H2O Quantity Question / Room for Yeast

Jim-wy · 11-21-2011, 08:25 PM

I'm new to brewing wine and just started a batch of Nanking Cherry wine following a Pie Cherry Wine recipe. The recipe (which I've converted from 1 to 5 gallons) calls for 18.75 quarts of water. I had 13.75 boiling in my primary kettle and another 5 in a secondary kettle. When I added 12.5# of sugar to my primary kettle, it brought the water level up close to the 18.75 quart level.

I crushed 18# of cherries in a 6.5 gallon primary fermenter. When I added the first kettle of sugar water to the cherries, it brought my liquid level up to about the 6 gallon mark. I can't add the full amount of water in this fermenter and am worried about headroom for yeast activity.

Picture link if that will clarify:
http://www.wyjim.com/Images/misc/NankingCherryWine_0970.jpg

Thanks for sticking with me, here's my questions:

1) What should I do? I'm tempted to add 5 Campdon tablets and move on.

2) All the sugar was in that primary kettle. If I don't add the remaining water, will I end up with a potent but alcohol tasting wine? (I confess I once tried chokecherry wine and it was nasty - I either put too much sugar in or consumed it too soon - or both).

3) Will my yeast blow out the airlock with this little room?

4) If I don't have 5 gallons after pulling out the cherries and racking to a carboy - do I top it off with water?

Thank You! If anyone is patient enough, here are a couple of other questions from a beginner:

5) Should any of the following items be refrigerated; yeast nutrient, Campden tablets, pectic enzyme, liquid tannin?

6) Recipe called for 1/8 tsp. tannin per gallon, liquid tannin instructions were 1-2 tsp. per gallon - I used the manufacturers suggestion (5 tsp. for 5 gallons), was that an appropriate method?

7) If you've looked at the linked picture, would you tie off the nylon bag and drop it in or just put the lid with airlock over the bag?

Thank you for any suggestions,
Jim

brazedowl · 11-22-2011, 12:20 AM

1) did you add the yeast yet? I 'd add the campden and mix thoroughly to kill off the wild yeasties then add the packet of wine yeast. Use some of your juice from the fermenter to start the wine yeast.

2) 12.5# is a LOT of sugar. I normally do 10# for a 5-6 gallon batch and it often comes out very sweet. It may be stronger if the yeast has a high tolerance. But you may have such a high SG that the yeast are stressed and won't grow. I had one batch where I had to pour some off and add water to dilute the sugar. After that it took off and was fine.

3) Wine doesn't ferment as vigorously as beer so you should be ok. I'd be more concerned about the fruit cap. I've often had my bucket topped up to about as much as you, but if the fruit is mashed against the end of the airlock inside wine will infiltrate up and out the airlock. To prevent this I would put my fruit in mesh bags and then stick half a straw into the airlock hole and put like a plastic sauce dish over it to keep the bag pressed down away from the hole for a week or so then discard the fruit and airlock as normal.

4) topping off with water may solve the stressed super high sg problem and let it kick off in fine style when you re-rack.

5) no, no, no, maybe? I know powdered tannin is a no.

6) I would have decidedly stuck to the amount called for in the instructions. The label is a generic thing. Like if my nutmeg bottle said "add 2tsp to your pumpkin pie" but my grandmas recipe said "add 1/4tsp nutmeg" would have listened to grandma

7) I say tie that sucker off and execute the plan outlined in question 3.

Jim-wy · 11-22-2011, 03:14 AM

Thank You brazedowl!

1) I haven't added the yeast. At about 74°F I added the campdon tablets. According to the recipe I add the pectic enzyme after 12 hours, then wait 24 hours and add the yeast.

2) Now I'm nervous, I do not want a reinactment of my sweet twangie chokecherry wine of about 10 years ago! Hopefully I'll learn this time. If I want more of a dry than a sweet wine (fine time to ask) would I want an original SG more in the 1.090 range? If I don't need much water after removing the cherries, I'm seriously considering swapping out must for water.
My current SG is a whoppin' 1.118! It's a really tasty Kool Aid at this point, but not what I'm after.

3) Excellent suggestions, thanks. Regarding the beer, I also started a stout last night that is merrily blowing foam: http://www.wyjim.com/Images/misc/IrishStout_0968_PrimaryFermentation.jpg

4) That's what I'll hope for.

5) Nothing on the labels so I expect it's all 'no'. Thanks.

6) I thought about that, but didn't know if there were different dilutions of nutmeg (tannin) - good point though.

7) Followed your recommendation. Thank You!

Math question for anybody of a mind to answer. Is there a formula for calculating SG when adding water to a batch of wine? My thought is that if I use 4 gallons of with original gravity of 1.118 and add 1 gallon of water at specific gravity 1.000, I could calculate the equivalent of the original SG as:

(4*1.118 + 1*1.000)/5 = 1.094

Does it work this way?

Thanks,
Jim

**Yooper** · 11-22-2011, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim-wy

Math question for anybody of a mind to answer. Is there a formula for calculating SG when adding water to a batch of wine? My thought is that if I use 4 gallons of with original gravity of 1.118 and add 1 gallon of water at specific gravity 1.000, I could calculate the equivalent of the original SG as:

(4*1.118 + 1*1.000)/5 = 1.094

Does it work this way?

Thanks,
Jim

Yes, that's exactly how it would work.

Jim-wy · 11-22-2011, 07:40 PM

Thank You! I think I'm on my way.

brazedowl · 11-23-2011, 01:39 AM

And don't discard that portion! Save it, dilute it in a small container of it's own and use it for topping up when you rack!

Jim-wy · 11-23-2011, 02:21 AM

Ha! Great suggestion!! If there is enough, I may just ferment another gallon - otherwise I'll follow that tip.

Thanks!