Newbie looking for advice

[Foldyard]

Hi, I have been growing vines for a few years and this year decided to make some wine from the grapes. Unfortunately I added too much sugar and had to throw the must away. So instead I bought 100kg of Montepulciano grapes imported from Italy. I have the must in 4x25L plastic buckets and it has been fermenting for a week. The SG has fallen below 1.00 but there are still alot of bubbles appearing whenever I punch down the cap. Should I rack off the wine now into secondary fermentation vessels, or should I wait until the bubbling significantly decreases? All advice appreciated.

 

[m_kluch]

A lot of the bubbles that you see when punching down the must is just trapped bubbles not necessarily new, active fermentation bubbles. If it has been fermenting for a week already and down to 1.000 then I would go ahead and press. There has been enough skin contact. I wouldn’t want to risk waiting too long and not having enough CO2 blanketing the wine from oxidation especially with that much wine.

 

[Foldyard]

A lot of the bubbles that you see when punching down the must is just trapped bubbles not necessarily new, active fermentation bubbles. If it has been fermenting for a week already and down to 1.000 then I would go ahead and press. There has been enough skin contact. I wouldn’t want to risk waiting too long and not having enough CO2 blanketing the wine from oxidation especially with that much wine.

Thanks. Makes sense.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Wine in the early steps is very forgiving. When your ferment slows you could press into a carboy or you could try to hold in a CO2 head and try to extract more/ extended laceration. I am lazy so press and forget it.

In reference to the high sugar batch. Many country wine makers produce a sugar wine/ add lots of non-fruit sugar / add extra water. I would have added extra water or apple or grape to reach alcohol target.

welcome to WMT

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[Foldyard]

Wine in the early steps is very forgiving. When your ferment slows you could press into a carboy or you could try to hold in a CO2 head and try to extract more/ extended laceration. I am lazy so press and forget it.

In reference to the high sugar batch. Many country wine makers produce a sugar wine/ add lots of non-fruit sugar / add extra water. I would have added extra water or apple or grape to reach alcohol target.

welcome to WMT

OK so I pressed yesterday and got about 75L. pH is 3.4, SG 0.996. It has gone from being a delicious fruity taste about 4 days ago to being rather sour, but I expect that is normal?

 

[crushday]

I believe the "sour" taste comparative to four days ago is fermented residual sugars. Gravity of 1.000 still has some sugar while 0.996 will have less; so less sweet. Now, your exercise in patience begins. How are you planning on aging the wine?

 

[Foldyard]

I was thinking about malolactic fermentation but is very difficult to buy the relevant bacteria in the UK, so I guess I will have to pass on that. I will be racking to carboys in a day or two and then racking again in another 3-4 weeks. After that I guess it is leaving it for about 6 months in a cool place before bottling. I have some oak chips which I will add after the second racking.

 

[Rice_Guy]

A week old wine still has a lot of CO2. Carbonation gives a sharp, prickly on the mouth, slightly bitter flavor. For kitchen testing I will heat 50 ml in a microwave for 30 seconds then stir then cool then test or taste.

 

[Foldyard]

A week old wine still has a lot of CO2. Carbonation gives a sharp, prickly on the mouth, slightly bitter flavor. For kitchen testing I will heat 50 ml in a microwave for 30 seconds then stir then cool then test or taste.

I was looking at de-gassing after the first racking. Does that make sense?