Slow CO2

John, I personally don't understand the reason for this step although I see it commented on as standard procedure all the time. I rack when the wine in finished. If I had open fermenters that would make me do this, but mine have lids so I never rack until the wine is finished, closer to 0.995 or so.

I doubt you have an issue unless you lost a lot of viable yeast > Hello.

I usually never take my wine to the secondary until the SG reaches 1.030 -

1.025... this may be wrong but has always worked well for me... can anyone tell us why it should be taken out earlier???

Jim

Same problem here, fermentation started fast (and started at SG 1.090) and I transfered to secondary about a week ago (approx SG = 1.027ish) now it's only bubbling every 64 seconds, I'm going to check the SG later but was hoping to find out what the Maximum SG is at the finishing stage, i.e. will it be ok if it's at 1.000 or less or does it have to hit 0.990 to be ok? I may have to get some more yeast in there depending on SG but the recipe (from Jack Keller) says it should take around 6 months to bottling.

Not sure if that's the same situation - slowing down after a week since moving to secondary is pretty normal, it should be done or close to it at this point. Dry wines normally get to 0.990-0.993 depending what you're fermenting, above that you'll have some sugar left in the wine. That's not necessarily bad if it works for the wine style, but you'd have to stabilize the wine by adding sorbate in that case. Just measure the SG to see where you are, without data it's just speculation really.

Pp

1.020 is fine for a transfer, I use to do mine at 1.000-1.010 without ill effects.

When you transfer, it takes a while for the ferment to pick up, so the slowing of CO2 release right after the transfer is normal. After a day or 2 at most, it should return back to the healthy rate. If not, then you've lost most of the yeast in the sediment left behind. You can try adding yeast nutrient and failing that, restart the ferment. I'd wait with that until you're sure the ferment has stuck though.

Pp

Hi, sorry it took so long to get back to you, it's been hectic here.

I measured it just now (before dropping my hydrometer and getting glass and lots of little balls all over the kitchen!) it was 1.010, so a way to go yet.

My recipe is from Jack Keller's site

Blackberry wine (4) So itis meant to be sweet but it's also meant to take about 5 1/2 months to complete (before bottling), and it doesn't look like it's going to take that long.

When it reaches the stage of being approx right by way of SG should I leave it as long as the recipe suggests or go by the SG?

Thanks again Ceri :o)

Ok, taking the lid off the fermentation bucket seems to have helped! Since replacing it it's perked up and is now pliping once every 16 seconds or so. I think it was an issue of not enough oxygen for the yeast (I did put the airlock on early according to the recipe I put it on after a few days whereas it suggested to "cover and leave for a week" or somesuch).

Thanks again Ceri :o)

Or, perhaps the cover was not completely sealed before it was removed and replaced??

I suppose that it's possible however I find it difficult to believe as my partner put it on (as I'm fairly weak with Multiple Sclerosis) and I took it on and replaced it. I would have been willing to bet it was the other way around and that I put it on wrong but then the airlock it showing that it is on. If that is what has happened then we had a lucky escape - I dread to think of all the nasties that could have got in there, good old SO2 huh?

Never mind, it's now back up to 54 seconds between plips so I'm back to not knowing again.

I would follow the recipe in this case - it looks like it's meant to end up sweet, so perhaps this is as fars as the yeast can take it? Fruit wines often taste better with some sugar. The recipe says nothing about adding sorbate so that again is an indication that the yeast is supposed to die off before all the sugar is fermented.

As for the timing - follow the recipe there too. End of fermentation doesn't mean the wine is ready for bottling, it needs to sit and be racked several times before it clears up.

It's generally a good idea to follow a recipe the first time you're making it to see what the intended result is. You can modify that in later attempts but it's hard to do modifications without any data.

Pp

Thanks so much for your help, I tend to be a worrier and so when it's not going exactly how I expect it too I tend to... well worry.

When I had the lid off today it smelled much mellower than it did during primary, a bit more subtle and less like "falling down water" as my dad puts it. So I guess with 4 3/4 months (approx) of aging will help no end.