Who's vinting?

[lokidog]

Pasteurizing, sterilizing, if you are boiling your water with sugar or adding sulfites, you are doing the same thing.  Also, things that "crawl" can't "create" wild yeast.  Yeast can only move to where it is moved, it does not move on it's own.  I love the closet biologists that don't know much about actual biology.     Also, you are much more likely to get bacterial contamination than wild yeast contamination (which is not the same thing) once your juice is in the jug.

I don't disagree that vodka might be a good idea, however, it's not the ONLY idea or way to keep the brew clean.  Also, your are jumping between airlocks and dissolving sugar, which is it that us peons can't do right?

Is that too argumentative?  Maybe you should just try to be helpful when commenting on a thread instead of just negative?
 

[Kc_Kracker]

steve you cam in out of nowhere pretty insulting, i think it was just harsher than you intended 

ok so, in all the arguing i am still lost. its been 7 days, the hardened sugar in the bottom of the jugs is almost gone, i still have tiny air bubbles every few seconds, and i never got the foam and sludge i was told i would need to clean out.

do i just let them keep going? do i need to add more sugar, or do anything at all at this point? 

[fastdam]

when the bubbles slow down to only one bubble in the airlock,every three minutes, rack it over into a clean, sterilized carboy or jug. This is also a good time to use your hydrometer. Your hydrometer should read below 1.000. I would let it clarify in the new jug for a few months and then rack it again......and repeat this until there is absolutely no sediment in the bottom of the jug. When its clean and clear, bottle it.  When you first started out, if you used your hydrometer, it would have been a good idea to add sugar until your hydrometer read 1.080. (My preference).   Then when you take the second reading at the first racking you could verify that primary firmentation has taken place.  Next time you can do that, but if it reads 1.000 or lower when the bubbles slow like i said, it will be wine.  Dont rush it. It will taste better after mellowing in the bottle for a few months.   Making wine is great fun. So much anticipation. What you have will work fine dont worry about the sugar not mixing well. It will be digested by the yeast. With wine i dissolve sugar in water and mix it, with cider i add brown sugar directly to the must and mix well.  Works great.

[Kc_Kracker]

so what about the ones with NO sugar left?  the directions from the brewery said this was a 4 week vint then its done

[fastdam]

Just wait until the bubbles slow to one bubble every three minutes. The measure it and taste it.  It takes me 4 or 5 months to make clear cider. At least a year for wine. I think you could drink the cider after only a few months, but the ciders that mellow for a year are my favorite.

[lokidog]

Just wait until the bubbles slow to one bubble every three minutes. The measure it and taste it.  It takes me 4 or 5 months to make clear cider. At least a year for wine. I think you could drink the cider after only a few months, but the ciders that mellow for a year are my favorite.

 

[Kc_Kracker]

the kit i used said 4 weeks. what temp should the wine be in? anyone care to school me on how to use the hydrometer? im pretty lost with it 

[lokidog]

the kit i used said 4 weeks. what temp should the wine be in? anyone care to school me on how to use the hydrometer? im pretty lost with it 

Did you get the tall clear cylinder with the hydrometer?  Fill it, or a glass that is tall enough to submerge the hydrometer, about to the top.  You want to leave enough space so the volume of the hydrometer does not overflow the cylinder.  Slowly place the cylinder in the liquid and see what level it floats at.  Be sure to read to the bottom of the liquid line as it will climb up the sides of the cylinder slightly.  Do this the same way you would measure water in a clear measuring cup, to the meniscus.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meniscus

Depending which scale you look at, you should be able to read the specific gravity reading.  Now, if you had done this in the beginning, you could subtract the second reading and get the change in S.G.  This would give you an approximate alcohol content.  Since you don't have the beginning reading, you can't get as much info from this tool.

It would really be helpful for you to get a beginning winemaking book.

