New to wine making, need help.

[JakeJeckel]

So I just started a batch yesterday of strawberry wine. Using a 5 gallon glass jug i put in about 24lbs of strawberries(cut up not mashed) and 10lbs of sugar. Let that sit for a few hours then added in water to about 4 inches from the top and added in 5tsp of North Mountain Acid Blend, 2.5tsp of Pectic Enzyme, 1.25tsp of Tannin and a pack of wine yeast. I'm using a air lock with the 2 chambers and put in everclear instead of water in the air lock, had a good burp going when I went to bed. Woke up the next morning after id say 10hrs of the wine fermentation started and my wine was pushing itself out of my air lock, I poured out some liquid from the batch and cleaned the plug and air lock then put everything back and it did it again later today so I repeated the process of pouring out some liquid. Please help, not sure why its doing this. As you can see in the picture the wine is burping up into the air lock, it seems like the liquid i dump is being replaced.

 

[G259]

You need a plastic bucket, with a grommet for your airlock. A primary fermentation is very active, and a jug is not suitable for it (just yet). The yeast need oxygen at the primary stage to do their work, later you want to limit it as much as possible to avoid off flavors. The bucket will need 'head space' of 1/3 to 1/4 of the bucket to allow this. The fermentation will give off CO2, and this will blanket the wine from the oxygen. When it slows down, there will be less CO2 from the yeast, so that is when you use the jug, - less air contact for long term aging.

 

[JakeJeckel]

You need a plastic bucket, with a grommet for your airlock. A primary fermentation is very active, and a jug is not suitable for it (just yet). The yeast need oxygen at the primary stage to do their work, later you want to limit it as much as possible to avoid off flavors. The bucket will need 'head space' of 1/3 to 1/4 of the bucket to allow this. The fermentation will give off CO2, and this will blanket the wine from the oxygen. When it slows down, there will be less CO2 from the yeast, so that is when you use the jug, - less air contact for long term aging.

So given the time move it to a bucket for the rest of this fermentation then when its time to rack i move to the jug?

 

[G259]

If you can get a 1.5 gallon bucket (that looks to be a 1 gallon batch), then pour this in (after sanitizing it). You can cover it with a towel at this point, instead of an airlock. I see that you are set up for the jug later. I just set the cover loosely on top, instead of the towel, but what ever works for you will be good.
Wine is pretty forgiving, as long as you sanitize everything that touches it, but even that you can get away with SOMETIMES, but don't press your luck!

 

[JakeJeckel]

If you can get a 1.5 gallon bucket (that looks to be a 1 gallon batch), then pour this in (after sanitizing it). You can cover it with a towel at this point, instead of an airlock. I see that you are set up for the jug later. I just set the cover loosely on top, instead of the towel, but what ever works for you will be good.
Wine is pretty forgiving, as long as you sanitize everything that touches it, but even that you can get away with SOMETIMES, but don't press your luck!

This is in a 5 gallon jug atm, so ill need a large bucket. Thanks for the advice.

 

[G259]

The primary ferment will be 1-2 weeks. When the bubbles in the airlock slow way down to like 30 sec. or 1 min., it's time to rack to the jug.
i'm getting a 7.3 gallon bucket from amazon, with lid and grommet for (I forget) $80?

Personally, I would mash the berries with a sanitized potato masher.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H479JO4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H48I232/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I was wrong, $45.

 

[G259]

Let me clarify a few things, because I may have been a bit confusing. I leave the cover loosely on top for , like 5 days, until I notice the ferment slowing down (but don't stress over this, again - forgiving). Then I snap the lid down, with airlock, for another 5 days (or so), then to the jug when it is time.

 

[Rice_Guy]

* you do have the choice of using five good size buckets and mixing back together when it slows down.
* filtering out 24 pounds of strawberry may reduce the volume by a gallon so plan ahead on how to top off the carboy. Mom/ last century used a cotton flour sack for pressing out juice. Me, I have been lazy and with held some of the water till after the solids are filtered out (AKA racking)
* @G259 is giving good advice, it will work. ,,,,, and you aren’t the first to make a volcano. I have done several usually at racking since I do fruit wines early (1.010)

This is in a 5 gallon jug atm, so ill need a large bucket. Thanks for the advice.

