My first wine kit

[Hoyle468]

Hi all

I got my first wine kit a couple of weeks ago and got it brewing last Friday 7th September I followed the instructions and everything went well

Over the last couple of days the bubbles slowed and last night they had almost stopped in the instructions it says test if bubbles are less than one a minuet so I opened it up and the hydrometer reading was good the only thing that's bothering me is it's only been brewing for 11 days and it should take 20 to 25 days according to the instructions so i put the lid and bubble trap back but it does seem to have stopped fermenting

Anyone got any advice

Thanks
Steve

 

[RobWalker]

Instructions are a good guideline but take them with a pinch of salt - it may very well finish in 11 days, especially when it's humid.

The foolproof test is to take the gravity a few days later and see if it's the same. If so, it's probably stopped. If you've got another vessel/DJ, I'd transfer it off the stuff at the bottom into a fresh one and give it a while. Wine is all about patience :thumb:

 

[GREBO75]

It's been quite warm lately, so your yeasties were probably partying like crazying, they seem to be cold blooded like fish, and are definitely more active when it's warm.

What ready did you get on hydrometer? If it's somewhere around 0.995 then you can be pretty sure most of the sugar has been used up.

 

[Hoyle468]

Instructions are a good guideline but take them with a pinch of salt - it may very well finish in 11 days, especially when it's humid.

The foolproof test is to take the gravity a few days later and see if it's the same. If so, it's probably stopped. If you've got another vessel/DJ, I'd transfer it off the stuff at the bottom into a fresh one and give it a while. Wine is all about patience :thumb:

Thanks for the advice I have another fermenter that I cleaned last night I was going to transfer it last night but thought I better ask first when I do should I put a bubble trap on the new fermenter?

 

[Hoyle468]

It's been quite warm lately, so your yeasties were probably partying like crazying, they seem to be cold blooded like fish, and are definitely more active when it's warm.

What ready did you get on hydrometer? If it's somewhere around 0.995 then you can be pretty sure most of the sugar has been used up.

Yet it was at 0.995

 

[GREBO75]

when I do should I put a bubble trap on the new fermenter?

If your fermenter is a glass demijohn then yes. You might still have a little fermentation going on and glass dj's really aren't designed to take much pressure.

Yet it was at 0.995

In that case your fermentation is indeed pretty much finished. You might still get a little bit more, but not much.