As Fastdam has stated, just wait until the bubbling has slowed quite a bit, then rack the wine.  This slight agitation will likely pick up the yeast activity for a bit, leave it sit until it rarely bubbles, rack it again, let sit for a week or more and rack again.  The longer you let it sit between rackings, the fewer times you should need to rack.  Too many rackings could cause problems since, if I recall corectly, you only started with a gallon of each and you will lose some wine with each rack.  If you let the sludge sit for a long time, it will also stick together better and not stir up quite as easily.

As far as temperature, 60-70 always seemed to work for me and is easy to do this time of year.  This does depend on your yeasts and other factors though.

[Kc_Kracker]

i do have those initial readings, i will get readings current and post all so you can tell me how to read it, i tried web sites and they made no sense. also, by racking do you mean filtering? if so, when i filter it, by siphon method, do i leave the thicker hazy wine in the bottom of the jug and top off with water and or more sugar?

[Kc_Kracker]

number taken before adding sugar and chemicals

Balling        specific gravity       PAV
18              74                          10%

readings as of tonight

Balling        specific gravity       PAV
10               72                         20%

first reading is at 69 degrees, second reading is at 67 degrees.

so gurus, what does this tell me? it going to be weak or strong? dry and bitter or sweet?
             

[lokidog]

number taken before adding sugar and chemicals

Balling        specific gravity       PAV
18              74                          10%

readings as of tonight

Balling        specific gravity       PAV
10               72                         20%

first reading is at 69 degrees, second reading is at 67 degrees.

so gurus, what does this tell me? it going to be weak or strong? dry and bitter or sweet?
           

These numbers don't seem to go together looking at my hydrometer.  ??  The temp is close enough to not make a significant difference and should be close enough to the 60 degrees that most are calibrated for.

At a SG of 1.074 mine shows a PAV of 9.5% and Balling of 18.5

At a PAV of 20% mine shows a SG of 1.115 and Balling of 35

If the SG readings are 1.072 and 1.074, there has essentially been no change.  Your SG should drop to pretty close to 1.000 as the yeast will generally eat until there is no sugar left to eat.  The recipes in the one book I could find start at 1.085 to 1.100.  IMO, most homemade wines will be on the dry side unless the ferment is artificially stopped or stops due to lack of nutrients.

Normally, you would take the starting SG or PAV and then subtract the ending PAV to get your approximate alcohol content.  The higher the Brix or Balling number, at the end of ferment, the more sugar there is remaining and the sweeter it will be.

I hope some of this helps.  I don't know what you should do at this point. 

BTW, racking is carefully removing the clear portion of the liquid off of the sediment, you should let it settle enough that the yeast is fairly solid and not "hazy".  Sitting too long is probably better than not sitting long enough.  You can top off with water if you don't want to encourage additional ferment, or sugar water if you want more alcohol.  By adding to it, it changes your SG results slightly, depending what you add.  The advantage of keeping your jug topped off is there is less chance for oxygen to get mixed in.

Please try to find a beginning wine book, it should be a lot more helpful than the bits you get here.

[Kc_Kracker]

ok so i think i have a better grasp on this now after a good book thanks guys  just started 4 more gallons of different flavors. one gallon of the previous is almost done, it stopped venting a week ago and now its crystal clear, it was mango fruit wine, came out at 10% and VERY good  thanks for all the help hopefully i can get better from here   

oh and now im fermenting a special gallon of onion / garlic wine for cooking 

[Kc_Kracker]

kennys brewery supply in kent. same road as winco 5 blocks west
 1 gallon bottles $3 each
 air locks $1.50
 chemicals $2
then just buy the juice

[lokidog]

kennys brewery supply in kent. same road as winco 5 blocks west
 1 gallon bottles $3 each
 air locks $1.50
 chemicals $2
then just buy the juice

For the same amount of effort, 5 gallon carbouys can be made and you get more than four bottles in the end.   

[Kc_Kracker]

agreed we just figured we would start cheap and small til we had a clue, were looking at carboys for the next 10 gallons