Yellow Plum wine attempt

[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[Stressbaby]

Rhyno,

To be honest, I am a little fearful that you bottled too soon. This wine is only 6 weeks old!

I could have missed it but I didn't see that you stabilized the wine. At a SG of 1.022 you still have considerable sugar in that wine and if it is cloudy, without stabilization, it is could very well continue to ferment. I can't see a G2 bottle holding the pressure.

If this were my wine, I would dump it all back in a carboy, make sure my sulfite levels were high enough, cover it up so it didn't get any light, and sit on my hands for another 4 months (rack 1-2 in between). Make the dragon blood if you want something to drink, you can drink that in 2-3 weeks.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[Stressbaby]

Hi Rhyno,

Let's take a look at what you've got here...
You have a 6-8 week old wine which is not clear, still dropping sediment, with a sky-high SG, and which is not stabilized.
The only way to know that fermentation is done is to find a stable, unchanged SG <1.000 over several days. However, looking back, you watered this down to 1.120 and now you are at 1.018. That is 13.4% ABV, well within the tolerance of 1116. In fact, in my view, your pic confirms; those little vertical dark lines in the top layer of lees are tracks made from CO2 bubbles coming up from within the lees. It is still fermenting.
And now you have "bottled" in G2 bottles.

Time to get back to basics. Working backwards, you can't assure it won't referment at the current SG without stabilizing; you can't stabilize until it is clear; it won't clear until it is done fermenting.
Again, my advice is to dump everything back in a carboy, make sure it is dosed with Kmeta (1/4t/5 gallons or 1 Campden/gallon if you have not dosed it recently), and sit on your hands for 60 days.

 

[GreginND]

Thanks, Stressbaby. I was just going back to try to follow this from the beginning and give a reply. I agree with what you have said. But with all the adjustments early on I'm not sure we have a good idea about the alcohol. It looks like he started with 1.160 or somewhere around there. Another measurement after that was closer to 1.140 and then he added water to ~1.120. My guess is the alcohol is closer to ~15% but I don't think we'll ever know for sure.

My advice also - pour everything into a topped up carboy under air lock. Dose it with potassium metabisulfite (0.4 g per gallon or 1 campden tablet per gallon). Let it sit for a couple of months and then rack it off the sediments. Hopefully fermentation will be done by then. If there is still residual sugar (SG is 1.000 or higher) I would stabilize it with potassium sorbate and another dose of sulfite. Then wait EVEN LONGER (1-2 months) until it is absolutely clear and you know it is not fermenting. Then go ahead and bottle it.

And, Rhyno - those pH test strips are very inaccurate. I would not rely on them for exact pH. Regarding the acid, I guess I just would't worry about it. You did add some acid along the way and the plums have some acid already. So I would think your wine is in a perfectly fine range.

 

[Stressbaby]

Greg,
You may be right about the ABV, I didn't go back to check to see whether the water additions were made before or after he pitched the yeast.

Rhyno,
One more thing...we suggested pouring everything back into a carboy...however, I don't think you need to dump all of that sediment that you show in that last pic back into the carboy. It would be OK to get some of the fine lees just to be sure fermentation doesn't slow down, but you don't need the heavy sediment I see there. I have found when moving from primary to secondary, that if I'm a little sloppy about the fine lees that I get better finish to the fermentation in the secondary. Just my 2 cents.

 

[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[CBell]

You added campden before fermentation. This prevents wild yeast and allows only the yeast strain you choose to ferment your wine.

You need to add it again when fermentation is done to stabilize the wine. So, if you have not added it since before fermentation, you need to add it again.

 

[CBell]

Once you do that, you have GOT to leave this wine alone. Put it in a corner and forget about it for a few months. I just read through this entire thread, and I know that this is an exciting new hobby for you, and I'm glad you're so excited, but you NEED to get out of your own way. It seems as though you need to be doing something to the wine every few days or you get antsy. You need to just be patient and not touch the wine for at LEAST a month.

 

[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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[RhynoMakingWineO]

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