I decided to make wine on a whim, and picked up what is probably a pretty low-quality wine kit on the recommendation of the guy in the shop:Vintners Reserve Valpolicella (a "28-day" kit). On July 15th, I carefully followed the instructions on the box, although I did aerate in the primary for a bit with an aquarium pump because that's what I would have done with beer and I figured all yeast likes oxygen (potentially a mistake). OG was 1.072.
On July 24th, gravity was at 0.990 and had been there for a few days. I racked to secondary. On July 26th, I went to the Yukon for three weeks, figuring it would be fine with a little extra time (instructions say 14 days before adding stabilizer).
After getting back from vacation, I added the stabilizer that came with the kit (K-C), and tried to stir everything as vigorously as possible. After topping up with water (as per the instructions) my gravity was at about 0.992. I waited the requisite 10 days, gave it an extra few out of laziness, and bottled on September 2nd.
Obviously one week is much too short a time, but one of the bottles had a cork that didn't go all the way in so I figured I'd put that one out of its misery. To my surprise, I opened it and it was slightly fizzy. There's been NO sign of fizz or activity in the fermentation lock for the past month, and I find it hard to believe that it can ferment down below 0.990. It's very dry and thin tasting (not to mention kind of sour and young), but it's the fizziness that concerns me.
Is this going to improve, or get worse with time? Anything I can do?
On July 24th, gravity was at 0.990 and had been there for a few days. I racked to secondary. On July 26th, I went to the Yukon for three weeks, figuring it would be fine with a little extra time (instructions say 14 days before adding stabilizer).
After getting back from vacation, I added the stabilizer that came with the kit (K-C), and tried to stir everything as vigorously as possible. After topping up with water (as per the instructions) my gravity was at about 0.992. I waited the requisite 10 days, gave it an extra few out of laziness, and bottled on September 2nd.
Obviously one week is much too short a time, but one of the bottles had a cork that didn't go all the way in so I figured I'd put that one out of its misery. To my surprise, I opened it and it was slightly fizzy. There's been NO sign of fizz or activity in the fermentation lock for the past month, and I find it hard to believe that it can ferment down below 0.990. It's very dry and thin tasting (not to mention kind of sour and young), but it's the fizziness that concerns me.
Is this going to improve, or get worse with time? Anything I can do?