Re: Finally!!!

Looks like it will be good. I would NOT add campden after you have added the yeast. It is usually used before addition to knock down rogue yeasts. I would, instead, add campden at the racking you do when the wine is done fermenting - probably the second racking.

Congratulations, Dave!

DON'T! Firstly, it's unneeded. Welch's already has about 120 ppm of sulfite in it (according to information obtained with great difficulty from the company chemists). (I usually aerate such juices to reduce the sulfite before using them). Secondly, when you add sulfite to a fermenting must, the SO2 quickly becomes tied up in a bound form, which won't help in inhibiting microbial growth or oxidation (the reason you add it in the first place); and production of acetaldehyde will proceed, which can adversely affect wine flavour.

Good luck, Dave. You are well on your way to a permanent addiction. :)

:) never got around to it yet today... so now I won't ;)

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Okay... The bucket has stoped producing most of the bubbles.. But, it has only been in primary for 4 days... when should I move to secondary??

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Do you have a hydrometer? If so, I would test before doing anything. Darlene

The length of the primary fermentation is based on the amount of sugar you started with, the yeast, and the temperature of the fermentation. Some could be "done" in 5 days, but most take longer.

Get a hydrometer, and measure the specific gravity. It should be around 1.0 When I say around, I mean right at, or below. At 1.010 or so, I plan to rack my wine from primary to secondary fermentation containers. (Making a white wine from concord grapes.)

Once the primary is done, or close to it, you want to be careful about exposing your wine to air, so fill up carboys, leave a little room for the fermentation to finsih, and fit them with airlocks.

Cheers, Will

Yes, I do have some frozen grapes.. however, i didn't add them to this batch. I wanted a batch under my belot before risking my hard-earned first crop of home grown grapes...

I will probably be moving to secondary tommorow. I had read somewhere that I should go though a coffee filter when I do so, but I tend to think that would remove to much yeast...

I have a funnel to use for this purpose...

I assume the headspace is to prevent foaming into the airlock correct? How long is this a worry? I always understood that the less air in the secondary, the better. One text even said less than 1/2 inch (about one cm....) Is this a worry?

Thanks in advance...

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Good plan, and it makes things slightly simpler. :)

You do NOT want to filter at this stage. Even if you did, there will be too much "gunk", and all you would accomplish is clogging the filters completely after the first cup or so of wine went through them. In general, you do not want to filter until the wine is already quite clear. The filtering simply "polishes" the wine. The exception to this would be when there is some sort of contamination. Then you would wish to filter it out, and add SO2.

Remember NOT to add SO2 at this racking! It won't help anything, and it may prevent the ferment from finishing.

While it is still fermenting, it can still burst into foam suddenly. For example, if the room temperature were to increase a few degrees, that might create a new spate of activity. This could not only foam into the airlock (rendering it ineffective, and sucking the sterilizer in the lock back into your wine), but it could actually push the airlock out, and wine would end up all over the table and floor. So you want to leave a bit of headroom.

Assuming your are using standard 1-gallon jugs, or 2.8, 3, or 5-gallon carboys, fill it initially to just above the shoulder, but below the neck. The ferment will still be producing enough CO2 to fill that air-space. After a few days, when the activity slows you can top it up with distilled water, other wine, or the excess from racking which wouldn't fit in the carboy, and which you placed in a smaller vessel for this precise purpose.

Even after the ferment halts, you need to leave some air-space. 1/2" is appropriate for 750-ml wine bottles, when the wine is stabilized and corked. However, you need to leave MUCH more in a larger vessel. Air compresses. Fluid does not. When the temperature increases 10-20º during the summer (even if you have a/c or a refrigerated wine cellar, this can happen when there is a power blackout), the liquid will expand. If there is sufficient air-space, the air will compress, and the cork/stopper will remain. If there is not, the fluid will push the cork/stopper out. If you use an airlock, rather than solid stopper, the fluid will push into (and perhaps out of) the airlock.

With a 1-gallon or 5-litre jug, I leave 3 fingers' space from the top of the bottle (which is about 2 fingers' space from the bottom of the rubber stopper.

With a 3-gallon carboy, I leave 3.5-fingers' space, and with a

But I live in a climate where day-time and night-time temperatures can vary by 40-50º. If your temperature is more stable, or you have a proper cellar, you can leave less room.

P.S. I have skinny fingers. :)

Tested today.. SG only at 1.030.... Initial was 1.090.. so, things are well on thier way, but not quite there yet. I should have know something was not right when I ladled some of the must into the test jar and it foamed up like champane.... :) has a good aroma though...

I also see what you mean about the gunk in the must for the filter. I couldn't even see though the must in the test jar, and that was only about an inch thick.... oh well.. give it a couple more days... :)

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From what you said earlier (that it had slowed down to a crawl), I expected an SG of 1.000 or less. There is no reason (IMO) to transfer to a secondary until the activity slows to that stage. Of course, if the ferment sticks at a higher SG, that is a different matter --- but it is easier to restart a stuck ferment in a primary, as well. As long as there is an active fermentation, enough CO2 will be produced that the primary is still an adequate vessel.

Now, seeing how much that little bit of wine foamed up when you disturbed it, do you understand why you will still need to leave ample headroom in the secondary while it is still fermenting? :)

Yup.. :) I guess when I thought it had slowed to a crawl it was in comparason to earlier when it has about three inchesof foam on top of the must.. :)

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Okay.. moved to secondary today. SG was at 1.005... figured that was close enough... air lock is bubbling away!

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