Gravity much lower after primary fermentation

ViNesv · Sep 28, 2015

I already did one wine kit and it end up OK.
Now doing second wine kit from Costco Canada: "Argentia Coast Amarone"
Started with gravity 1.085
As per instructions in primary fermenter I kept it for 9 days. Instructions say "on day 10 gravity should be 1.020 to 1.010".
Today I checked gravity and it shows 0.996.
First 5 days fermentation was extremely active - lots of bubbles, but last few days it was almost not there - no bubbles. My primary fermenter is without airlock - just "loosely resting lid".
I moved my wine/must liquid now into carboy and bubbles comes up about 150sec apart.

So - how bad is my situation. What is the damage and how can I recover (if)? What did I do bad? I have just today started another similar wine kit, what should I change? Should I monitor gravity in primary fermenter after 5-7 days and consider moving into carboy then? Or all is good and I am just worrying too much?

knifemaker · Sep 28, 2015

All is good, and you are just worrying too much! You just had a fast ferment, all is well. Dale.

ViNesv · Sep 28, 2015

knifemaker said:
All is good, and you are just worrying too much! You just had a fast ferment, all is well. Dale.

OK thank you.
Did my wine got too much oxygen? There was no airlock. My understanding during primary fermentation you do not need airlock because CO2 protects wine from oxygenating. But last few days clearly there was not enough CO2, so is there are potential damage to my wine? Is there any way I can check if damage is done?

cpfan · Sep 28, 2015

ViNesv said:
OK thank you.
Did my wine got too much oxygen? There was no airlock. My understanding during primary fermentation you do not need airlock because CO2 protects wine from oxygenating. But last few days clearly there was not enough CO2, so is there are potential damage to my wine? Is there any way I can check if damage is done?

Everything will be fine. For your next one, check the sg around day 7.

Steve

heatherd · Sep 28, 2015

You are doing fine, that all sounds perfect. Relax! It's a hobby, not a job.

sour_grapes · Sep 28, 2015

Agree with the others, all is well. (I just this evening racked into secondary at 0.998.) The potential danger is oxidation, but you had nowhere near enough exposure to worry about.