first attempt mistakes

ammonite · Sep 23, 2014

Hi,

I had some spare "red" grapes so thought I'd try making wine!

I did not have enough grapes so added some grape juice and mineral water and finally sugar to get it up to 1.09 on the hydrometer in a 1 gallon bucket.

I now realise that after adding yeast I should have left it a week stirring each day. However I only left it one day then strained all the pulp/seeds and put it
in a demijohn with air lock. There was about 200ml left so I put that in a 2 litre water bottle and fitted a pin pricked balloon as a makeshift air lock.

That was a week ago. The demijohn is still bubbling away but the balloon has gone down.

I tested the 200ml "wine" and was surprised to see it read below 1 on the hydrometer. Does that mean its "ready" after just one week!?
It doesn't taste that great, almost seems a bit like a sparkling wine to me.

Is there anything I can do to save the demijohn or is it a case of just waiting
for it to stop bubbling then trying it to see if it's drinkable?

rhoffart · Sep 23, 2014

Welcome to WMT ... there a lot of great guys here to help you. Wine isn't really drinkable that soon. There are a lot of steps still to come. My best suggestion is to slow down and wait for some sound advise.

Can you tell us what type of grape? and also, the exact SG?

djrockinsteve · Sep 23, 2014

You will find a lot of helpful info in the Tutorial Section on Home page. You will avoid many mistakes.

LoneStarLori · Sep 24, 2014

You have done a good basic winemaking step by using a hydrometer. I won't say "below 1" is done, but based on your reading, it is getting close to dry. Don't expect it to be drinkable at this point, but since it's a small quantity, I wouldn't throw it out. The first rule of wine making is patience. You never know what may come of it.
djrockinsteve is right, check the tutorial section. There is a lot of good info there.

Welcome to WMT and keep us updated. I'd love to hear what this is 6 months from now.

richmke · Sep 24, 2014

The "sparkling wine" is because you have not degassed the wine (driven out the CO2 from the yeast turning the sugar to alcohol).

It will also taste yeasty until you clear the wine. Rack off wine from the sediment (lees). Let site for few months, rack off again. Repeat until clear. Or, use a clearing/fining agent.