Notes and Tips on my process

[BigFatPaulie]

Hi everyone

I'm looking to get more involved on this forum. I just inherited my grandfathers equipment so I now have a total of 30 carboys. Anyway my uncle and I made wine this past season and I am a beginner who is looking for notes and advice on what i should be doing to make my wine better. Here is my process...not complicated.

1) I buy the juice and pour it into the carboy
2) Add yeast and cap with an airlock.
3) I let it sit until all the fizzing stops.
4) Top it off and let it sit again.
5) When that stops fizzing I rack it and cap with an airlock for about 1-2 weeks
6) Once i'm sure the wine is settled I cap it with cork and let it age until i'm ready to bottle

This year i've had issue of rubber corks shooting off so I racked it again and left the airlocks on longer. A few weeks ago I put the corks back on and they seem to be fine. I've never used a hydrometer or put anything else in my wine during fermentation. I'm reading through the beginners book in the sticky of this forum. I look forward to learning from you all.

Thanks

 

[BernardSmith]

First of all welcome to this forum. And good luck with your wine making. I guess my quick and dirty response would be that you really need to buy an inexpensive tool called an hydrometer. This is a glass tube that measures the density of a liquid. The more sugar in a liquid the more dense it is ... and the more alcohol in that liquid - as the sugar is converted into alcohol - the less dense it is. When you make wine , as you know, the sugar that was in the juice is transformed into alcohol but if there is yeast in the wine and if that wine still has some sugar then that yeast will continue fermenting the sugar even if there is no obvious "fizziness"... so what you do with this hydrometer is check to see whether there is still sugar in the wine - the reading will be above .098 (the density of pure water is 1.000 and water with alcohol in it will be less dense than water as alcohol itself is less dense than water) , and if there is any sugar still in the wine, whether over a few days, the yeast that may still be in the wine is converting that sugar into more alcohol (the reading will drop and not be stable)...A quick lesson: half the weight of the sugar in the juice will be converted to CO2 and half the weight of the sugar will be converted to alcohol, so there is a great deal - a huge great deal of carbon dioxide produced by the yeast...

... if the yeast is still converting sugar into alcohol it is also burping out carbon dioxide. And if it is still producing CO2 then that gas will be under more and more pressure if you cap it with a cork or some other closure... That gas can be under so much pressure that it will pop the cork or even burst the bottle... So it is really quite important for a wine maker to know whether the yeast is still making alcohol or whether all the sugar has been converted... An hydrometer costs about $7.00. In my opinion, it is one of the most essential pieces of equipment a wine maker uses.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Yes definitely buy a hydrometer - and keep reading and taking notes.

Try and not to get to over whelmed !

Where about do you live ?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Hey guess what, you are already a winemaker! Maybe not one with predictable results yet but you are still a winemaker. Stop putting those solid corks in your carboys, or if you cant resist the urge at least post a picture of when it blows and gets stuck in the ceiling Very cool you got your grandads carboys, anything plastic you might want to replace if they are older. Step one to more predictable is a hydrometer so you know what is going on with the sugar in the wine, step 2 is an acid test kit so you know what is going on with the acid levels, step 3 is to start building wine racks right NOW to store all your new wines. 30 carboys to fill every year takes a lot of room to store the finished stuff. WVMJ

 

[Runningwolf]

Welcome aboard!

 

[JohnT]

Here is a couple of things to try/consider...

- your problem with rubber stoppers flying off is understandable. The amount of sugar in the juice causes a very aggressive fermentation. The gas being produced (CO2) needs to escape. Most folks like to go with an open fermentation where they put the juice in a new, plastic "primary" fermenter (I use a brand called BRUT which is food safe) and just cover it with a sheet of plastic. The gas easily escapes and also forms a "positive pressure" blanket of CO2 that protects the wine. Open ferment also allows for some O2 to enter the mix which is vital for good yeast development.

Using the hydrometer (and yes, I also suggest that you get one), you should rack the wine into a carboy once it falls below a specific gravity of 1.0.

You make no mention of the yeast you use or if you also use any form of yeast nutrient. I recommend that you use both.

 

[BigFatPaulie]

Thanks everyone! It's not the least bit overwhelming. I love doing it even when I ruined a batch last year. It's a blast learning this. I don't use any plastic carboys. All glass.

As far as storage I have a whole basement I'll post pics later. I won't be filling all 30 anytime soon but I'm going to do as many as I can.

I'll get the hydrometer this weekend. I live in Collingswood NJ. Down the street from Brew Your Own Bottle in Westmont which I think some of you are familiar with. I think I saw a group buy from them on here.

-Brian

 

[BigFatPaulie]

My setup...barrels empty right now. Just it from my uncle

 

[homesteader26]

You have been left a little treasure!! You will learn a lot here and grow in your wine making and I look forward to learning and growing with you!! Good luck and welcome!!

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

I dont like those corked carboys, a little temperature change to warm the wine up a little and the gas expands and pop its out of there. There are Dry no air airlocks that let the gas out but keep out the oxygen if you dont like checking the airlocks. You might have a few things to unlearn a little to make your wines more predictiable in turning out. Of course there are some people who just want to make a lot of wine the very easiest way they can and others who want to make the best they can make. All those empty carboy yearned to be filled but one thing you can do with them now is say you make a double batch, one you bottle in a year, the other you leave in the carboy to bulk age for a couple of years, maybe with a little bit of oak cubes in it, just sitting in the back row slowly aging while you are enjoying the earlier batch. Cool uncle to bring you a barrel, was it used before? WVMJ

 

[BigFatPaulie]

i don't mind air locks but when you say checking them. What am I checking for? I thought when the air locks stop burping It was ok to switch to a cork. Could I leave them on until I'm ready to bottle?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Yes you can leave your airlock on them for as long as you want, dont forget to check that water level, I try to do a check every week just to be extra sure, or use a waterless airlock, I put one on some cider as it would be more likely to oxidize than our reds and its doing just fine under a waterless airlock. Using an airlock also allows your wine to degass naturally, something it cant do when trapped under a cork.

This list really thrives when we get a bunch of newbies, seems we have a good crop this year, you guys are asking good questions so keep it up.

WVMJ

i don't mind air locks but when you say checking them. What am I checking for? I thought when the air locks stop burping It was ok to switch to a cork. Could I leave them on until I'm ready to bottle?

 

[BigFatPaulie]

Great to know thanks. I'd rather leave the airlocks on.

 

[JimmyT]

I'm a big fan of the waterless airlocks. Every time I do a new batch or rack an old one I've been swapping the water airlocks out for the waterless. They cost twice as much but well worth me not having to remember to check my airlocks (I'm very forgetful). I still use the water filled airlocks for my primary bucket when I do a kit. Fresh fruit (non kits) batches I usually have a loose lid to stir atleast twice a day.

 

[Dhaynes]

Never buy just one hydrometer. They are fragile and very easy to break. The weird thing is that the more you have, the fewer you break. We would order one or two spares and go through them very quickly. Then I ordered 5 at one time and didn't break another one for almost a year.


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