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[Bartman]

Wow that's interesting. You don't even put the top on the bucket? Does everyone do this?

I have brewed a lot of beer over the years. During that process, from the time you pitch the yeast a lot of precautions are taken to keep anything away from inside the primary fermenter like wiled yeast are anything else that might like that warm sugary environment.

Beer makers always buttoned up the primary fermenter and use an airlock to vent the CO2.

Is It really ok not to put the top on the bucket?

I doubt there is any one thing we all do the same, except drink the wine - and even how you drink it is a subject of debate. And there is always more than one way to skin the cat. Your typical kit comes with EC-1118 yeast which will overpower most any wild yeast, so that's not an issue. The only 'issue' I have had with leaving the lid off is the occasional fruit fly, but that's more common in winter here in Texas. I've never brewed beer so I can't relate to your experience, but I think the acids in grape must (compared to beer ingredients) prevent most microorganisms from doing much to wine, as long as your yeast is actively fermenting it.

 

[Deezil]

Beer is more susceptible to infection than wine, due to the lower ABV. With an ABV less than 10%, any spoilage organisms will still be able to tolerate the environment and cause havoc post-ferment while wines are generally 11% + thus creating an environment too hostile for the spoilage organisms to survive. This susceptibility to infection is what makes beer brewers so anal about keeping the wort isolated.

So yeah, you really can leave the top off the bucket.. It's usually recommended to cover the primary with something though - a old but clean t-shirt, a spare/extra pillow case or sheet.. Keeps out things like fruit flies, previously mentioned, as well as other things like the random toddlers thrown toy or dog/cat hair.

 

[-Bumbleclot-]

Very new to winemaking, about to start my third batch. First was great for cooking but not to drink. Second batch came out very sweet, very dark and noticeably thick on the tongue, smells unpleasant but tastes great (it's aged 2 years now).

I'm using mustang and muscadine grapes collected from along a country road. I try and make sense of the technicals, but only get further lost in the attempt.

My process is, pick the grapes from the stems. Smash with potato masher and put in a plastic bucket, add boiling water to about 2 inches above the mashed grapes. Cover ad leave untouched for a week. After that, skim off the top, carefully, then pour the rest thru a cloth, squeezing all the juice I can from the fruits. Add 3 pounds sugar for each gallon of liquid, cover with cloth and stir once a day till bubbles stop. Bottle, and crack the tops at least twice a day till there's a few days with no more pressure building up. Rack when I think about it. (This all happens in central Texas, no ac, so temps between 78° and 105°)

I am going to use dark brown sugar this year, right now I have the grapes ready to mash, will do that in the morning. Any advice on what I can do to make it smell better? Both in this new batch, and possibly in the last one I made? And also, using brown sugar, can I simply swap it out in my recipe, or would I need to adjust the quantity?

 

[Julie]

Very new to winemaking, about to start my third batch. First was great for cooking but not to drink. Second batch came out very sweet, very dark and noticeably thick on the tongue, smells unpleasant but tastes great (it's aged 2 years now).

I'm using mustang and muscadine grapes collected from along a country road. I try and make sense of the technicals, but only get further lost in the attempt.

My process is, pick the grapes from the stems. Smash with potato masher and put in a plastic bucket, add boiling water to about 2 inches above the mashed grapes. Cover ad leave untouched for a week. After that, skim off the top, carefully, then pour the rest thru a cloth, squeezing all the juice I can from the fruits. Add 3 pounds sugar for each gallon of liquid, cover with cloth and stir once a day till bubbles stop. Bottle, and crack the tops at least twice a day till there's a few days with no more pressure building up. Rack when I think about it. (This all happens in central Texas, no ac, so temps between 78° and 105°)

I am going to use dark brown sugar this year, right now I have the grapes ready to mash, will do that in the morning. Any advice on what I can do to make it smell better? Both in this new batch, and possibly in the last one I made? And also, using brown sugar, can I simply swap it out in my recipe, or would I need to adjust the quantity?

Buy a hydrometer, only add enough sugar to bring sg to 1.080 - 1.090, check your ph and ta, add pectic enzyme, 24 hours later add yeast, I use Lavlin 71B 1122. let it ferment on the grapes for about a week, rack, once fermentation is complete, add k-meta. Now let it age, racking once every 3 months and add k-meta with each racking.

We have a tutorial section you should look at, it will help you understand winemaking little better.

 

[west_end]

I posted this before but I think it was in the wrong spot

I am about to make my first good kit wine and I don't want to make any mistakes.

The Kit is a Wine expert, Chardonnay. The instructions say to use a primary fermenter with a minimum capacity of 30 liters or 7.9 gallons. The primary fermenter bucket I have looks to be about 7 gallons, should I get a bigger bucket or will this due?

