Beginner Questions

I've just started making my own wine and I have a couple questions I was hoping you guys could help me with. My wife and I have a friend that owns a vineyard in Western NY but I decided to go with a Vintners Reserve Merlot kit for my first attempt before even attempting to use fresh grapes.

Everything seems to be going well, except the instructions tell me to cover the fermenter after I add the yeast. The thing that concerns me is there is a small hole on the lid by the manufacture and a co- worker is telling me that it needs to be sealed with an air lock and I should not take the lid off until I'm ready to rack into the carboy. The instructions tell me to use the air lock after I rack to the carboy. To be honest, I love to take the lid off just to see what's going on and I love the smell. Also I like to check the SG. Am I ruining this batch by doing this?

Thanks for any help you can give.

John

Reply to
jpkehoe
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No. Don't worry - wine is very forgiving. There is no need for the initial fermentation to be done in an air-tight container. After a couple of weeks, when active fermentation is pretty much over, then you can worry about keeping it topped up in a carboy, under an airlock. The cover is really just to keep out stray cats, bugs, dust particles, etc., since the must should be creating enough CO2 from fermentation to prevent any significant oxygen exposure. It's your wine - lift the lid a couple times a day if you feel like it!

Happy fermenting-

Doug

Reply to
Doug

Doug,

Thank you for your help!

Reply to
jpkehoe

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