First Timer

[sbnmiky]

Im making my first wine....or at least im trying to

Used 2 kg White Grapes...1.2Kg standard sugar.....done 1 bucket fermentation using "Harvest Premium Wine Yeast BV7" for 1 week.

Now last night I put must into 2 5Lt Carboys.....and I noticed Its still fermenting, cos I can see bubbles coming out LOL

I just bought an hydrometer ...next couple days will be here, so I just followed the basic kit instruction....but what would be the next step? Wait....how long?

Shall I wait that it stops bubbling (secondary fermentation) and then measure with the hydrometer? Or anything else I could do, at the present, apart checking at the wine bubbling in the dark room ? lol

 

[sbnmiky]

Just another question.....what kind of wine will come out?

I mean....Will I need standard wine bottles (screcaps ) or sparking wine bottles?

Cos at the present, I have got only 5 standard glass bottles....and only screcaps......so I'll have to start looking for more bottles; btw...where do you find cheap (or free) glass bottles?

 

[LocalWineTV]

sbnmiky,

I can help with the free bottles! Ask any local restaurants or wineries to save their empty bottles for you. Offer to bring an empty box for them to use and then put your phone number on it. That way if it gets full before you planned to come back they don't have to trip over it.

There's a winery near me that has agreed to save me their bottles from their tasting room. I just reached out and they were more than willing to help. Give it a try!

Cheers!
-Matt

 

[Dend78]

I would say just give it time now that you have transferred it to carboys, it will bubble a bit and in a day or two probably stop, make sure that your carboys are topped up and leave under airlock for a while. once you get your hydrometer make sure that you get consistent gravity or brix reading once you get that its time to stabilize and back sweeten

 

[sbnmiky]

Thank you for your suggestions.

Weird...my 2 carboys are still bubbling ...but at different speed. One faster, the other one slower....both coming from the same bucket.

Anyway...considering that they are still bubbling...shall i check with the hydrometer now, or wait till they stop bubbling???

 

[Deezil]

They'll bubble for weeks - albiet it'll start to slow from a bubble every few seconds, to a bubble every minute, to a bubble every few minutes - after they're done fermenting; checking with your hydrometer is the only surefire way to know where your fermentations at

 

[sbnmiky]

Mmmm now i need help LOL...

Secondary fermentation stopped....i just checked with hydrometer....i think i can read about .98

Just bought hydrometer...so havent got initial reading.

Sooo....what shall i do now??? lol

I open one carboy to check SG...and i noticed few bubbles coming out....and then i tasted some wine...its ok....little bit dry maybe.....but lovely with some kind of bubbles......

i think its very alcoholic...i can already feel it ahahahahah

but now seriously...... 0.98..... is ok??? lol

 

[sbnmiky]

And my second carboy...the one that was going slower...is around 0.97.

Tasted...mmmm.....again i can taste lots of alcohol LOL

Now my next big question for you awesome winemakers....
...how can i sweeten this wine? Is it possible? What shall i add?

 

[dralarms]

Sounds like they are finished fermenting, I would rack off the sediment in the carboy, add your potassium sorbate and k-meta. Then give it a few more days and sweeten to taste. Then top off carboy, air lock and let settle for about 3 weeks.

 

[sbnmiky]

In my beginner kit I havent got anything else to add......

...and sweeten....just normal sugar? how much per bottle approx?

 

[dralarms]

Well if you are going to sweeten you must add Potassium sorbate, and campden tablets (k-meta) or it will start fermenting all over again. If you don't have these then go get them.

 

[DocBee86]

I personally would not worry about back sweetening this until the wine has cleared completely anyway. It has just finished fermenting and needs to be racked off the lees (and don't worry if you get some of the lees when you do rack). So rack into sanitized carboys, degas, and practice the second important practice of wine making. Patience!!! Remember the taste that you experienced now is going to change as this wine matures and the flavors meld together. I figure that there was K meta added at the beginning so at this point I usually don't add K meta during this racking. I let it clear for a month and rerack off all the sediment and would add K meta at that time. Once it has cleared then taste again and see if you feel it needs sweetening. If it does then the sorbate is a must so that fermentation does not restart. Since you don't have all your bottles yet there is no reason to rush anything. Time to build your wine bottle collection. Ask friends that drink wine to save any corked wine bottles for you and of course you can experiment with buying different wines and build you collection while learning and enjoying different tastes.

 

[sbnmiky]

Mmmmm I need help!!! LOL

I left my carboys for several days after I though fermentaion had finished....had reading of SG bla bla bla.

Now i just bought sorbate becouse i would like to sweeten my wine, but i noticed that it still bubbles occasionaly.....

..so is this normal, to keep fermenting after nearly a month...considering that i havent added any extra sugar?

 

[Thig]

Probably just releasing CO2 but why are you in such a hurry to sorbate and sweeten? You have only had this batch going for 3 weeks, I would just let it age for a couple of months before doing anything else to it.

 

[sbnmiky]

Probably just releasing CO2 but why are you in such a hurry to sorbate and sweeten? You have only had this batch going for 3 weeks, I would just let it age for a couple of months before doing anything else to it.

Thanks...no no...im not in a hurry at all LOL....

...reading the forum , they say to wait for 3 consecutive days with same SG before going to the next step....so I did.



Just another silly question, in few months, the yeast (without sugar i suppose) would be still alive? how long would be able to survive, without "food"???

 

[Tom_S]

The yeast can go quite a while without "food." I believe they go into a dormant stage, but if more sugar is added they get woken up, start reproducing, and start fermenting again.