WineXpert Wine Expert Wildberry Shiraz

[jdeere5220]

I started the W.E. Wildberry Shiraz 3 1/2 weeks ago. This kit uses Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast.

I made simple syrup to up the starting SG to 1.070. My question is, after 26 days, I'm still actively fermenting. Anyone think this is a problem?

I can see several streams of bubbles rising along the side/top of the carboy when I shine my flashlight on it, and I have a ring of bubbles around the neck of the carboy. My SG is now .991, and has been for about a week.

Should I just let it run, or should I go ahead and stabilize and add the clarifiers?

Second question: Does maeolic (sp?) fermentation produce CO2?

 

[jdeere5220]

Thanks RDavidP, that makes sense!

 

[jdeere5220]

Yes on the temperature. I had one a few weeks ago that I couldn't get below 0.998 so I've gone through all the 'maybe it's this' scenarious and checked my hydrometer accuracy as well. Lazy yeast I guess

I added 5-cups sugar and roughly 1/2 the F-pack at the start, to get the SG up to 1.070. Hopefully I didn't over-do it.

I'm going to check it again tonight and if no changes I'm going to de-gass and stabilize and back-sweeten. It's always a good day when their is "wine stuff" to do!

 

[michaelharris]

Hi guys,

There is not any kind of prob rather that's great u are to do,u should stabilize it.Maeolic might have been sp as i m not sure about it ,there's no harm in so enjoy with it.


Thanks


Regards
Michael Harris

 

[Chateau Joe]

I recently finished this kit but I didn't bump up the alcohol content like you did. It is one of my favorites!

 

[jdeere5220]

Nice to hear. Mine is looking really clear. It's a week early, so I think I'll rack it off the sediment tomorrow and bottle it next weekend if I don't see any more dust.

 

[jdeere5220]

I racked the wine off the sediment a couple days ago, and had a small sample. It tastes really really good. Now I just don't want to mess up the bottling. My biggest problem is getting all the wine without getting any sediment, so far I've always managed to get some sediment in the last few bottles. Is there a trick to this?

When I racked off the thick sediment I got just a bit of the sediment right at the end into my new carboy. It settled quickly and now I have some small amount of dust on the bottom of my new carboy. The wine is perfectly clear. How do I bottle this without sucking any of that dust into my bottles?

 

[drizztkun]

I know people here do put wedges under their carboy when it clears so all the sediments settle in one corner, so that when they are bottling they can just tilt it slowly the other way and have free sediment. As for me i filter my wine so this doesnt become an issue never any sediment

 

[Stan]

Started this 3 days ago. smells great. I have the same problem when bottling, get a little sediment in last few bottles no matter how hard I try not to. I guess it will just take more practice.

 

[jdeere5220]

I just bottled mine. Very very tasty. I left the auto-siphon off the bottom of the carboy while bottling, then put the last 1" or whatever was left in the carboy into a "magnum" 1.5L bottle. I did see a little sediment going into there. So I left that bottle sitting for a couple days, then siphoned it into 1 1/2 regular bottles, leaving the last cupful of wine and sediment in the magnum bottle. We corked the full bottle, and drank the 1/2 bottle . A little extra work, but I wasted less than 1 cup of wine and I'm confident I got no sediment in any bottles.

I suspect you will enjoy this, we think it turned out great.

 

[Stan]

Sounds great. Just racked mine from primary. Been going 7 days. Gave it a taste not bad. Hard to get a good idea with all the gas. Added 3 lbs of sugar to mine in primary, hope it turns out. What color was yours at bottling. Right now mine resembles the Blush i just bottled, little darker. does the f-pack add some color.

 

[jdeere5220]

Right now mine resembles the Blush i just bottled, little darker. does the f-pack add some color.

No, the f-pack is clear, looks like corn syrup really. I think it is berry flavored corn syrup to be honest. Mine was also a dark blush, much lighter than either the Blackberry Cab or the Black Rasberrry Merlot. I'm making the pomegranite Zin now, and it already looks slightly darker than the Shiraz.

I think it's good to have all colors

 

[Stan]

Wish I would have made another one of these kits. This goes down way to easy. Everyone loves it.

 

[drizztkun]

mine is really red, not blushed at all

 

[jdensmore]

To stir or not to stir?

This is my very first batch of wine PERIOD, and i just added the clearing agents a week ago, and im seeing a large deposit on the bottom, Should i be stirring this at all? The kit says to plug it and leave it sit? Any help would be very helpful!

 

[jdeere5220]

That's exactly what's supposed to happen. DO NOT STIR. The clearing agents are causing all of the yeast and other fines to settle out, landing on the bottom. The whole point at this stage is to seperate that stuff from your nice clear wine.

The only thing I would add is that rather than trying to bottle this right from that carboy (or racking back to primary as the instructions suggest), I would rack to a clean carboy if you have one after it looks ready to bottle (be careful not to get any sediment, better to lose a tiny bit of wine than to get everything cloudy again), let it set another week, then bottle from there. Nothing is worse than having a bunch of cloudy wine! So take your time and make sure it's nice a clear.

If you don't have another carboy, then rack to the primary on bottling day, but again don't try to get every last drop. The sediment will be pretty thick so keep your racking cane off the bottom and don't jiggle it around a whole lot.

You will enjoy this for sure!

 

[jdensmore]

Thanks for the fast reply! So how high should the sediment be from the bottom? Also where can i get extra glass carboy's, aside from online is there a cheap place that sells them? I really think this is a hobby i will truly enjoy and would like to get more supplies to brew more variety's! Also and this might be off topic but does anyone have any good original recipies for fruit/flower wines?

 

[jdeere5220]

Some kits more than others, I would say for these Island Mist kits you will get about 1/2". It looks like more because it tends to roll up on the bottom corners, but in the middle that's about it. The longer it sits the more it will pack down.

If your racking cane has an "anti sediment tip" that draws the wine in about 1/2" from the end, you can usually gently push that to the bottom without sucking up any sediment. Just move slow.

If you stir it up and get a bunch of sediment in your second carboy no need to panic. Just let it sit another couple of weeks and it will settle right back out again, except this time you will just have a fine dusting.

I buy my carboys at my local Ferment On Premises shop. He sells used ones for I think $22, and new ones for $30 or something like that. You might look on Craig's list and see if someone local is getting out of the hobby.

Good luck!