC-1118.

 

[elswitzer]

So if I backsweeten do I evenneed to rack it, or can it just go from the primary to bottles?

 

[vcasey]

So you used the go to yeast that will ferment just about anything. You'll want to get it off the gross lees because give off flavors and yeasty taste to the cider. So rack it, stabilize it and add sorbate (EC1118 will wake up and keep right on going if you skip the kmeta & sorbate), back sweeten, rack and bottle.
VC

 

[elswitzer]

Alright, thank you for all your help.

 

[elswitzer]

Do I need to wait a certain amount of time after adding the k meta/sorbate before putting the f-pack in?

 

[Goodfella]

Rack and degas DO THIS NOW
add meta and sorbate DO THIS NOW
add f-pac if doing one DO THIS IN TWO WEEKS
let it clear more
add clearing agent DO THIS IN AFTER YOUSEEHOW/OR IF ITS CLEARING
rack and degas DO THIS A FEW WEEKS LATER
add simple syrup to taste DO THIS IN A COUPLE MONTHS

 

[Goodfella]

Rack and degas
add meta and sorbate
add f-pac if doing one
let it clear more
add clearing agent
rack and degas
add simple syrup to taste

RACK AND DEGASS= NOW
ADD K META AND SORBATE= NOW
ADD F PACK= 2 WEEKS
ADD CLAIRIFIERS= AFTER YOU SEE IF ITS CLEARING
RACK AND DEGASS= FEW WEEKS AFTER CLAIRIFIERS
ADD SIMPLE SYRUP= IN ABOUT 2 MONTHS


SORRY FOR THE REPEAT.... I GOT A MESSAGE SAYING 'FAILURE' AFTER POSTING THE FIRST ONE

 

[elswitzer]

Thank you, and heres a couple more questions.
Can you freeze an f-pack for two weeks?


My Strawberry/Blueberry has a very strong sulfur smell. Thoughts/advice?

 

[Goodfella]

I have never froze an f-pack.... so I dont know.


Sulpher= get a copper wire from some elecrical wire, and stir it like crazy. I'm not joking. . Something in it reacts and drivesthe sulpherout. I know people worry about oxidizing, But I think sulpher is alot worse. (Copper pipe sometimes has a coating on it)

 

[pelican]

I would also add some yeast nutrient or energizer and stir the heck out of the sulphury smelling batch, along with stirring with some copper wire -- I've had that happen on one batch and left a small (2 inch) length of copper pipe (rinsed well in sulphite solution first! ) suspended in the batch overnight and gave a good aerating stir along with a bit of yeast booster and that cleared it up. The sulphur smell is a sign of yeast stress -- the oxygen and a bit of yeast food helps, and the copper will help neutralize the sulphur molecules but you want to go short and quick on the copper.

Lacking copper, give it a good hearty stir and let it "breathe". Sulphur is way worse than oxidation at this point, and the stirring will also help degas which expells the CO2 and that helps drive off the oxidation risk as well.

 

[Big Ike]

Goodfella,

The timing on this could not have been better. I just finished fermenting an apple wine and was curious about next steps.

I've added your text to the recipe that I swiped off of this site.

Thanks much!

 
RACK AND DEGASS= NOW
ADD K META AND SORBATE= NOW
ADD F PACK= 2 WEEKS
ADD CLAIRIFIERS= AFTER YOU SEE IF ITS CLEARING
RACK AND DEGASS= FEW WEEKS AFTER CLAIRIFIERS
ADD SIMPLE SYRUP= IN ABOUT 2 MONTHS
 
SORRY FOR THE REPEAT.... I GOT A MESSAGE SAYING 'FAILURE'  AFTER POSTING THE FIRST ONE

 

[Goodfella]

No problem big fella.... Glad to help. I would also probably suggest you rack when adding the f-pack. (if needed)

 

[Big Ike]

Thanks again. I will because you suggest it... also because I've got a full 5 gallon carboy and the addition of the f-pack is going to punch me up to a larger vessel.