Questions Re: Primary Fermentation

jharmon52 · Mar 11, 2017

I'm on Day 7 of my wine-making. Time to rack the wine to the carboy. My SG is already at .996. Is it possible for the SG to be too low? If so, what can I do to increase it?

After I rack, the instructions tell me to wait 5-10 days and SG under 1.00 before I re-rack, stabilize and clear it. With my SG already under 1.00, should I still wait at least 5 days? Can the SG increase, or always go lower at this point?

Thank you in advance.

Scooter68 · Mar 11, 2017

The SG will go as low as .990 and yes it will always go lower unless you add a sweetener to it now. (Not recommended normally)

Rack now and keep taking measurements. If this is a kit and the directions tell you to stabilize and clear it when the SG is under 1.00, then they apparently want you to not let it go all the way dry (SG of .990) It's up to you by the time you read this it will probably getting pretty close to .990. Does the kit have a backsweetening or "F-Pack" to add to it? You don't say what type of wine this is and that would help. I'm not a grape wine guy so the others with lots of grape wine experience can talk you through what normally works best for a particular type of wine.

jburtner · Mar 11, 2017

Hi, your SG is fine now. It just means that it is done fermenting. With winemaking you can almost always wait and things will turn out better. In this case though since your wine has completed fermentation and is no longer producing CO2 you will want to rack to carboy and add kmeta to protect it from oxidation. Keep it topped up with minimal headspace to protect it from oxidation.

Read through the forums a bit and you'll see that most are going to recommend long term aging and settling in the carboy.

Welcome to WMT and cheers!
-johann

jharmon52 · Mar 11, 2017

Thank you

I'm making Merlot. Your responses were very helpful.

Jim

Floandgary · Mar 11, 2017

At this point your fermentation is nearly complete. Let it go till readings are the same for 2-3 days (.990-.992 typically as low as it will get). Rack to secondary (carboy), dose with K-meta, add airlock. If you wish to back-sweeten (BTW what type of wine??), wait 1 day then stabilize with Potassium Sorbate . Wait another day then sweeten with your choice. G'luck...