Still fermenting?

[tykesi]

Hi all,

After doing a couple of beer kits I bought a couple of cheap wine kits in a sale at Tesco recently.

I've started a '7 Day' Merlot kit which as it's name suggests should be ready for bottling in seven days. Sitting at between 16 & 19 degrees it is now on day 17 and still producing a bubble every three seconds through the blow off tube. Is this to be expected considering the temp (the kit says to ferment between 21 & 25 degrees)?

Pretty sure it's nothing to worry about but just wanted to check there's nothing wrong.

 

[chewie]

The lower the temp the longer the fermentation will take, kit wines are somewhat optimistic in there timescales so don't be to worried, do use a hydrometer though to get a reading and stop the fermentation when it reaches the gravity reading they recommend (probably around .995).

 

[brewmandan]

The only way you can know for sure when its done is when you have had 2 days of the same reading on your hydrometer.
My wine isn't bubbling much (15 days) but i still haven't reached my goal ABV yet and fermentation is still ongoing.

 

[tykesi]

Great, thanks. I'll get the hydrometer out tonight and give it a test. Ashamed to say I never thought of that despite doing it on my beers. Ah well, I'm learning!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Let us know how its going.

 

[GB2014]

My house is pretty cold and I have the same thing. Ideally just wait however long it takes until it stops fermenting before proceeding to the next step.

 

[tykesi]

Well I needed room and kit for my Christmas ale so I've taken the next step on the Merlot. Hydrometer reading was almost bang on 1.000 so degassed by multiple syphonings then added the stabiliser and finings last night. All being well it will be bottled tonight if clear enough otherwise I'll leave it a little while longer, there was a nice layer of sediment on the bottom of the DJ this morning.

All seemed to go ok although a couple of the goes at syphoning the tube wasn't always submerged so may have added some oxygen, how likely is this to affect the quality of the wine?

 

[chewie]

I wouldn't be to worried about the air as long as you aren't introducing a lot of it, if you degassed before you added stabiliser there will still be a small presence of co2, your wine at 1.0 might be a tad on the sweet side still though (this is a personal taste thing though), for degassing make or buy yourself a degasser, you just stick it into a cordless drill and its done in a couple of minutes.

 

[tykesi]

I wouldn't be to worried about the air as long as you aren't introducing a lot of it, if you degassed before you added stabiliser there will still be a small presence of co2, your wine at 1.0 might be a tad on the sweet side still though (this is a personal taste thing though), for degassing make or buy yourself a degasser, you just stick it into a cordless drill and its done in a couple of minutes.

Yeah I think that's the plan for next time after seeing the vids etc on making a degasser. That's good to know about introducing the air, thanks for that :thumb:

Got a White Zinfandel to put on soon which I won't have to rush like I did this one so fingers crossed it will be less stress.

 

[chewie]

It's an idea to do a WoW wine first rather than a kit, there is a lot less expense with WoW's over even 6 bottle kits, the processes are the same but at least if something goes wrong you are only out about £3 for juices and a couple of quid for the other ingredients.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

You may find degassing with syphon won't have got much of the CO2 out, as you haven't got a degassing wand use the cover the neck with a clean hand and shake the DJ method, release the gas every few shakes, it will eventually stop hissing when you take your hand off.

 

[tykesi]

Thanks, if I've not degassed fully would I be able to do this now the stabiliser & finings are added? I realise this would mean a couple more days waiting for the sediment to settle again but that's no bother.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Yes, it wont do any harm other than as you say its going to stir the sediment back up and it'll take longer to clear.

 

[tykesi]

Finally had time last night so gave it a good shake until no more gas escaped when I released my hand. Makes you wonder why they advise the syphoning method to degas!

Bottling tomorrow all being well. Thanks for your help!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Glad its sorted. :thumb: