Wine kit instructiuons don't make sense!

[Basic Brewing]

Hello,

Not sure if I should start a new thread or add new questions to this one. I'll do the latter.

On day two my first ever wine kit is bubbling continuosly, (almostr furiously), through the airlock. I took the sage advice above about not filling the DJ at first. Picture shows the current state. I've read conflicting ideas about stirring and swirling the DJ and decided to leave it alone.

I've read why excessive 'headroom' can lead to oxigination but also why room for degassing stirring is desireable. I also want to fill 6 x 1L bottles with the end product. From what else I've read I plan to wait until the bubling is nearly over and top up with some shop bought wine to 1" from the top of the DJ. Then wait until bubling ceases, test SG and when stable for three days prepare for botting. To degas I'll siphon the contents of the demijohn to a suitably clean metal cooking pot with non vented glass lid and stir vigourous every half hour for a couple of hours.

Then syphon contents to recycled wine bottles with screw caps. Might they explode? Should I used plastic stoppers instead?

Does the above sound sensible?

Thank you.

 

[jof]

You would usually top up the demijohn with just water.

Standard wine bottles are 750ml, and a demijohn is usually just over 4.5l.

Also didn't your wine kit come with finings & stabilizer that you add after fermentation to help clear the wine & stop the yeast fermenting any further?

I can't comment about degassing, as I use the old fashioned method of racking (transfering the wine off the sediment & into another demijohn) then leave it a couple of months to degas naturally. But I understand not everyone has the patience.
It's why we pour scorn on the massively overoptimistic time scales quoted on homebrew kits.

 

[MashBag]

Confusing to say the least!

I shall wait until I've seen the instructions actually sent. If they are the same as online I'll certainly post a link.

Why wait? Is it a secret

 

[rbunsen]

I would leave the wine for longer than the instructions say.
You can top up with water, to the amount that the kit is for. While the wine is fermenting the headspace will be full of CO2, so you don't need to worry about the oxygen. You only really need to worry about the headspace when bulk storing for a reasonable amount of time; perhaps waiting for the wine to clear naturally. That is more the scenario for topping up with wine.
I expect you will rack out of the current demijohn, to get the wine off the sediment, before you de-gas and de-gassing will probably introduce oxygen. Your kit will almost certainly contain some sort of stabiliser, including metabisulfite, I think this will counteract the oxygen.
I will stress though that I would leave the wine with the airlock for at least a week longer than the instructions say. It won't do any harm to the wine.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I've read why excessive 'headroom' can lead to oxigination but also why room for degassing stirring is desireable. I also want to fill 6 x 1L bottles with the end product. From what else I've read I plan to wait until the bubling is nearly over and top up with some shop bought wine to 1" from the top of the DJ. Then wait until bubling ceases, test SG and when stable for three days prepare for botting. To degas I'll siphon the contents of the demijohn to a suitably clean metal cooking pot with non vented glass lid and stir vigourous every half hour for a couple of hours.

Do not worry about headspace when the wine is fermenting its producing CO2 this is being pushed out of the airlock nothing can get in!
We leave space so the wine doesn't go through the airlock and make a mess we also need space when we degas especially if using a wand.
If you don't have a degassing wand rack the wine inro a new sanitised DJ and cover the neck with your hand shake for a coupe of seconds release the CO2 and repeat a few times add stabiliser and finings and shake again and then top up to the bottom of the neck and replace the airlock.


This was covered in post #11 & #12 -

Chippy_tea - Another tip don't fill the DJ higher than this it makes degassing much easier and if the fermentation is vagarous it wont go through the airlock and make a mess.

Chippy - Tea - I used to top up after a few days but its good to have a gap for degassing especially if you are using a degassing wand, we have to top up after racking so for me its not required until then.