Help me with directions, please.

[Retired teacher]

Hello!
I’ve made many fruit wines from fresh fruit and I’ve also used Vintner’s Harvest and Vintner’s Best for my wine.
I decided to try something different and bought an Island Mist Green Apple Riesling. I’ve ALWAYS covered my primary fermenter with a cloth for fermentation. These directions say to cover with lid and airlock.
So —- cover with cloth or lid with airlock?
Anxious to hear from those with experience.

Thank you in advance!

 

[heatherd]

Hello!
I’ve made many fruit wines from fresh fruit and I’ve also used Vintner’s Harvest and Vintner’s Best for my wine.
I decided to try something different and bought an Island Mist Green Apple Riesling. I’ve ALWAYS covered my primary fermenter with a cloth for fermentation. These directions say to cover with lid and airlock.
So —- cover with cloth or lid with airlock?
Anxious to hear from those with experience.

Thank you in advance!

You can cover with cloth as you've done in the past.

 

[Retired teacher]

Heather, thank you!

 

[salcoco]

cover with cloth. fermentation needs oxygen should stir it twice a day

 

[winemaker81]

With kits, ignore the time frames specified in the instructions. During fermentation, your hydrometer tells you when fermentation is done, exactly like when making wine from fruit.

After fermentation, treat the time frames as minimum values, e.g., "2 weeks" means "at least 2 weeks". Don't worry about bottling on schedule as an extra couple of months in the carboy is a good thing.

Note -- some kits state to use a 23 liter carboy for a 23 liter kit and don't top up. IF you are following the kit schedule, folks report that this is fine, and I believe it. However, if you bulk age longer, top up the carboy with a compatible wine.

Also -- Island Mist wines are about 7% ABV when done. I chaptalize mine up to 10%-11% and I've had a Green Apple Riesling last 7 years and a Pomegranate Zinfandel last 5, meaning the last bottles were very good when consumed.

 

[Retired teacher]

I certainly appreciate the help offered here. I’m new here but have really found the “regulars” to be extremely helpful in advising those of us who need help.
I’m sure I’ll have more questions as I expand my horizons.
Thank you to all!

 

[winemaker81]

I’m new here but have really found the “regulars” to be extremely helpful in advising those of us who need help.

Weird, huh? It doesn't feel like the internet, right? People acting like mature adults and being nice to each other?

Keep asking questions. It's easier to steer you in a better direction than to fix mistakes. But if a mistake occurs, we'll do what we can to rectify it.

 

[Retired teacher]

People acting like mature adults and being nice to each other?

That’s what’s so cool about this site. People who have been doing this for years helping those who are just starting.
I’ll drink my mistakes, but with the help of those here, hopefully they will be few and far between.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

With kits, ignore the time frames specified in the instructions. During fermentation, your hydrometer tells you when fermentation is done, exactly like when making wine from fruit.

After fermentation, treat the time frames as minimum values, e.g., "2 weeks" means "at least 2 weeks". Don't worry about bottling on schedule as an extra couple of months in the carboy is a good thing.

Note -- some kits state to use a 23 liter carboy for a 23 liter kit and don't top up. IF you are following the kit schedule, folks report that this is fine, and I believe it. However, if you bulk age longer, top up the carboy with a compatible wine.

Also -- Island Mist wines are about 7% ABV when done. I chaptalize mine up to 10%-11% and I've had a Green Apple Riesling last 7 years and a Pomegranate Zinfandel last 5, meaning the last bottles were very good when consumed.

How do you chaptalize?......................................DizzyIzzy

 

[winemaker81]

How do you chaptalize?

Add sugar until you achieve the desired SG. You can make sugar syrup, but I simply add table sugar by the cup, stirring well with a drill-mounted stirring rod after each addition. Working with a helper, one gets the must swirling and the other pours the sugar in as a thin stream, not just dumping it in. This works well, although when doing it solo, I get the must swirling, pour in the sugar in a thin stream, then continue stirring.

For Fun Wine kits (fruit flavored easy drinkers) I target 1.080 to 1.085, keeping the alcohol closer to 10%-11%, as the wine is drinkable sooner.

