Help with wow

[country joe]

I have 4 cartons of white grape and 4 of orange, can i brew this in a 5 gallon plastic carboy, then transfer to demijohns
or would I have to use 4 demijohns right from the start.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Starting it off in the carboy is the best way. It'll give you a gallon of head space to play with - WOWs tend to produce a heavy "head" during the first week or so. WOWs also throw a fairly heavy sediment, so don't rack it into the DJs for at least a month. That will give the sediment time to compact.

 

[country joe]

Thanks for that, will do.

 

[country joe]

When I made it it in demijohns you had to add water to the neck of the demijohn, how much water would you recommend I add to the carboy.
as i said I will be making with 4 orange and 4 grape.

 

[oldbloke]

None. Leave topping up until you've racked it to the demis later on.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

None. Leave topping up until you've racked it to the demis later on.

This will save you from cleaning up the mess when it breaches containment. Speaking from experience on that one!

 

[country joe]

It was 4 orange, and 4 grape I added three and a half bags of sugar, was this too much, its fairly bubbling away., but as said because its in the carboy its not bubbling over.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Moleys wurzels orange wine thread suggests using 800g of sugar with one carton of orange and one of WGJ, that would work out at 4000g for 5 gallons, you have added 3500g (assuming they are Kilo bags) so it will be fine.

 

[country joe]

my Wow has been bubbling for 13 days but stopped today, 14th day.
Did a Hydrometer reading and it was 40 on the red, it say start beer, has fermentation stopped,
or is it stuck, any ideas what i should do next, would it be okay to carry on to the next stage, which is add campden tablets?

 

[country joe]

Anyone help, tried a search but no luck.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

This is the scale you need to read -

 

[country joe]

its 1,040, should i make up more yeat in a cup of water and add.
i thought you should be looking for 1,000 or 1,010, can it still be alright at 1,040, will the wine end up good to drink?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

At 1040 i would be surprised if it has stopped, leave it a couple of days and check again.

You need to let it get down to 995 or a bit lower which will be dry then back sweeten after it has been stabilised.

Back-Sweetening from Moleys WOW guide.

As I’ve said before, a hydrometer takes out the guesswork. For a guide, 0.990 is dry, 0.995 is medium-dry, 1.000 is medium, 1.005 is medium-sweet and 1.010 is sweet. If you don’t have a hydrometer yet, just take a sip. Your wine will be young and sharp with no finesse whatsoever but you should be able to tell where it falls on that range. To sweeten between each step requires about 2 oz or 60g of sugar, so from dry to medium needs 4 oz, 120g. Boil the sugar in a minimal amount of water, allow to cool, add it to your wine and shake gently. Alternatively, I prefer to just sweeten from dry to medium-dry, and would add about 250ml of white grape juice.

 

[country joe]

Thanks Chippy, if it does not move any after a few days, what can I do?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Can you make a list of what you used to make the wine.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

What temperature is it at? The ideal range is 18-21C. Lower than that and fermentation could pause or cease. Higher than that and you'll get increasing levels of fusel oils, which are responsible for hangovers.

Add some yeast nutrient, stir well and leave in a warm place for a few days.

Some yeasts will ferment at temperatures below 18C. Gervin 5 will go down as far as 8C, for example. So if you can't be sure of having a stable temperature, that might be a good choice for future WOWs.

 

[country joe]

4 litres white grape juice,
4 litres Orange juice,
4 times 800g sugar,
2 teaspoons tannin,
4 teaspoons pectolase
20mls glycerine,
4 teaspoons yeast nutrient,
4 teaspoons yeast

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I was hoping your list didn't include nutrient but as it does that rules that out.

You say it bubbled for 13 days and stopped today (day 14) mine slow down over a period of days and when they get to one bubble every couple of minutes i then leave them for 7 days then stabilise them, i have never had one bubbling on one day then totally stopped the next.

As i said earlier give it a couple of days and see if it has dropped further.

I have always used youngs super wine yeast compound and have never had one finish early, may be worth a try for your next one.

Another tip for the next one is only use 1 teaspoon of yeast in a 5 gallon brew you don't need to multiply it by 5.