24 pounds of strawberry yum

 

[JakeJeckel]

* you do have the choice of using five good size buckets and mixing back together when it slows down.
* filtering out 24 pounds of strawberry may reduce the volume by a gallon so plan ahead on how to top off the carboy. Mom/ last century used a cotton flour sack for pressing out juice. Me, I have been lazy and with held some of the water till after the solids are filtered out (AKA racking)
* @G259 is giving good advice, it will work. ,,,,, and you aren’t the first to make a volcano. I have done several usually at racking since I do fruit wines early (1.010)

24 pounds of strawberry yum

I've been wanting to do strawberry wine for so long, also have a one gallon jug of pineapple wine going (wanted to experiment and I've only ever heard of pineapple vodka so I thought why not wine) I also took an outside temp of my strawberry jug and its was down to 65° so I've moved it to a warmer area to see if that will help until I get 2 buckets to split up the jug into. Thanks again for all the advice, I've been needing a hobby and this seemed like a good one since the wife loves wine lol.

 

[JakeJeckel]

* filtering out 24 pounds of strawberry may reduce the volume by a gallon so plan ahead on how to top off the carboy.

As for this i planned to just add distilled water since I've read that the wine will need to be watered-down in some cases. So I figured the same as you that I would lose about a gallon and thought a gallon of water to 4 gallons of wine wouldn't be that bad.

 

[JakeJeckel]

Ok guys so here is an update on the wine after 2 days fermentation. The Pineapple is at a 1.040 and the Strawberry is sitting at 1.105 so I'm wondering why the big difference?

 

[winemaker81]

What was the OG for the two wines? If the strawberry has been fermenting for 2 days and the SG is now 1.105, you started with a lot of sugar.

Assuming you used the same yeast for both and they're at the same temperature, the differences in each environment is key -- each batch has different nutrients and different pH. If the OG's were significantly different, the yeast react differently -- yeast can grow more slowly in a really high sugar environment.

 

[JakeJeckel]

What was the OG for the two wines? If the strawberry has been fermenting for 2 days and the SG is now 1.105, you started with a lot of sugar.

Assuming you used the same yeast for both and they're at the same temperature, the differences in each environment is key -- each batch has different nutrients and different pH. If the OG's were significantly different, the yeast react differently -- yeast can grow more slowly in a really high sugar environment.

Ok that explains it then. The Strawberry started out with 25lbs of fruit and 10lbs of sugar, I only used a single packet of yeast for this because I read that it should be sufficient for the 5 gallons. The pineapple was a single whole pineapple blended and then about 2lbs of sugar added to the one gallon. Sadly I did not get a starting reading as I just got my wine hydrometer in the mail today.

 

[JakeJeckel]

*update* so the strawberry has an SG of 1.070 now from the 1.105 yesterday. And the pineapple is at 1.030 from the 1.040 of yesterday. I have been stirring the strawberry up a few times a day to oxygenate and I've noticed the foam started to decrease.

 

[winemaker81]

As long as the SG is going negative, the wine is going in a positive direction.

 

[JakeJeckel]

*Update* its been a week since starting the primary fermentation, the strawberry is finally down to 1.025 and the pineapple is at 0.998 Sg. I have racked the pineapple now and put it into secondary, but with the alcohol content being so low at this time should I add more sugar now or will the alcohol content rise during secondary? Again thank you all so much for the advice I've gotten so far. This started as just a hobby I wasn't to serious about but now I'm investing money and want to make it a full blown hobby. Its so exciting.

 

[NoQuarter]

Your alcohol level has gone up not down. Your S.g. readings were giving you sugar levels, as the S.G. number drops, more sugars have been converted to alcohol .
You did not give original gravity, so I assume you were not clear on that point unless I misinterpreted your question.

 

[JakeJeckel]

Your alcohol level has gone up not down. Your S.g. readings were giving you sugar levels, as the S.G. number drops, more sugars have been converted to alcohol .
You did not give original gravity, so I assume you were not clear on that point unless I misinterpreted your question.

I did not have the beginning sg only the one taken at day 2 of primary in which case the Pineapple was at a 1.040 and the Strawberry was sitting at 1.105 sg.

 

[NoQuarter]

Then you probably just need to taste it. If you need more ABV you could add more sugar after only a week and it should continue to ferment but you will not know the alcohol levels.
Let your taste buds decide for you.

 

[JakeJeckel]

Then you probably just need to taste it. If you need more ABV you could add more sugar after only a week and it should continue to ferment but you will not know the alcohol levels.
Let your taste buds decide for you.

Thanks for the advice.