Lots of pulp/sediment

[TX_BK]

Long time reader, but first time poster. I’m in the secondary fermentation phase of making wild mustang grape wine. The juice from the primary fermentation was very syrup-like and didn’t filter very well, so made the decision to only filter through a colander. Based on the picture, there’s obviously lots of pulp/sediment. This is day two of being in the carboy.

Should I rack it now into a smaller carboy or wait until more fermentation occurs and rack it later?

Any thoughts or suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Jusatele]

Add Pectin destroying enzyme and let that work for a week thinning out the must.
allow the primary to finish and then rack into a new carboy
a lot of wild style fruits have a lot of pectin

good luck

 

[winemaker81]

What was the OG and what is the current SG?

Don't worry about the sediment level during fermentation. There's no value in racking until fermentation is complete, or close to it.

 

[TX_BK]

What was the OG and what is the current SG?

Don't worry about the sediment level during fermentation. There's no value in racking until fermentation is complete, or close to it.

OG was 1.095 when placed into carboy. I have not taken SG since it was put in carboy two days ago. Airlock is still bubbling, so I know it’s still fermenting. Thanks!

 

[TX_BK]

Add Pectin destroying enzyme and let that work for a week thinning out the must.
allow the primary to finish and then rack into a new carboy
a lot of wild style fruits have a lot of pectin

good luck

Will adding pectin enzyme at this point impact the yeast at all? The yeast is the wild yeast from the grape skins.

 

[winemaker81]

OG was 1.095 when placed into carboy. I have not taken SG since it was put in carboy two days ago. Airlock is still bubbling, so I know it’s still fermenting. Thanks!

Activity in the airlock tells you nothing useful. It may be active fermentation, it may be active degassing, it may be changes in temperature/ barometric pressure, or it may be something else.

If your SG is dropping, you have active fermentation.

Will adding pectin enzyme at this point impact the yeast at all? The yeast is the wild yeast from the grape skins.

Pectic enzyme has no effect upon yeast. The enzyme breaks down fruit pectin and weakens cell walls so more extraction occurs.

The problem with using indigenous yeast is that is any of thousands of strains. You have NO idea what you have, and the yeast have no cares as to what you want. If you use a cultured yeast, you have a known quantity that can probably handle the expected ABV level and produces qualities you want.

 

[Jusatele]

As Winemaker81 mentioned there is a lot of control given up to not knowing what yeast you are using.
We buy yeast according to the properties we want out of the strain we choice. that can be how much alcohol it tolerates before stopping fermenting or some other thing such as side note taste it can have.
I know at one time wild yeast was what was used but we can separate yeast we want in laboratories now days and raise the ones we want. This is just a learning process in the hobby as many old time recipes just told you to use the wild yeast. No harm done unless there was something funky in the mix.
such as docking a boat, never approach a dock faster than you want to accept damage, pitch yeast you know is good to control the wine.

 

[winemaker81]

such as docking a boat, never approach a dock faster than you want to accept damage, pitch yeast you know is good to control the wine.

Don't be surprised if I quote this in the future. That's a great example!

 

[TX_BK]

As Winemaker81 mentioned there is a lot of control given up to not knowing what yeast you are using.
We buy yeast according to the properties we want out of the strain we choice. that can be how much alcohol it tolerates before stopping fermenting or some other thing such as side note taste it can have.
I know at one time wild yeast was what was used but we can separate yeast we want in laboratories now days and raise the ones we want. This is just a learning process in the hobby as many old time recipes just told you to use the wild yeast. No harm done unless there was something funky in the mix.
such as docking a boat, never approach a dock faster than you want to accept damage, pitch yeast you know is good to control the wine.

Recipe is handwritten from my great-grandfather and it describes the wild yeast from the skins.

Any thoughts on adding yeast at this point? Or ride it out with the wild yeast? I do have EC-1118 in the pantry from a dewberry wine earlier this year.

 

[winemaker81]

Recipe is handwritten from my great-grandfather and it describes the wild yeast from the skins.

Any thoughts on adding yeast at this point? Or ride it out with the wild yeast? I do have EC-1118 in the pantry from a dewberry wine earlier this year.

Old recipes are typically a record of what worked, not what's best. Trusting a recipe without vetting it is a risk, which is among the reasons I recommend posting a recipe for comment.

Your OG was 1.095. If the current SG is 1.085, I'd be tempted to add EC-1118. If the SG is 1.060, I'd not, as fermentation is proceeding.

Winemaking advice is totally situational.

This is not criticism -- my first wines were made from recipes published in the local newspaper. Four+ decades later, the problems with those recipes are easily recognized. I understand that now, but at the time there was no way to do that.

Don't worry about the past. Learn and move forward.

 

[TX_BK]

Old recipes are typically a record of what worked, not what's best. Trusting a recipe without vetting it is a risk, which is among the reasons I recommend posting a recipe for comment.

Your OG was 1.095. It's the current SG is 1.085, I'd be tempted to add EC-1118. If the SG is 1.060, I'd not, as fermentation is proceeding.

Winemaking advice is totally situational.

This is not criticism -- my first wines were made from recipes published in the local newspaper. Four+ decades later, the problems with those recipes are easily recognized. I understand that now, but at the time there was no way to do that.

Don't worry about the past. Learn and move forward.

Thanks for all the recommendations. The hardest criticism will be from my wife when she has to drink it…

 

[winemaker81]

Thanks for all the recommendations. The hardest criticism will be from my wife when she has to drink it…

This is why EverClear was invented. 3 shots ahead of the wine will solve your problems.

 

[Rice_Guy]

first welcome to WMT
modern winemaking follows the guideline that a a grape juice starts at about 1.090, the available yeast start reproducing building mass, at about 1.050 there is enough yeast mass and metabolism switches to making alcohol, at about 0.990 all sugar is consumed but if stressed they may stop with some sugar left, ex at 1.000.
theme; now a days it is easy to measure, grandpa would float an egg as a measure of density but it wasn’t calibrated, ,,, no numbers
I also have some hand written wine procedures that are based on days. Ordinarily they work so I can’t fault you. My family might say till bubbles have stopped, they were looking for the same end point as we do today. When fermentation is done they would rack.
Next settling happens, when fairly clear they racked off gross lees (big stuff ~ a month).
The next end point is it is clear enough to drink and would be racked and bottled. It still might have some fine suspended material that falls out.

One thing grandpa would do is taste/ smell. I encourage you to get used to the changes. Taste reflects chemicals that can be measured now a days. ,,, and when one gets down to it that is all that matters.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[Fitz]

Welcome!

 

[Jusatele]

Winemaker
I think everclear was invented to teach us who do not learn easy