Other First time making a kit, couple questions...

[JDesCotes]

My in laws got me a wine making kit for Xmas and I was super excited to start making wine! Unfortunately, my first attempt was with a 5 year old juice kit they had laying around gathering dust...

The kit was a sauv blanc and was darker than I thought it would be... But I sanitized all my equipment and started it up. After 8 days I sanitized up my domajon and was read to siphon it! When I opened the lid to my primary fermenter, I was horrified. Green mould was EVERYWHERE:


The kit never started fermentation and was still at the original specific gravity, so after visiting a local wine making shop, I decided to pick up a fresh kit and toss this batch...

I thoroughly cleaned my primary fermenter with chlorox as recommended by my local shop and then sanitized it with the white power solution (meta sulphate I think?) and then started my primary fermentation on the new kit... This time a red Barolo.

One major difference between how I am doing my primary fermentation is in my first attempt I loosely placed the lid on the tub... This time around it is secure with a fermentation lock placed in a newly drilled hole in the lid.

My question is, when i watch the lock, I never see it bubble... I can even knock the tub and not see anything bubble up...

I live in Canada and it is very cold out now so we have our house set at a constant 21 degrees Celsius... The fermentation tub is in out laundry room which is probably 19-20 degrees Celsius... Is this too low for the fermentation to start?

I did crack the lid and it seems that there is some purple foam (almost sludgy) floating on top... Should I stir this in, or leave it alone?

Should I keep checking on it daily? I started the kit last night so it has been around 19 hours since it was started...

Sorry for all the really novice questions, but after my first disaster I want to make sure that nothing goes wrong!

Also, I'm not sure of the brand (as I'm not at home now) but it was a European Barolo kit.

 

[DoctorCAD]

19 hours is nothing. If your SG hasn't changed in 48 hours, then you can worry.

 

[JDesCotes]

Should I be stirring daily? Twice a day? Or not at all?

The kit doesn't mention anything about stirring.

Also, this is the kit:

 

[vernsgal]

welome to the forum JDesCotes. Another fellow Canadian !

It's it's foaming it's fermenting. Stir daily and try to keep it warm 20 C is a little cool. If you have a heavy towel or something wrap it around the pail and check the temp of the must and see if that warms it up a bit.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Just follow the directions, if they say to stir, then stir.

Directions should be followed until you know what your interactions will do to the finished wine.

 

[JDesCotes]

Thanks for the quick replies. Guess I'll wait until 48 hours is up, check the sg, and assuming all is good then stir once a day.

Have 1 more question though: currently I'm mixing the white powder every time anything needs sanitizing, which is a lot and even more once I start stirring daily... Can I mix it up once and put it in a spray bottle and then just spray, wipe down, rinse off when I need to sanitize something small?

 

[HenryMae]

I just finished fermenting my first kit. I followed directions exactly. 6 days in primary fermenter, then racked to carboy for secondary fermentation. All has gone well so far...

I am excited for my next attempt where I hope to start tweaking things

 

[sour_grapes]

Thanks for the quick replies. Guess I'll wait until 48 hours is up, check the sg, and assuming all is good then stir once a day.

Have 1 more question though: currently I'm mixing the white powder every time anything needs sanitizing, which is a lot and even more once I start stirring daily... Can I mix it up once and put it in a spray bottle and then just spray, wipe down, rinse off when I need to sanitize something small?

Yes, you can keep some solution in a spray bottle as you suggest, and then spritz when needed. That is exactly what I do.

And, as Kim said above, the purple foamy/sludgy layer is exactly what it should look like at this point. You're in good shape.

 

[richmke]

> The kit never started fermentation

My guess is that the yeast did not survive the 5 years. Probably saved you from a worse fate.

> a newly drilled hole in the lid.

And rubber grommet? If not, the air can easily leak out the hole and bypass the airlock. In an case, and airlock seems to be optional equipment for a primary.

> I thoroughly cleaned my primary fermenter with chlorox

Some people will take you to task for getting chlorine anywhere close to your equipment.

If this kit fails, consider whether you water may be a problem.

 

[JDesCotes]

Just for future sake, if using chlorox for sanitizing my tub after having mould in it was a bad idea, what should I have used to make sure it was clean? Would the white powder solution do an adequate job in killing the mould?

I was specifically instructed by my local wine maker to use it and to be sure to rinse the tub out VERY well afterwards.

 

[bkisel]

> The kit never started fermentation

My guess is that the yeast did not survive the 5 years. Probably saved you from a worse fate.

> a newly drilled hole in the lid.

And rubber grommet? If not, the air can easily leak out the hole and bypass the airlock. In an case, and airlock seems to be optional equipment for a primary.

> I thoroughly cleaned my primary fermenter with chlorox

Some people will take you to task for getting chlorine anywhere close to your equipment.

If this kit fails, consider whether you water may be a problem.

I agree, no grommet no bubbling. My very first kit didn't bubble the airlock. Turned out there was a break in the lid gasket. CO2 had no problem getting past the break.

 

[JDesCotes]

Ok, it was 48 hours last night since starting the new kit and the specific gravity hadn't changed...

There were small and medium sized bubbles which were slowly popping once I took the lid off..

I sanitized my spoon and gave it a gentle bottom to top pull a couple of times to try and get stuff started, and also moved the tub to my furnace room where it's slightly warmer...

It looks like this this morning:

A blanket of red sludge is now covering the surface

To me that looks like something is finally happening!

Is this what it is supposed to look like during primary fermentation?

Thanks again to all who have helped me so far.

 

[Putterrr]

Huston, we have lift off

cheers

 

[sour_grapes]

A blanket of red sludge is now covering the surface

To me that looks like something is finally happening!

Is this what it is supposed to look like during primary fermentation?

Yup. It'll be fine!

 

[JDesCotes]

I notice that the water level has fallen... Should I top it up to the line in my tub?

 

[vernsgal]

I notice that the water level has fallen... Should I top it up to the line in my tub?

nope ,leave it be

 

[JDesCotes]

Figured I would pop in and give a quick status update. It is now day 5 and it is smelling amazing! The sludge has disappeared and now when I pop the lid it fizzes like a can of coke.

Here's a picture in case somebody else is as hopeless at starting as I was



Thanks again everybody!!

 

[sour_grapes]

Awesome! Looks just like it should.

 

[JDesCotes]

Day 9 and my sg was 1.003. This falls within the kit instructions do I transferred it over to the secondary fermenter. The level seems a bit low... The wines at my local wine makers always seem to be full to the neck...



Is this a proper fill level?

 

[Boatboy24]

You should be up to the neck. Did you lose a lot of wine when you racked?

It's not the end of the world. You can rack down to a 5 gallon carboy, or top up with commercial wine. Looks like you need about two bottles there.