Newbie need help so urgent please

[ThunderFred]

MoeJay, are you sure your juice is preservative free? If it has potassium sorbate it is possible that they yeast will start to ferment but not be able to reproduce which would end your fermentation. That would explain signs of starting then a stall. Had that happen to me once with a cider I was told by the orchard had not been treated. After a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to ferment I found out that it had been treated. Very frustrating problem.

 

[sour_grapes]

By the way, you don't have to waste anything to use a hydrometer. You can transfer some wine to a sanitized test cylinder, make the measurement, them pour the wine back into your batch.

 

[MoeJay]

Hi Gents,

Thanks for helping me out, big salute to ya.

I have read your instructions this morning and I went ahead and done your recommendations as fast as I could.

I used the originally mixed carboy( that I mixed when I realized my misreading to the hydrometer at the begging to my batch, hope you remember it) to top up the other two.

I also had a half gallon sample of the stalled 1030 red star carboy and mixed it with some of the originally mixed batch leftover (for experimental purpose).

And bottled the rest of the carboy with no additions, I think I'm just gonna go with these to enjoy them next week . I ended up with 8 bottles. Horrrrrraay.

 

[MoeJay]

Hey Thunder,

Just seen your comment. Yeah, pretty certain as nothing is mentioned on the juice label. It says "it is 100% pure grape juice", I looked thoroughly on the label but there is no info of any addition to the juice.

But I presume the redstar yeast has just had reached its full cabapility of alcohol tolerance as the Gents here have said.

Now, I'm just thinking to have this stalled batch as cider fizzy sweet drink, Just to be enjoyable.

Be honest, no Idea how, but it is just a notion to treat it this way rather than disposing it .

Do you reckon it would work this way?

 

[MoeJay]

Hi Gents,

I am really so disappointed!


Now, I have bottled some of the leftover batch. I decided to go ahead and give it a try. The taste was so unpleasantly heavy and too undrinkable.

Is it because it is not ready yet for consumption? Or just this is it! This is what it is going to evantually taste like?

The taste and smell is just like a moonshine that not been deluted yet. Very strong alcohol smell and taste with a bit of thicky liquid.

It is just can't be a wine taste. I admit I did not degas it yet. But I thought it would breath and get the taste and smell back by exposing it to oxigen in an open jug before consumption.

I have made every single effort not to contamint my batch. Every single tool is sterilized times and times before use. And look like I'm in breaking bad series in terms of contamination control. But just don't know what is the reason.


Very disappointed!!

 

[peterseng]

Don't panic MoeJay! Your wine is, as you said, no ready for consumption. At this young age you may detect hints of what it will taste like later, but the flavors and aromas have not all begun to develop. The amount of CO2 in suspension will also alter the flavor. Once you get those smaller one gallon demi-johns and airlocks for them I would recommend putting the rest of the wine that are in bottles into those (at least as many as will top them off - remember, minimize your head-space). If there are any bottles left I would save them for topping off your wine when you rack.
Unless it tastes like vinegar, it probably just needs more time. Most commercially prepared wines age for one to two years or more before they are bottled and sold. Yours may not need quite that long, but at only a couple of months since fermenting, it is definitely not what it will be...

 

[TyYoda]

Not that long ago I was very new to wine making and it's easy to miss steps. A website that helped me learn was http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp
It's not the most organized website, but there are ton of articles that will help you understand the process of wine making. Most, if not all recipes assume you know the process of fermenting, racking, degassing, clearing, stabilizing, backsweetening, and bottling. You might want to check out this article for a pretty detail explanation of the basics: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/basics.asp

One of my ah ha's was that fruit wines always need backsweetening to balance them out and help them taste like the fruit they were made of or they just taste similar (actually worse) than moonshine.

I would also recommend you work with a tried and true recipe or a kit. An easy drinking and fast to bottle recipe is Danger Dave's Dragon Blood. Follow the recipe and instructions to a "T" and you will have success.
https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/dangerdaves-dragon-blood-wine.41825/

Trust me you don't want to take the time to read the entire thread. Just follow the recipe and experiment on subsequent batches.

 

[Chuck E]

As I recall, you had put a lot of sugar in your batch. That's going to make a lot of alcohol. Most of us leave our wine to settle down for many months. It's not realistic to expect it to be great after only a few weeks.

Try this: Take some of your extra wine and put it in a wine bottle. Shake the hell out of it, let it fizz then do it again. Do this until it does not fizz. That gets the gas out of it. Now pour a glass for yourself, taste a sip or two. Then let this glass sit for an hour or two. Now taste. Some of the alcohol may have evaporated. It should be better now.

Hi Gents,

I am really so disappointed!


Now, I have bottled some of the leftover batch. I decided to go ahead and give it a try. The taste was so unpleasantly heavy and too undrinkable.

Is it because it is not ready yet for consumption? Or just this is it! This is what it is going to evantually taste like?

The taste and smell is just like a moonshine that not been deluted yet. Very strong alcohol smell and taste with a bit of thicky liquid.

It is just can't be a wine taste. I admit I did not degas it yet. But I thought it would breath and get the taste and smell back by exposing it to oxigen in an open jug before consumption.

I have made every single effort not to contamint my batch. Every single tool is sterilized times and times before use. And look like I'm in breaking bad series in terms of contamination control. But just don't know what is the reason.


Very disappointed!!