Wines with an ABV below 10% age faster and are drinkable sooner, but have a lesser shelf life. Fun Wines I've made lasted longer simply because they are not anything I drink on a regular basis, so they don't get used up. Folks that prefer wines like the Island Mist may not care about a longer shelf life.

 

[Sailor323]

3.3 oz of sugar per gallon will raise the gravity .010. Extrapolate for higher or lower gravity

 

[winemaker81]

I started a post regarding chaptalization a while back, and posted it on my site. This includes a table for determining how much sugar to add to increase SG by a set amount.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/chaptalizing-wine/
Also, WineMakerMag posted an article on chaptalization:

https://winemakermag.com/technique/371-how-sweet-it-is-chaptalization

 

[BernardSmith]

My guess is that most kit manufacturers assume that novice winemakers are a significant part of their market and the risk of these wine makers failing to use an airlock to exclude air from the secondary if they use cloth to cover the primary is far greater than any cost they may experience if they used an airlock in the primary. You design out risks and problems rather than design them in. But for seasoned wine makers who make wine from fruit and not just juice, the need to gain easy access to stir fruit solids into the wine to ensure that the surface of the fruit is continually submerged and does not dry out and so become a haven for spoilage organisms means that we are very comfortable loosely covering our primaries and tightly sealing, with an airlock, our secondaries.

 

[Retired teacher]

Thank you for all of the responses to my initial inquiry. I’m sure I’ll be relying on the experience of the many posters here.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Add sugar until you achieve the desired SG. You can make sugar syrup, but I simply add table sugar by the cup, stirring well with a drill-mounted stirring rod after each addition. Working with a helper, one gets the must swirling and the other pours the sugar in as a thin stream, not just dumping it in. This works well, although when doing it solo, I get the must swirling, pour in the sugar in a thin stream, then continue stirring.

For Fun Wine kits (fruit flavored easy drinkers) I target 1.080 to 1.085, keeping the alcohol closer to 10%-11%, as the wine is drinkable sooner.

Wines with an ABV below 10% age faster and are drinkable sooner, but have a lesser shelf life. Fun Wines I've made lasted longer simply because they are not anything I drink on a regular basis, so they don't get used up. Folks that prefer wines like the Island Mist may not care about a longer shelf life.

Thankyou for the response. What then is the difference between backsweetening and this chaptalize process?......................DizzyIzzy

 

[winemaker81]

Thankyou for the response. What then is the difference between backsweetening and this chaptalize process?

Chaptalizing is bumping the sugar up -- before fermentation -- which increases the ABV. Fun wine kits are designed for ~7% ABV, so when I make them I add enough sugar to increase the ABV to 10-11% ABV.

I've had commercial grapes from colder climates come in at 16 brix, so I had to chaptalize to get the ABV about 10%. Below 10% the shelf life of the wine is shortened.

Backsweetening is after fermentation -- you want to sweeten the wine that is done fermenting. Sorbate and K-meta are added to a still wine (no activity) to prevent a restarted fermentation, then the wine is sweetened to taste.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

I started a post regarding chaptalization a while back, and posted it on my site. This includes a table for determining how much sugar to add to increase SG by a set amount.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/chaptalizing-wine/
Also, WineMakerMag posted an article on chaptalization:

https://winemakermag.com/technique/371-how-sweet-it-is-chaptalization

Great article..........................there is alot to learn. Thankyou...........................DizzyIzzy

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Chaptalizing is bumping the sugar up -- before fermentation -- which increases the ABV. Fun wine kits are designed for ~7% ABV, so when I make them I add enough sugar to increase the ABV to 10-11% ABV.

I've had commercial grapes from colder climates come in at 16 brix, so I had to chaptalize to get the ABV about 10%. Below 10% the shelf life of the wine is shortened.

Backsweetening is after fermentation -- you want to sweeten the wine that is done fermenting. Sorbate and K-meta are added to a still wine (no activity) to prevent a restarted fermentation, then the wine is sweetened to taste.

Thankyou so, so much!! Now it makes sense. I really appreciate your speedy response.....................................................DizzyIzzy