I am very knew to wine making. I chose the easiest route to take for my first gallon, and I used a gallon of welch's Concord grape juice. I have done everything so far by the book. I put the juice, yeast nutrient, acid blend, sugar, and tannins into a bucket, and added one crushed up Camden tablet. Waited a day, then added my yeast. after 24 hours I added an airlock to the bucket and its been 5 days as of today. Today I racked it into a 1 gallon glass jug and took a hydrometer reading of .991 S.G. My beginning reading was 1.085 S.G. My wine is still foggy at the moment, and my recipe calls for 4 weeks waiting time after racking it into a secondary fermenter. But my question is should I add my Potassium Sorbate now or wait the 4 weeks and then do it? Also if my S.G. reading is as low as .991, shouldn't my wine be clear? Thanks
First Batch
- Thread starter Andew
- Start date
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Last question first: No, the clarity of your wine and the SG are not related. It will clear up over time.
You asked about adding "Potassium Sorbate." Did you mean potassium metabisulfite (aka "K-meta," which is also what is in Campden tablets)? You only need the sorbate if you will be adding sugar later to make your wine sweeter (aka "backsweetening"). Otherwise you do not need it. However, you will need to add k-meta (or Campden) sometime in the next weeks. Personally, I would add the k-meta/Campden now, make sure that there is not a lot of empty room (aka "headspace") in your jug, and wait for some weeks. If you need to add a liquid to your jug to fill up the empty space, just add any red wine you want.
Last question first: No, the clarity of your wine and the SG are not related. It will clear up over time.
You asked about adding "Potassium Sorbate." Did you mean potassium metabisulfite (aka "K-meta," which is also what is in Campden tablets)? You only need the sorbate if you will be adding sugar later to make your wine sweeter (aka "backsweetening"). Otherwise you do not need it. However, you will need to add k-meta (or Campden) sometime in the next weeks. Personally, I would add the k-meta/Campden now, make sure that there is not a lot of empty room (aka "headspace") in your jug, and wait for some weeks. If you need to add a liquid to your jug to fill up the empty space, just add any red wine you want.
Thanks for the feedback. I went ahead and added that Campden tablet today and added about a half cup of water to my jug just to clear airspace (didn't have any red wine on hand and doubt Ill even notice a half cup of water added). As for the Sorbate, I plan on making my wine sweeter before I bottle it, but not very much. When would be a good time to add the Sorbate?
Let the wine continue to clear and sediment (and yeast!) fall out. I would wait and add the sorbate shortly before sweetening, then wait a week and make sure it is not refermenting, then bottle.
