infection problems

[korim]

Hi there first time on this forum and first time making a wine.

I got a large bag of red grapes from a neighbour and decided to make a port after some reading realised i had to make a wine to start with, wanting to do this cheap and quick mashed it up added small amount of sugar and let the natural yeasts do the fermenting all was going ok, untill today must has been fermenting well and odours where generally positive however today noticed some white patches appearing on the surface of the must and believe this to be bacterial infection

So my question to those with the knowledge is this the case and it must be thrown out or is this a natural side effect of wine making process and is still viable also if mixture is not viable for wine might it still be viable for port with the addition of much higher alcohol content destroying possible bacteria?

 

[Polarhug]

Can you take a picture and post it? Is it foul smelling?

 

[korim]

the odour is fine, kind of winey and fruity hopefully this picture shows up fairly clear

 

[TonyP]

I suspect you're correct, but not certain. It will be interesting to see what others say.

 

[Stressbaby]

This is what I would do:
1) skim those patches off
2) take a SG to see how far along my fermentation was
3) post to winemakingtalk.com and ask what to do
4) get some k-meta in case answers from #3 included "dose with k-meta"

 

[grapeman]

Did you push the cap down twice a day? You should if not. Those don't look all that bad to me. By pushing the cap into the forming wine, you are keeping the skins wet and preventing spoilage forom taking hold.Wait to put k-meta in it at this point until it is done fermenting. Once fermented almost dry press the wine out and get it in a jug, then add k-meta if you aren't doing an mlf.

 

[saramc]

I agree that the white patches do not seem that horrid. Definitely start punching down the cap every am/pm. Eventually you may notice that the cap no longer rises to the top, a very good indicator that it is likely time to press the must; but you would want to co.firm with a hydrometer.
You never shared what your starting specific gravity was. How many pounds of red grapes did you start with, and what kind are they? We tend to just like to know these things.

 

[korim]

all good questions saramc but i have no idea my hydrometer is broken and the grapes came off someone in the neighbour hoods tree so they are also an unknown

this was mostly just about some experementing plus i figured i could get away with out a sg because i plan to add alcohol to increase the content to a port like level so that would ensure fermentation halted

what i didnt realise was that the cap needed to be pushed down so often i only did it once in about 6 days so thank you for the tip hopefully that should help the thing i am concerned with is not poisoning myself if the bacteria was going to produce toxins

 

[Abrnth3]

I would believe this to be a fruit mold. I would pick it out and punch down your skins twice a day. the alcohal content should kill any remaining mold/bacteria.

 

[jswordy]

Loving Abrnth3's answer, cuz I once took a portion of an unsterilized wine and just let it run its full course in primary without touching it, just to see what would grow.

Next up after this phase are the green and black molds. It gets quite hideous, and yes, what they put into your wine ruins the taste entirely. Get them out now!

If you are very worried, taste your wine now and see if it has a fresh, yeasty taste. If so, it is savable. You can conceivably remove all the grapes from the liquid without crushing if you find the growth too much to remove well. Let the liquid ferment out. Your resulting wine will be thin, but you can blend it with red grape concentrate or other flavorings to make a palatable profile and save your work. This is just in case it is really far along. Hopefully, you won't have to go that far.

In the future, you can cheaply and easily prevent this by using 1/4 tsp potassium metabisulfite per FIVE or SIX GALLONS of must. Put it in when you make the must, let it sit for 24 hours, then add a good wine yeast. You'll have like $1.25 in that whole show, so it is worth it.

I would definitely add a scant 1/8 tsp. when you rack it to a carboy, and a scant 1/8 tsp. on the second carboy racking. Also known as k meta for short, this substance can bleach out your wine when added, but no worries, the color will return provided an excess amount has not been added. It will be good insurance against additional mold growth, but the dose is low enough not to nail your yeast.

 

[korim]

thx for suggestions jswordy i have taken the advice of others and pushed the cap down a number of times over the past few days and it has solved the problem i believe (novice at work) that it has taken care of the issue

i normally brew beer so some of the wine making techniques are quite a bit different but wine making seems to be quite a bit more resilient to infections and the fact that i am attempting a port helps to ie the higher alcohol