Racked Too Soon

MarkeyMark80 · Oct 27, 2024

I picked up a 6gal bucket of Zinfandel juice on 9/26. Let it sit overnight to allow the temperature come up, and measured the SG the next day. I measured 1.090. I rehydrated the yeast the next day using Go-Ferm and followed the instructions from MoreWine on adding the yeast mixture to the juice. On 10/2 i checked the SG again and thought I read 1.005 which I thought was too low for such a short fermentation time, but hey, I'm pretty new at this stuff. Racked to a carboy on 10/4. Airlock bung would not stay in place as the pressure kept pushing it out. This has happened before so I was not too concerned. On 10/15 I noticed the pressure had pushed to bung out to the point where the airlock was still on the carboy but listing to one side. Gave the bung a hard push and this time it stayed in place. Level on one side of the airlock was very close to the top but never went over. The liquid levels in the airlock have stayed that way until today before I took another SG measurement(10/27). Today the SG was 0.996 and when I replaced to bung the airlock still showed significant pressure differential but not quite to the same degree as before measuriing. Thinking back to the 1.005 measurement, and studying the hydrometer more closely, I believe the actual number was 1.050on 10/2. This is the first batch in which I used a hydrometer. Like I said I am still on the steep part of the learning curve. There were also circles on the top of the juice and I have attached a picture. I believe they were just large bubbles as they disappered after testing with the hydrometer. My plan is to let this go another 2 months than rack to another carboy. Should I do that sooner? Any other thoughts or advice? Thanks.

Jusatele · Oct 27, 2024

I do have a few questions, first, do you adjust the reading to how the temperature level is?
Second, how long was the first fermentation before taking a reading
I am glad you are taking so many notes
Fermentation can take different times for the temp of the must. the warmer the faster, it also affects the taste a bit.
The bubbles look ok, before the first rack the bubbles are a foam on top, after the rack the fermentation is not that fast so there is not much of bubbles
If you did rack too soon you slowed down the primary and that is just part of that steep curve.
Instead of trying to fix the wine. keep taking notes, just have more patience. Remember the curve flattens out with each batch you make.

Rice_Guy · Oct 27, 2024

There are many ways to make wine. As noted above temperature plays a major role in how fast a ferment runs. I have run 85F and finished in three days. Counting from the 28th six days is believable if it was warm. Temperature is a choice, whites tend to do better with lower temps / slower ferments.
When you rack is a choice. With whites racking at 1.045 to 1.050 is the suggestion in the wine club. Reds can also get racked at 1.045 to 1.050. BUT if you are running skins it would reduce extraction so it isn’t normal.
I encourage you to look for a purpose for racking. To rack when a lot of the gas is done and gross solids have precipitated makes sense. Say 30 days after the primary. Racking again for fine lees at 3 months then might look good. Shine a light through, ,,, How does it look? On my part I discourage racking based on calendar, look at what the wine is doing. By the way each racking gets 50ppm of meta.

Garagista · Oct 28, 2024

My .02.
I think you are fine. If you did not add any SO2 (meta-bisulfite) to your juice, it will continue to ferment until all the sugar is gone or the yeast are killed by the alcohol level. You can rack it wherever you want or cork it however you want - at a good temperature, the yeast will do what yeast do.

winechef · Oct 28, 2024

Racking wouldn't hurt, you're basically doing a closed fermentation, takes longer and you might need to stir to give some oxygen.

if the off gas is too strong it will. push your bung, I tend to tape them down.

I usually do closed fermentation for whites

as stated before take temperature reading, ph and gravity readings every day during fermentation.

MarkeyMark80 · Oct 30, 2024

Jusatele said:
I do have a few questions, first, do you adjust the reading to how the temperature level is?
Second, how long was the first fermentation before taking a reading
I am glad you are taking so many notes
Fermentation can take different times for the temp of the must. the warmer the faster, it also affects the taste a bit.
The bubbles look ok, before the first rack the bubbles are a foam on top, after the rack the fermentation is not that fast so there is not much of bubbles
If you did rack too soon you slowed down the primary and that is just part of that steep curve.
Instead of trying to fix the wine. keep taking notes, just have more patience. Remember the curve flattens out with each batch you make.

I took the first SG reading before pitching any yeast and the liquid temp was 64F, so did make a minor adjustment to the reading on the hydrometer. I took the second reading five days into the first fermentation. It was this reading that I believe to be 1.050. Measured the temperature in my basement at 68F. After 3 weeks in the carboy the SG was 0.996, and as of today, after almost 4 weeks the airlock still shows good positive pressure coming from the liquid side.