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Do my wines ferment too fast?

So far, in every batch of wine that I've fermented, be it grapes or other fruit, the specific weight has dropped from about 1.09 to 1.0 in only three days. Is that too fast? Does it matter? I'm not an experienced winemaker, so I just go by what the books say, which is generally that you press when about 2/3 of the sugar has been converted to alcohol, or the S.G. drops to somewhere between 1.0 and 1.03. Now these books also talk about primary fermentation lasting several days, like 5 to 7 days. But in my case it always goes much faster. For the batch of Zinfandel that I'm currently fermenting, I placed the bucket in a refrigerator rigged with a household thermostat set at 70F. I wanted to experiment trying to slow things down. Didn't work. Still only after three days the S.G was down to 1.0, so I pressed. I'm concerned that by pressing in only three days I won't be extracting as much color and tannin as I should.

Also I think that the strain of yeast might have to do with the speed. I've used Pasteur Champagne, EC-1118, Narbonne, and a couple of others. Are there some strains that are slow fermenters?

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.

Reply to
Franco
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What is the reason you start your fermentation at 70F? Would you consider starting at 55-60F, then slowly raise the temperature over a couple of days? This is a good way to slow down the fermentation, and it yields a more fruit-forward taste.

Yes, there are slower fermenting yeasts. You could read Jack Keller's red wine yeast choices, looking at slow to moderate fermentation rate yeast suggestions for zinfandel:

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Have you tried using less yeast (like half the recommended dose) at inoculation time? (I use this approach.) This increases the initial fermentation lag time.

How much yeast assimilable nitrogen is in your must? The yeast need some nitrogen to be healthy, but adding more than the yeast need for health just increases the fermentation rate (i.e. doesn't improve the wine quality - may actually decrease the quality). From my reading,

200-250 ppm YANC (yeast assimilable nitrogen concentration) is plenty.

Have you tried starting your fermentation with 40-60ppm free SO2? This will inhibit the yeast somewhat, increasing the fermentation lag time.

Gene

Reply to
gene

It depends on the wine. Red wines usually ferment very fast. White wines you try to slow down. But 3 days is a bit fast for any wine IMHO. I do most of my fermenting about 75 deg. so 70 should not be a problem. You might try a slower yeast as mensioned above.

Ray

Reply to
Ray Calvert

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