The instructions are pretty specific about the minimum size of the primary fermenter.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[UtahWine]

Ok,

I am also obviously a pup when it comes to making wine. I just started a third batch. I made a selection white wine which was quick turned out great, BUT my second batch was a RED merlot also a Selection brand wine for a 6 gallon kit. I have fermented, racked, degassed and its just sitting in my house now with an airlock on top. My questions is: Should I keep it in the carboy (9 months so far) longer? OR should I just bottle it with some good real corks and age in bottles? I get really lost if we start talking where pH should be for a wine etc., but can figure it out quick if I need to as I am a chemical engineering student =)

Anything helps, thanks

-Tyler

 

[wineforfun]

I posted this before but I think it was in the wrong spot

I am about to make my first good kit wine and I don't want to make any mistakes.

The Kit is a Wine expert, Chardonnay. The instructions say to use a primary fermenter with a minimum capacity of 30 liters or 7.9 gallons. The primary fermenter bucket I have looks to be about 7 gallons, should I get a bigger bucket or will this due?

The instructions are pretty specific about the minimum size of the primary fermenter.

Thanks in advance for your help

If you have any grape skins, or a fruit bag to add to it, you will need the larger primary. If not, it will be close and you may get by with the 7.

 

[Bartman]

Ok,

I am also obviously a pup when it comes to making wine. I just started a third batch. I made a selection white wine which was quick turned out great, BUT my second batch was a RED merlot also a Selection brand wine for a 6 gallon kit. I have fermented, racked, degassed and its just sitting in my house now with an airlock on top. My questions is: Should I keep it in the carboy (9 months so far) longer? OR should I just bottle it with some good real corks and age in bottles? I get really lost if we start talking where pH should be for a wine etc., but can figure it out quick if I need to as I am a chemical engineering student =)
-Tyler

Since it's a kit, you don't need to worry about pH at all. Unless you want to experiment with the risk of ruining an otherwise great wine. Seriously, though, after 9 months, I would bottle and age another 1-3 months before getting into it. Of course, if you can wait another six months after bottling, more the better. The main upside to bottling (especially after 9 months bulk-aging) is it frees up your carboy to start another wine.

 

[matt256]

topping up carboy

Hello all,
So I have my first kit going right now. Its a california pinot nior kit from wine expert. Primary fermentation went well, im in the carboy, and its time to add the preservatives. Ive heard that the carboy needs to be full and almost exactly 6 gal to have measurments work well for the stuff I have to put in there. Unfortunately I lost about a half a bottle on my kitchen floor during the transfer to the carboy. The directions say to fill it with water to top it up within 2 inches of the plug but I think taking a bottled pinot from the store and adding it might be a better approach. Or a combination of the 2. Or does it matter? I was hoping to get some thoughts on the matter. Thank you in advance

 

[cmason1957]

Hello all,
So I have my first kit going right now. Its a california pinot nior kit from wine expert. Primary fermentation went well, im in the carboy, and its time to add the preservatives. Ive heard that the carboy needs to be full and almost exactly 6 gal to have measurments work well for the stuff I have to put in there. Unfortunately I lost about a half a bottle on my kitchen floor during the transfer to the carboy. The directions say to fill it with water to top it up within 2 inches of the plug but I think taking a bottled pinot from the store and adding it might be a better approach. Or a combination of the 2. Or does it matter? I was hoping to get some thoughts on the matter. Thank you in advance

My opinion is to add the meta no sulphite and potassium sorbate, then the classifying agents before topping up. You want some room to stir. Then top up with a commercial pinot that you like to drink. If you add water, you are watering down both the taste and Alcohol content.

There is another option which might be a choice. Rack down to a smaller carboy.

 

[mizvalentine]

Hi, I'm a first time winemaker and I think I already messed up I mixed a solution of potassium metabisulfite for sanitizing (2oz k2s2o5 to 1 gal water in a glass apothecary jar). Last night, I accidentally left the lid off the jar. Is the mixture now too evaporated/offgassed to effectively sanitize? It was open for about 8 hours in a cool kitchen (65 degrees). Boy do I feel stupid.

Also, the guy who sold me my wine juice (mixed black grape blend) said to keep the primary fermenting bucket in a 60 degree room for 7-10 days. He also said stir once a day and not to add any yeast. We're getting a warm spell here so I put the primary bucket in a larger bucket of cold water and have been feeding the water a little ice every day, since there's no 60 degree spot in my house right now. The juice is bubbling along nicely (though its gone from foaming to just vigorously bubbling, dunno if that makes a difference). My probe thermometer says the water varies from about 60 to 66. Is that okay?

Thanks all!

 

[Bartman]

Yeah, you're okay with the ferment temps. Those temps are on the cooler end of acceptable, but you should be fine. If it goes much cooler, you're basically refrigerating the juice, in which case you are inhibiting the yeast's growth (the same reason we keep food in our refrigerators - to preserve it). If it gets too warm (like over 80 degrees) that can't negatively affect the yeast as well, but you're typical room temperature is ideal.

The strangest part is his advice to not add any yeast - you are taking a chance on what yeast is present on the grapes. If you know the seller to have made great wine using the 'ambient yeast', then I guess that's trustworthy, but I would not be comfortable counting on wild yeast to fully ferment my wine. It may well work (and it usually did work for thousands of years in fact), but you're rolling the dice, so to speak.

