RJ Spagnols Fast Chardonnay???

[Cooldaddycars]

Hello All!

Greetings from El Paso, TX!

I'm new to wine making and this is my second kit. I purchased a Grand Cru California Chardonnay. I started this batch 8 days ago and the Spec. Gravity was 1.082. Today the Sp. Gr is 0.995. I have racked to a carboy. My question is that the directions say to ferment (in carboy) until approx day 20 when the Sp. Gr. is 0.998 or lower. I'm already there! What do I do? Do I just let it sit in carboy till day 20 or do I start stabilizing and clearing?

Thanks for your help!!

 

[ibglowin]

No, thats just a general guideline.

Depending on the kit and the fermenting conditions things can go faster or slower. You need to get the same reading 2 days in a row and then you can generally go on to fining and stabilization. I had a Riesling go to dry in only 8 days and totally degas itself in the carboy only a few days later last month.

That is a pretty fast ferment, were your temps pretty high?

BTW Welcome to the FVW Forums, glad you found us!

 

[Randoneur]

Yes, I would let it finish in the carboy so it can drop sediment out, it may go lower than what you have now for SG. You can easily let it go a week past day 20 if there is still evidence of fermentation continuing.

 

[Bartman]

Yup, that's what I would do. In fact, I would leave it in the carboy for another month or so. But if you want to get it bottled sooner rather than later, you can go ahead and do that within a few days.

The discrepancy between the kit instructions and your fermentation is that your primary fermentation essentially completed within 7-8 days what the instructions anticipate will take about 3 weeks. And it can take that long in a cool environment, under less than ideal circumstances.

I wouldn't jump to stabilizing tomorrow morning because I am always reassured when I let the wine have a chance to "rest" after racking, at least a few days if not several weeks. I would recommend waiting at least until the weekend to start the stabilizing and clearing steps. You'll still be way ahead of the instructions timeline anyway.

 

[Bartman]

Everyone jumps in right away on the easy questions, don't they (we)?

 

[Cooldaddycars]

Thank you all for the quick response!
My temps were always between 72F and 75F, which I didn't think was too high for ferment temps.

 

[fivebk]

First welcome to this forum!!!

AS always you will get a number of different answers on this site. The amazing thing about that is none of them are wrong answers. There are many different ways to go about reaching the same goal. I have a great amount of confidence and respect for all the members of this forum

Again Welcome and get ready for the madness/obsession/ this hobby brings with it. lol

BOB

 

[PeterZ]

I usually leave it for several weeks after transferring to a carboy to let a majority of the lees drop. Then I rack to another carboy, stabilize, and let it age for several months to a year, adding a quarter tsp of K-meta every three months or so. Then rack again, filter, and bottle.

 

[ibglowin]

I wanted to add that I normally follow the 6-7 day in Primary, transfer to Carboy and keep there for 12 days then stabilize and fine schedule.

It was only that last kit, a Riesling that I deviated. I deviated because it was such a different ferment. It went to dry (0.995) in 7 days and then I noticed there were no bubbles whatsoever 4-5 days after that.

Normally you can get CO2 to release just by stirring a wine gently but this guy was as flat as a Coke left out for 2 days.

I was concerned mainly because since there was no Sulfite in it yet and no sign of any CO2 it was basically unprotected and very susceptible to oxidation.

Sure enough when I went to degas this guy with the vacuum pump, nothing came off.

 

[v1rotate]

I have racked to a carboy. My question is that the directions say to ferment (in carboy) until approx day 20 when the Sp. Gr. is 0.998 or lower. I'm already there! What do I do? Do I just let it sit in carboy till day 20 or do I start stabilizing and clearing?

Welcome to the forum!

Degassing is one of the 2 biggest challenges with kit wines. The other is not rushing the steps. There are biochemical reactions taking place in the wine other than the fermentation right now, so it is best to let the batch sit in the carboy until around day 20 before proceeding to the next step, stabilize/fine/degas. The extra time in the carboy will also start the degas process for you!