Taking 1 bottle from DJ

[Walzee]

Hi guys you may think this a silly question but is it ok to 1 bottle's worth of wine from the demi prematurely because it tastes good.
Will the remaining airspace damage the rest of it??
Thanks.

 

[rickthebrew]

Probably not best practice - better to get a few gallons on and stock up The air space could cause some oxidation possibly, is it clear and finished fermenting or still on the go?

 

[Walzee]

All activity has ceased just the recipe calls for a year till its ready for drinking approx.
Its only been 4 1/2 weeks and it tastes brilliant just very new and wondered if the year is for something i cant see happening?
Thanks again :)

 

[Walzee]

Sorry and its clear no sediment forming..

 

[rickthebrew]

I`d bottle it up and then you can drink it or leave it for some time - a few months does make a difference :thumb:

 

[Walzee]

Thanks M8

 

[rickthebrew]

no worrys buddy

 

[Moley]

I agree with Rick, either leave it alone or bottle it all, there are no in-betweens.

 

[Walzee]

Maybe im too impatient i know patience is a virtue in this game.
Have just put on 5 gallons of elderflower which i will leave for atleast six months regardless.
thank you for your quick posts.
The n00b thanks you. lol

 

[Moley]

Have just put on 5 gallons of elderflower which i will leave for atleast six months regardless.

Ah .... now if you're starting to work in 5gallon batches, you should probably be racking to multiple gallon(ish) DJs or 5 litre PETs.

That does usually leave a bottle or two for early Quality Control testing purposes :

 

[Walzee]

Yeah have 5 1g dj's.
have noticed a problem with the wine i just bottled on just taste testing it tasted really good and looks really clear but is very sweet when drinking by the glass i did mess the recipe up a little and put more sugar than i should have but didn't think.
at least it was only 1g lol. :nono: :whistle:

 

[rickthebrew]

Did you take a final gravity reading? How sweet exactly? Also what did you brew and how much sugar did you add? Answer these and help will be with you :geek:

 

[Walzee]

My grandad told me the recipe which i added 500g of sugar to because i had bought a high alcohol dessert wine yeast.
The thin is my grandad never told me anything about hydrometers or anything like that i didnt know how important it would be until i started research which was too late because wine was in dj already so i didnt think a final reading would mean much without OG lesson well and truely learnt.
The recipe was.
Melon Wine
2 melons any variety (i used honeydew)
1.5kg sugar (i used 2kg because i thought it would benefit yeast and give a higher alcohol content because of yeast)
2 oranges and 2 lemons sliced and left in must with melon
Water to make gallon

While it was in PF i had read about campden talets so i added 1 when transfering to DJ

Walzee

 

[Moley]

1.5kg sugar (i used 2kg because i thought it would benefit yeast and give a higher alcohol content because of yeast)

If you haven't already done so, you need to get a hydrometer, which may come with some sugar tables.

2kg in 1 gallon is about 440g/litre, which would give a reading of about 1.165 and around 23% potential alcohol by volume.

I make rather a lot of wine and don't think I have EVER pushed it above 1.135

Yeasts turn sugar into alcohol plus carbon dioxide, but they don't actually like alcohol. Effectively they are swimming in their own waste products and ultimately it kills them. Strong wine yeasts may be able to tolerate 18-20% alcohol, but many will quit and turn up their tootsies around 15%

You can always start with a moderate amount of sugar and add more as fermentation progresses, but you can't take any out.

 

[Walzee]

Soon as i read about it i bought one didnt come with tablets tho.
the good thing about something like homebrewing is there are a lot of proffesionals about and alot of info.
have topped up a box with all chemicals i think i could need, didnt know how many there were lol.
All the next batches will be done better.
Thanks for your quick posts you guys are a credit to the winemaking community.
Many Thanks

 

[Kirk]

Which high alcohol yeast did you use?
And did you add a couple of teaspoons of nutrient.
Tannin may also be another ingredient that would be useful.

The recipe you quote will have acid in it but not a great deal of nutrient so it would have benefited from some more. High alcohol yeast need extra.

Presently have a high alcolol mix going that is mead + raspberry, the SG was at 1.080 but additions of additional honey have made an equivalent SG of 1.140. Presently it is down to 1.008 and bubbling at a reasonable rate. It is checked and monitored almost daily.

Another problem is that if all the sugar goes in at the start then yeast tends to not reach it's full potential. Better to add in batches. You need a hydrometer to keep track of the gravity changes then.

2 kg is a lot of sugar so unless you had something capable of 21%, Gervin's GV4, and it was fed nutrient the mix you began with was almost destined for a sweetish wine.