Horrible gunk in my wine

[Lord Shiplane]

Hello

I am new to wine and beer making so forgive me if this question has been asked before. I started a Wilko wine kit and horrible gunk formed almost immediately after I added the yeast and Nutrafine into the demijohn yesterday. There has not been much bubbling through the airlock or in the liquid but I think there is a reasonable seal as the water has been pushed to the outside showing there is some positive pressure inside.
The temperature stared off at 18°C but I put it on an electric under rug mat and it has been 22°C 20 hours.
The gunk on the bottom of the demijohn is 10mm deep and there are clumps of it floating at the top.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The gunk on the bottom of the demijohn is 10mm deep and there are clumps of it floating at the top.

Did the kit require adding sugar if it did how did you dissolve it?

There has not been much bubbling through the airlock or in the liquid but I think there is a reasonable seal as the water has been pushed to the outside showing there is some positive pressure inside.

24 hours isn't really enough time for fermentation to get going properly it will over the next couple of days.

 

[Lord Shiplane]

Yes I added sugar following the instructions "Empty the contents of the can (grape concentrate) into a sterilises glass demijohn, then add 1.8 litres of cold water and 450g of brewing sugar (I used dextrose) swirling the demijohn carefully."

 

[Cwrw666]

Try googling images of wine fermenting in demijohns. That will most likely answer your questions.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If you only swirled the sugar in cold water not much of it will have desolved the yeast will find it so no worries, having made the kits before ignore the instructions when they say top up on day 3 leave it another day or two or it may come out of the airlock and leave a bit of space for when you degas it later.
You can top up to the neck later when you move onto clearing.

 

[Lord Shiplane]

Hi there Chippy Tea, I read your post after day three and had already added the extra water (without much hope as that made it even more muddy), but hurrah, this morning, it has started to gas regularly and the mud is beginning to go. I will put the demijohn in a baking tray to catch anything that comes out of the airlock but at the moment there is about half a litre of space left at the top.

 

[Lord Shiplane]

Hi there Cwrw666, are you the welsh beer devil?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I will put the demijohn in a baking tray to catch anything that comes out of the airlock but at the moment there is about half a litre of space left at the top

Better safe than sorry. :thumba: