Noob Needs Help

[growblogs]

Hello all, complete noob here. I started a wine an ale and wine kit 8 days ago. Followed the instructions to a tee. Unfortunatly the next day I had to make an unplanned trip away. 7 Days later i return home to find there had been a leek in the heating system so heating not working. The brew buckets had been sitting at about 20oC i believe for most of the 7 days. There wine was bubbling the ale not and both have 0 alcohol reading. Are they both ruined or is there anything I can do to rectify the problem ?

Thanks in advance for any help you could give.

Chris

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Hi Chris, Please slow down.
Explain what kits you`ve made
"0" reading???
Slow down take your time and Im sure we can sort any probs out.
P.S welcome to the site.

 

[growblogs]

haha thanks Johnny.

The wine was Solomon Grundy Medium Dry Red

The Ale is Woodfordes NOG real Ale

When i said no reading i meant that the hydromoter doesn't float in the trial jar.

As you have noticed im not 100% with brewing terminology.

Thanks for your reply

 

[Lesinge]

Have you got enough liquid in the trial jar..does it hit the bottom? Have you tried it with water and filled to the top? This will give you an idea of whether it actually works. If there was no alcahol but sugar present it would float higher..

 

[growblogs]

yes ive tried the hydrooter in water and its reading 1, i also tried a second hydromoter and same. The hydromoter, when put into the wine and ale, is hitting the bottom.

thanks

 

[Zephyr259]

7 days at 20c and they should be fine. How does the beer taste? I don't have much experience with wine but it's probably not done yet, especially if it's still bubbling.

 

[MmmBeer]

yes ive tried the hydrooter in water and its reading 1, i also tried a second hydromoter and same. The hydromoter, when put into the wine and ale, is hitting the bottom.

thanks

If its hitting the bottom of the jar, its indicating that the density is low, i.e. lots of alcohol, little sugar left, so the yeast has converted the sugar to alcohol.

...However, don't be tempted to bottle either yet, the yeast continues to be active and consumes some of the fermentation by-products, which could give off-flavors in the finished product if left. Give it a few more days, or ideally a week.

 

[growblogs]

Thanks for all your help I plan to get reading this forum all weekend and picking up more tips and advice

 

[xozzx]

Sounds like you need a taller trial jar, or you need to fill it higher.

20C sounds a decent temperature to ferment these, the wine could take a little longer, I would normally do a wine kit at 22, but you wont do it any harm fermenting at 20.

The Nog is an awesome beer, it was my second brew ever (first good one) and have been hooked on brewing since that one. I was also worrying about everything way to much the first few brews but got alot of good advice off this forum.

 

[xozzx]

Also, the kits will tell you to ferment for 5-7 days or something similar then bottle... I would leave them for at least 2 weeks before bottling, the beer will taste alot better and far less risk of bottle bombs. You can leave for even longer if you have the patience....

 

[Grendel]

What the hell happened in the end? You get a good story going then just nothing..now I can’t sleep

 

[Bobtheblob]

Growblogs - last seen nearly three years ago. I guess we'll never find out...

 

[Grendel]

Here’s my take...everything worked. In fact, it worked TOO well. The hangover is still raging to this day