How Much is Lost During Fermentation Process?

Hello!

Just finished bottling my first two batches - Ken Ridge Showcase Australian Shiraz and Legacy Piesporter. The wines are nice and I'm pleased with the quality; however, I didn't get as many bottles as I'd planned - 26 from each

6 gallon batch. Of course there was a little sampling so I was expecting perhaps a bottle shy but 4? No way.

My question: Is there normally this much "lost" to evaporation

TIA

Reply to
JB
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TIA, Although I usually make only fruit, veggie, and herb wines - there seems to be a big difference sometimes in how much wine you get after you make the same batch amount. Some batches have a lot of gunk leftover after one racks the batch for the first time. And depending on what you can recover from the gunk to use for top-up later will help you to maintain your batch level later, after repeated rackings to get the wine clear. So it kindof depends...does it surprise me...no, but there are ways to help reduce the loss. Darlene

Reply to
Dar V

I'm supposing you started with six gallons at primary fermentation. Did you account for the volume of lees left behind during racking? Yes, 6 gallons times 3.8L per gallons calculates to thirty 750ml bottles -- but *only* if that is how much was in the carboy when you start bottling, and only if you also bottled up the lees left then (if any from those kits).

Reply to
Casey Wilson

I have done many kits. After the stabilizing step, they normally say "top up" to within 2 inches of the top of the 6 gallon carboy for final stages of clearing. I "top" with other wine, not water. Some kits need

1-2 bottles (750ml) of like wine, and others, sometimes need 4+ bottles of wine to "top it up". The final rackings - after stabilizing - should have very little lees in the bottom, so you might lose 1/4 to 1/2 bottle to that final racking. I normally get 28-30 bottles per kit.

Does this help? In the 6 gallon carboy, how close to the top was the wine? within 2 inches?

DAve p.s. evaporati> Hello!

Reply to
Dave Allison

Zero had better be lost to evaporation unless you are making vinegar in a hot area.

Some yeasts are more flocculant than others, in other words some yeasts leave a thick film of sludge while others a fluffy layer. Either way, when you rack you can recover a lot of that by placing it in a smaller container (topped) and letting it settle. A 6 gallon batch of anything not made with any fruit pulp should easily supply 25 to 27 bottles of finished clean wine. As Dave, I top with wine so as not to dilute, but either way a full 5 gallon container holds a minimum of 25 bottles, other containers can hold more of the settled lees.

Dave,

2 inches is fine at first while it's still giving off a bit of CO2 but you may want to top to around 1/2 inch when you are aging for months. I do it that way.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

Joe, I'll top to within 1/2 inch from now on in final aging/clearing. Sounds good. thanks.DAve

Reply to
Dave Allison

I'm maybe a bit paranoid about that to be honest. I had what I think was a mycoderma infection begin forming on a wine that had around 2 inches of headspace. I don't seem to have that happen anymore.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

I had the same experience as Joe, mycoderma. Since then, I've topped up to the first knucle of the carboy or higher and haven't had a problem.

RD

Reply to
RD

Same here with mycoderma although in my experience it was more related to the type of airlock used - I usually use Fermrite waterless airlocks for convenience at the early stages. I only got the infection under those. After I switched back to regular S-shaped airlocks, no further issues.

It's a good idea to keep the airspace small in general but in my setup it's not always practical. I don't have a cellar so the wine temps can vary quite a lot over relatively short periods of time, especially in summer (wood frame, no air conditioning). I find it easier to leave a slightly larger air space then having to deal with the possible contamination of the wine seeping into the airlock or topping up when we get cold weather. No isues this way... so far.

Pp

Reply to
pp

I have started to spritz the top of my wine in my carboys with a spray bottle containing SO2 solution (even ones that are topped up) whenever I take off my airlock to smell or clean up the airlocks and this seems to also help control the mycoderma.

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

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