My first wine ever!

[mennyg19]

Got my smaller demijohn finally.... Racked tonight and got rid of some sediment. Very dark color still. Hope the wine will be ready to drink for the holidays in September. Im not expecting anywhere near as light and clear as DangerDaves for a few reasons:
First, I didnt use as much water as he calls for
Second, I didnt use pectic enzyme or any clearing agents.
I added the Sorbate and Sulfites and now I just need to wait... I might add an egg white to help with the clearing.

 

[mennyg19]

I added an egg white today to help with the clearing, i hope it helps and I did it right. If you look at the picture of my first demijohn, you can clearly see a sediment cloud toward the top of the wine. It settled out and I left it behind when racking to the new demijohn. As you can see in my last pic, its all a solid dark colored wine. I wouldn't be surprised if someone thought it was a cab or some other grape wine...

 

[mennyg19]

So I checked on my wine, and the k-meta solution in the airlock is all to the wrong side. Its all on the side thats closer to carboy. I never saw anything about this, is it a problem?
Maybe its because I lowered the ac, so the air in the carboy might've compressed and pulled the solution in. Does that make sense? I don't think any solution got into the wine

 

[Johnd]

So I checked on my wine, and the k-meta solution in the airlock is all to the wrong side. Its all on the side thats closer to carboy. I never saw anything about this, is it a problem?
Maybe its because I lowered the ac, so the air in the carboy might've compressed and pulled the solution in. Does that make sense? I don't think any solution got into the wine

Slight changes in air pressure and temps can cause the fluid to migrate back and forth, no worries about that. If you have filled your lock to the proper levels, it shouldn't allow your solution back into the wine.

 

[mennyg19]

So I just checked my DB and the sediment looks like its settling nicely. Issue is that its about a third of the way up th carboy... A lot of sediment...

 

[TonyR]

Let it set for a month or so, the sediment will compact. Or drink it sooner and chew it.::

 

[mennyg19]

Went to a bottle distributor today... bought a bunch of different types of bottles. 375ml, 750ml, 750ml in a cool shape, 500ml screw tops and some small jugs for my mead.
Prices were as follows (tell me if i spent too much):
375ml ~ 50 cents a bottle
750ml ~ 58 cents a bottle

 

[drainsurgeon]

Those are good prices for bottles. Local wine shop in MN charges $15/dozen, about double what you are paying. I get most of my bottles from the local recycle center for free however. I have to spend a little time cleaning and de-labeling them but I'm retired and time is not a problem. You must be getting close to bottling I take it?

 

[mennyg19]

Yes, I will be bottling any day now my DB. I have a mead, Petit Syrah and Cabernet also. They all need more time. We're coming to the states for a 3 week trip so I'll probably bottle the other 3 after the trip. I want to bring a couple of bottles of DB for my family to try...
Just went through the invoice to make sure (this is approximate charges based on exchange rates):
375ml ~ $.49/each
500ml (screw top wine bottles) ~ $.475/each
500ml (jugs for mead) ~ $1.19/each
750ml (regular bottles) ~ $.46/each
750ml (fancy curved bottles) ~ $.66/each
5L jugs for fermenting ~ $6.88/each
Synthetic corks ~ $0.11/each
Metal screw caps ~ $0.11/each
Shrink capsules ~ $0.018/each
The total was $183 to bottle 100 liters of: 50L Cabernet, 25L Petit Syrah, 20L Dragon Blood and a 5L Date Mead.

 

[mennyg19]

Started bottling my Dragon Blood but then needed to go somewhere so I put the airlock back on. I used 375ml bottles as I'm not a big drinker. Also, the one in the pic I think I overfilled, the rest are filled until a drop above the neck. I also used synthetic corks with a single lever corker (don't really like it). Here's a pic.

 

[mennyg19]

So my wine was too gassy still. So I poured them all back into the demijohn and tried degassing.
How do I know when its ready? I use a hanger with a drill and every time i drill a ton of new bubbles come up. Ive been degassing about 10 mins every day for the past 4 days with no end in sight!!

 

[winehomie]

Good question, I have pondered this myself, I don't usually degass, I bulk age and let it happen over time so I can't help you but I am looking forward to the answers you get incase I try degassing in the future.

 

[Johnd]

So my wine was too gassy still. So I poured them all back into the demijohn and tried degassing.
How do I know when its ready? I use a hanger with a drill and every time i drill a ton of new bubbles come up. Ive been degassing about 10 mins every day for the past 4 days with no end in sight!!

There are too many degassing threads to rehash that, so I won't, but if none of the given methods are working, consider this:

Patience. You only started your "first wine ever" 4 short months ago, so it's only been aging maybe 3. It will degas in time 100% of the time. Whipping risks oxidation, time offers graceful maturity.

 

[Scooter68]

Your whip might be inducing more air than the gas you get out. Harbor Freight, Amazon or where ever for a hand operated vacuum pump seems like a better method and no introduction of more O2 to the wine itself. The hand operated ones start around $20.00-$25.00