Ok to bottle?

Hello, Your wine is very, very young yet, and if it is still cloudy then I wouldn't bottle it. If you bottle a wine that young and that cloudy, then you'll probably end up with deposits in the bottom of your bottles. You'll have to decided if that is acceptable. I've made strawberry wine quite a few times, and I don't bottle until the wine is about 7 months old. Having said that, is this a wine kit? I don't do wine kits, but my understanding of these kits is that they are made to be bottled early and to be consumed early. Did you add a wine stabilizer? Darlene

Hi Dar,

Thanks for your reply.

The strawberrys were picked from our local "Pick Your Own" and I perhaps should have mentioned that I'm only making 1 gallon of it at the moment (if that makes a difference?) - just as a gentle introduction to the art :)

I've just gone out and bought a wine stablizer so and have put some that in and more finings after racking it again.

I guess the answer sounds like one involving waiting - so that's what I'll do for now.

Thanks again :)

James, Okay, sounds good. You might find Jack's site on home winemaking useful -

. His recipes are usually for just a 1 gallon batch. That's all I really make. Waiting is something we all have a tough time doing when we first start out in this hobby. But you'll find that you'll get a better product if you can wait. Goodluck and welcome. Darlene

James, remember - keep it simple (kiss), folks have been making wine for centuries, don't rush it and keep it simple. Mix your ingredients, add yeast, wait, stir, wait, then transfer to a jug with a sulfites, wait a long time, bottle, wait a month or two and enjoy - simple. Two months are not enough time and you have too many rackings for this short a period. Let this sit for a year and it could develop into something good. I would not bottle at this time. I would let them sit for four months, then rack. Let sit another two months then bottle. Let sit in the bottle for two months then try it. My two cents

Two bubbles per day. I am not sure how you count two bubbles per day. I sure could not watch them that well. But, joking aside, two bubbles perday could be a lot of things other than fermentation. It could be air pressure change, temperature change, dissolved CO2 coming out of solution. It could even be MLF starting up.

Have you done anything to degas the wine. If you stir it I bet you get a lot of bubbling. This is common with wine for months after it is finished fermenting. Noting to worry about. At the end of fermentation the wine is super charged with CO2. It will slowly come off for months. Some people degas by vigorous stirring. This is necessary if you want to drink it young as it removes the CO2 quickly but it also puts the wine in contact with a lot of air and it can shorten the life of the wine.

Do not bottle a cloudy wine. It should be crystal clear before bottling. Give it another month or two and if it is still cloudy you might try a fining agent to clear it. For quickly clearing a wine I like SuperKlear. It will usually clear it over night.

Ray

Thanks for the info Ray. I have previously noticed more activity in the bubbling department after a good stir, so now I know why! What is "MLF" by the way?

As much as I love this wine lark, I draw the line at sitting in front of a demijohn watching bubbles all day. However, I don't draw any such line at being near my exciting new creations so they sit here on my desk whilst I'm working all day - letting me know they're still alive with the odd 'blop' now and then :)

On that note, i would keep your wines in the dark as much as poissible. So you do not damage them.

If you have to keep them out, at least keep them ina brown paper bag to keep them safer.

MLF is MaloLactic Fermentation. It is actually a bacterial action rather than a yeast action and it especially eats up all the Malic acid, as the name would imply. In many grape wines it is encouraged as it adds a mellowness. If it gets into an apple wine, or any wine that has a high level of malic acid it can turn the wine into an insipid, pathetic drink. It sometimes persists for months after regular fermentation is over. The only way to be sure MLF is finished is paper chromatography. Or you can just let your wines age for a year and be pretty sure they are finished.

Ray

Wow, I'm suddenly transported back to Chemistry lessons! :)

Looking up a bit of further info on MLF, I ame across

which explains about the paper chromatography procedure you mention so if I can, I will give that a try.

Apparently the loganberry is 50/50 malic/citric so that's probably in the most danger, and I'm actually planning on starting an apple wine soon so this info is very handy.

Thanks.