Started

[mainshipfred]

I just went and checked it and the airlock is bubbling like crazy. Should I wait for it to slow down before I check it with the hydrometer? Is there such a thing as disturbing it too much while it’s fermenting? I guess you can see my excitement is overriding my patience.

You could check it but there is no need to. You may possible want to stir it though.

 

[Scooter68]

Once a day checks should not be problem with good sanitation practices. That's where a towel cover is so handy. Easy off and on. Until your CO2 levels drops off to nothing new generated (End of fermentation) a towel/cloth cover or the lid will protect it. Just sanitize your sampling container, drawing device, and the hydrometer before and after use each time.

You don't have to check it every day if the evidence is so strong as you mention, you can let it go. I would just note the time between bubbling (standard 3 piece airlocks do that nicely) or rate of bubbling and when it starts to drop off, then check it. The 3 day rule of thumb works well in determining the end of fermentation = When the SG doesn't change for 3 days in a row and the SG is below 1.000 then fermentation is over. The only exception would be a very slow progressing ferment at cooler temps. BUT you don't have that worry.

 

[Intheswamp]

Yeasties...he's hooked!!!! Reel'im in!!!!!!!!!

Folks say that bubbling airlocks don't tell you anything about a fermentation but when there's a steady stream of bubbles going on in primary...well, what else could be causing that other than a good fermentation? But, I'm a newbie, too, so that thought is worth exactly what you paid for it.

You know a good fermentation is going on, back before hydrometers and airlocks were created I'm sure some peasant in some medieval village was tickled pink to see a frothing, foaming must. You could check it to see how far it has progressed or you could probably wait a day or so. If nothing else you could log the reading for comparison to future fermentations. As much activity as is going on you might run into a lot of bubbles.

Your call. You're the vinter!

 

[cmason1957]

Bubbles coming out do tell you something, as you say, what else could it be. It is the lack of bubbles that doesn't really tell you anything, that air could be coming out somewhere else. Also rate of bubbles isn't a good indication of fermentation progress for the same reason. Hydrometers don't lie very often, bubble counting does.

 

[Ajmassa]

Bubbles coming out do tell you something, as you say, what else could it be. It is the lack of bubbles that doesn't really tell you anything, that air could be coming out somewhere else. Also rate of bubbles isn't a good indication of fermentation progress for the same reason. Hydrometers don't lie very often, bubble counting does.

No bubbles yet still fermenting AND also the possibility of airlock continuing to bubble from residual co2 in spite of a completed fermentation.

 

[Intheswamp]

With almost a steady stream of bubbles it just seems like there has to be yeast activity going on. When it hits a peak and then starts slowing down or comes to a complete halt then it seems you would move into the gray area of "is it?" or "isn't it?" still fermenting...and that's when the hydrometer rules out the "seems like" and puts fact back into the process.

Just an uneducated newbie here sharing my thoughts.

 

[Ajmassa]

With almost a steady stream of bubbles it just seems like there has to be yeast activity going on. When it hits a peak and then starts slowing down or comes to a complete halt then it seems you would move into the gray area of "is it?" or "isn't it?" still fermenting...and that's when the hydrometer rules out the "seems like" and puts fact back into the process.

Just an uneducated newbie here sharing my thoughts.

Agreed. And during that peak you’d also get the same confirmation simply by looking at it.

The whole thing with the bubbles tho I feel like is just contributing to a larger issue however. Which is people having an unnatural fear of O2. Content to gauge by the bubbling will make ya want to avoid popping the lid which will ultimately brainwash new winemakers to fear exposing the wine.

 

[Intheswamp]

But, if the new winemaker understands that putting more oxygen into the must will encourage more bubbles then it might actually encourage them to stir. Just thinking outside the airlock...

 

[Ajmassa]

Yeah not everyone thinks like you. Or at all. And I don’t blame them really. They’re simply making wine for fun and not obsessed like us nerds lol.
Just following instructions/recipes/‘what my father-in-law told me’, without thought. Have an issue. End up here.

Btw that ^^ was me. The other extreme. I had NO regard for O2 learning from my family’s old style winemaking. By the time I was old enough to start asking “why this? Why that?” all the answers were ‘That’s what they did so that’s what I do”. I ended up with mycoderma. Sought advice here. Been here ever since.

 

[Johnd]

I just went and checked it and the airlock is bubbling like crazy. Should I wait for it to slow down before I check it with the hydrometer? Is there such a thing as disturbing it too much while it’s fermenting? I guess you can see my excitement is overriding my patience.

You can check it whenever you like while it's fermenting. The vast quantities of CO2 being produced protect the wine from oxygen, no worries. Do be aware that when you put your hydrometer into the must, you need to read the SG pretty quickly, as CO2 bubbles will begin adhering to it and causing it to float higher and higher, giving you a bad reading. Try spinning the hydrometer like a top, this will keep the bubbles off of it while it settles in, you'll be able to read it pretty accurately as it slows.

 

[Intheswamp]

Yeah not everyone thinks like you. Or at all. And I don’t blame them really. They’re simply making wine for fun and not obsessed like us nerds lol.
Just following instructions/recipes/‘what my father-in-law told me’, without thought. Have an issue. End up here.

Btw that ^^ was me. The other extreme. I had NO regard for O2 learning from my family’s old style winemaking. By the time I was old enough to start asking “why this? Why that?” all the answers were ‘That’s what they did so that’s what I do”. I ended up with mycoderma. Sought advice here. Been here ever since.

Sounds like the makings for a blockbuster hit movie..."The Mycoderma and Me".

I do tend to think that I'm a bit OCD about somethings...especially reading and studying and researching until my eyes are crossed and I"m sure I have the method/project/understanding/etc completely, without a doubt discombobulated.

 

[Intheswamp]

You can check it whenever you like while it's fermenting. The vast quantities of CO2 being produced protect the wine from oxygen, no worries. Do be aware that when you put your hydrometer into the must, you need to read the SG pretty quickly, as CO2 bubbles will begin adhering to it and causing it to float higher and higher, giving you a bad reading. Try spinning the hydrometer like a top, this will keep the bubbles off of it while it settles in, you'll be able to read it pretty accurately as it slows.

John, I hadn't even thought about the longer the hydrometer sits in the wine the more bubbles attach to it...another nugget.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

Garage smells like wine.

 

[Scooter68]

John, I hadn't even thought about the longer the hydrometer sits in the wine the more bubbles attach to it...another nugget.

Yup with an active ferment I always drop the hydrometer into the testing tube with a spin. If it sits there very long before I read it, I give it another spin. I think of it the way the old paper straws would rise up out of soda as the gas bubbles attached to them.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

I’ll have to try the spin on my next reading.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

Been six days. Down to 1.048.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

I am around half way through fermentation. Do I need to add Go-ferm and Fermaid-k to my must. It is a kit wine.

 

[Intheswamp]

Go-Ferm is for re-hydration of the yeast before it is pitched, if I'm not mistaken.

I don't think it will hurt anything to add the Fermaid-K...1/2 sugar break might give the yeast a last "hoorah" on the downhill side.

 

[Johnd]

No use in the GoFerm, as mentioned, it’s for rehydrating. You’re doing a kit, presumably with EC 1118, which isn’t a nutrient hog, and most kits come with nutrients on board. Unless you are instructed to add nutrients, or have added a lot of extra fruit / sugar, I don’t think you need to.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

Thanks. Yes it is EC 1118.