I have made a terrible mistake...

Or at least, I think I have.

New to wine making. Started off with a red kit, a montepulciano. It's a 4 week kit, and I followed the instructions pretty closely. However, they were not idiot-proof, as I am now stuck one week after the clarification process. I have a couple issues:

1) Wine is not clear. There is some sediment at the bottom of my carboy, but when I steal a little wine and put it in a glass, it's cloudy.

2) Wine tastes dreadful. It smells ok, and smells like wine, but the taste is very sour and almost fizzy. I have tried to degas and I haven't seen any bubbles upon stirring.

So, now I'm wondering if it's worth trying to save. The kit was only $40, and I'd be sad but ok to toss it if it's a lost cause. But if I can fix it with the cunning use of campden tablets, backsweetening, temperature, or even just some good old-fashioned patience, I would really appreciate any advice!

Vac pump degass it.

Given what you've described, you need to degas, bubbles on the tongue etc.
What sort of equipment do you have? One way to degas is to stir. Another is something called 'splash racking' which is where you rack but you alow the wine to deflect off the side high up so it gets agitated while siphoning. That will help get some co2 out.

Also co2 makes a mild acid and thus sour. It also makes it so that the yeast and other particulates won't settle out. The CO2 forms on the yeast and keeps it in suspension.

The sour fizzy is the C02 combined with a young, raw wine. Granted this is a 4-week kit BUT you typically are not meant to be drinking it at four weeks, though some do. It should taste better several months to a year from now.

Share the name of kit with us please. What does the kit have you add for fining, and did you thoroughly degas prior to adding, and when did you add the fining agent?

You will have sediment continue to drop as that wine clears. And kits can be a bugger to degas. Make sure the wine is 74-75F as you degas. You can degas using something as common as a wine bottle vacuum, a brake bleeder, or my favorite tool--the All-in-One vacuum pump. But even a wine whip degassing tool attached to a drill will have an impact. Once it is degassed, park the carboy somewhere around 50-60F for 1-2 weeks and that typically expedites clearing. BUT, if it is time to rack off the sediment please do that before you proceed with anything else--just not sure where you are per your instructions.

Thanks, everyone! I thought I had degassed when I finished the secondary and before I added the clarifying stuff - evidently, I hadn't. I just siphoned it back into my primary, and there were heaps of bubbles.

I bought a wine whip of sorts (the kind that attaches to my power drill). I'll just whip it while it's in the primary bucket until the bubbles stop, and then put it back in the carboy and see how it does.

I'm using a Vino Italiano kit - like I said, cheap, but I figured it would be good for a first-timer.

I'll let you know how it progresses - thanks!

My wine also did not taste that great before degassing and back sweetening. I thought it might be a bad batch as well. But after a good degassing. Back sweetening. Sitting a little longer. And sitting a week in the bottle. It tasted great. Follow through your steps until the end either way and see.

bdfc said:

I bought a wine whip of sorts (the kind that attaches to my power drill). I'll just whip it while it's in the primary bucket until the bubbles stop, and then put it back in the carboy and see how it does.

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I almost mentioned that. I love that tool. But I wasn't sure if you were up for buying more gear. Frankly if you are going to stir degas, that is the way to do it.

ACbrewer said:

I almost mentioned that. I love that tool. But I wasn't sure if you were up for buying more gear. Frankly if you are going to stir degas, that is the way to do it.

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Meh I have a fiz-x and it's still a slow job...I'd rather vac it or wait a year.

Inner10 said:

Meh I have a fiz-x and it's still a slow job...I'd rather vac it or wait a year.

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Yeah I realize others (Yooper comes to mind) think that using a drill to degas is a bad way to treat the wine. I'm not knowledgable enough to know the pros and cons, and since my ideal wine has bout 10%abv with a 1.010 risidual sweetness, I suspect I'm not the sort who would care/benefit from such wisdom.

And I'm not sure if doing a vac degasing, would cost less. I'm of the opinion that money is always a factor, especially for someone starting out. Plus I'm not sure I'd attach my shop vac event to an attachment to my carboy. I just don't think it is clean enough after the dry wall.

ACbrewer said:

Yeah I realize others (Yooper comes to mind) think that using a drill to degas is a bad way to treat the wine. I'm not knowledgable enough to know the pros and cons, and since my ideal wine has bout 10%abv with a 1.010 risidual sweetness, I suspect I'm not the sort who would care/benefit from such wisdom.

And I'm not sure if doing a vac degasing, would cost less. I'm of the opinion that money is always a factor, especially for someone starting out. Plus I'm not sure I'd attach my shop vac event to an attachment to my carboy. I just don't think it is clean enough after the dry wall.

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The problem with the drill is you have to drill, wait a min, drill, wait drill wait etc. You will murder your shop vac, get a vac pump used on kijiji.