You won't really know when the juice is fully fermented without using a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity of the juice/wine. You can guess, of course, but that's not the preferred method, as you might imagine.

As far as the metabisulifte, it will have lost some of its potency but would still be usable for rinsing to sanitize your tools/equipment (spoons, hoses, etc.). As cheap as it is, I would make new when I needed to make sure something was clean. It's not a great loss, so did kick yourself too hard.

 

[mizvalentine]

The strangest part is his advice to not add any yeast - you are taking a chance on what yeast is present on the grapes. If you know the seller to have made great wine using the 'ambient yeast', then I guess that's trustworthy, but I would not be comfortable counting on wild yeast to fully ferment my wine. It may well work (and it usually did work for thousands of years in fact), but you're rolling the dice, so to speak.

Thank you for the excellent advice! Really sets my mind at ease.

As for not adding yeast, the guy who sold me my juice is pretty old school (wholesaling wine juice for 40 years or so, all the Italian grandpas in the neighborhood get their wine supplies from him so I figure its a good sign!!)...I did some googling around and it seems that Regina juice buckets (which is what I got) already have the yeast added to them. So I guess that explains it?

My hydrometer is arriving today, so that'll help too I think!

I did have a question about how much it should be bubbling... the first 24 hours, it foamed a lot, but I think the room temp was slightly higher (low-mid 70s). Then I got a handle on the water bath and got it down to low 60s. Consequently, the bubbling is now vigorous but fine (no foam)...like a freshly opened can of soda. Is that good? And is it related to the temp?

Also wondering... should I be changing the water bath regularly? It occurred to me this morning that maybe 18gallons of stagnant water surrounding a sterile bucket of wine is maybe not so good? Or maybe I'm just paranoid...

This forum is really great, thanks for all the help!

 

[jpcedotal]

The airlock goes on the secondary glass jug, not the primary plastic bucket right?

The reason I ask is the primary was part of a kit and there is a hole with a rubber seal around it in the top that comes with the bucket. Right now I am in the 5-7 day process of letting the yeast do its magic with a daily stir, squish, and measure. I have just put the top back on and left the hole open...is this correct?

 

[west_end]

Help I did not add enough sugar to my muscadine wine.

Back story:
Last Saturday, I crushed 30# of ripe muscadine grapes. To that, I added 2 1/2 gl of water, pectic enzymes, nutrients, Campden tablets and only 2 lb of sugar. The recipe called for 10 lbs. I let it sit for 24 hours and pitched the yeast. It took about 40 hours to start the fermentation process, it bubbled for a day and quit.

Concerned about the slowed down fermentation and hydrometer reading, I looked over the instructions and just realized my mistake.

Todays hydrometer reading is 1.010. My guess is it's not going any lower. What should I do?

Thanks

 

[jamesngalveston]

lots of info missing.
how come you didnt add the sugar required.
do you have it in a carboy with air lock are a bucket.
forget bubbles...use the hydrometer.
add sugar to get the ferment going again.

 

[west_end]

lots of info missing.
how come you didnt add the sugar required.
do you have it in a carboy with air lock are a bucket.
forget bubbles...use the hydrometer.
add sugar to get the ferment going again.

Like I said, the sugar was a mistake, but to add, the quantities of everything else was correct.

It still in the primary fermenter, witch is a bucket

The only reason I mentioned the bubbles is because I thought the fermentation was done so I did a hydrometer check, yesterday it was 1.010. I just checked it again and i got 1.000. I checked it twice with two different hydrometers, the readings are the same. I doubt if it dropped that much over night so i am wondering if Yesterdays 1.010 was a mistake.

So I still have the original question. What do I do about the missing 8 lb of sugar?

Also the bag of skins are not broken down as much as i thought the would be.

Should I just add the missing 8lb of sugar and repitch the yeast?

 

[cmason1957]

I think if it were me, I would just add the sugar you forgot. I would add it by pulling off some of the existing liquid, about the same amount as the amount of sugar. Put the sugar into the liquid, then stir really, really well. Don't forget to sanitize everything.

Pour it all back into your fermenter. You will now have a higher SG than you had and the existing yeast will be just fine to start converting that sugar to alcohol and you will have more volume than you had before, so make certain you have space for more volume.

 

[west_end]

I think if it were me, I would just add the sugar you forgot. I would add it by pulling off some of the existing liquid, about the same amount as the amount of sugar. Put the sugar into the liquid, then stir really, really well. Don't forget to sanitize everything.

Pour it all back into your fermenter. You will now have a higher SG than you had and the existing yeast will be just fine to start converting that sugar to alcohol and you will have more volume than you had before, so make certain you have space for more volume.

Thanks cmason1957

 

[jamesngalveston]

if your hydrometer says.1.000 its almost done...dont add sugar are yeast.
check every day, if you get the same reading on hydrometer it is done.
you can add the sugar after it goes dry, which should not be long.
I have had a ferment go from start to finish in 3 days.