Other unsweetening a wine

[PeteDrew]

We recently purchased a 21 day pinot grigio wine kit and when we went to siphon it into another barrel it tasted very sweet. Is there anything we can add to unsweeten it or is it just a matter of letting it ferment for longer?

 

[codeman]

Young wines in general taste sweet/fruity. Let it age at least 3 months or more then resample it.

 

[cintipam]

Hopefully there's room for one more opinion. I think you should take an SG reading. My wines don't taste sweet when I put them into secondary. If it reads anything above 1.00 personally I would find a way to ferment longer. If it is already sorbated the only option is to blend it with very dry wine.

Pam in cinti

 

[PeteDrew]

my SG reading was above 1.00 so I transferred it back to the original container and stirred up the sediment to hopefully help it ferment longer.
is there any other way to help it ferment longer or maybe just leave it

 

[cintipam]

You didn't say how far above 1.00 it was.

If it's about 1.010 or below then it's too late to add nutrient etc. SG this low could continue fermenting in the secondary with airlock if kept warm. Make sure it is warm. The initial stir up to mix the yeast around was a good step, but now it is very close to done so if you hear fizzing I'd probably not anymore stir at this point. If the SG hasn't dropped any by tomorrow I'd sprinkle on a little energizer to see if you get any reaction.

If the SG was 1.020 or above, you can do pretty much whatever you need to get it going again. I'd always do some heat and some energizer, good stir see what happens.

Generally I don't rack to secondary till 1.010 or below. Fermentation slows down quite a bit when in an airlocked carboy, but usually will continue till dry.

Pam in cinti

 

[PeteDrew]

It was around the 1.040 mark yesterday but has dropped to 1.020 today, it has an airlock and is in a warm place so hopefully by tomorrow or the day after we should be ok
many thanks for your help

 

[cintipam]

That is waaay too high to transfer to secondary. You would probably have a wine volcano on your hands. I've had a few when I transferred at 1.020. Anyway keep it warm, keep stirring twice a day til it hits 1.010 at the highest, then transfer to secondary. If you're doing a kit the instructions will hopefully say something like on day 5 or when SG is below 1.020. The most critical is always the SG.

REally glad it seems to have kicked back up for you. Sometimes disturbing the yeast can set you up for a stalled fermentation.

Pam in cinti

 

[richmke]

How many days after pitching the yeast did you "siphon it into another barrel it tasted very sweet"?

If it dropped .02 SG in one day, it is fermenting nicely. Give it a few more days.

 

[PeteDrew]

it was after 14 days as the instructions said, they didn't give me a SG reading on the instructions.
will it still ferment even tho the stabiliser has been added?

 

[grapeman]

What brand was this? That is horrible to tell you to transfer after a number of days and not a certain specific gravity.

 

[garymc]

I thought that's what kits did. On day such and such you transfer, day such and such you stabilize, day such and such you bottle and voila! You have wine to drink in 21 days!

 

[peaches9324]

Yea but you have to remember their into the business of selling and the faster you have your wine bottled the faster you need to buy another kit

 

[PeteDrew]

It is a wilkinson a own brand, 21 day kit, we are relatively new to this its trial and error at the moment.
We usually use the wine buddy or Solomon Grundy which have turned out fine, we'll stick to those in future