Wine has congealed and almost about to overflow

Need answers quick.

Blackberry Jelly Wine, my first ACTUAL real quality Wine. Measured out everything. Used actual Blackberries but to get 3 LB would cost upwards of 30 bucks, so I used a jar of Jam I found in the kitchen.

Recipe was 3 LB Jam, 1 LB Sugar, 3/4 Gallon water, yeast. I started it about 6-10 hours ago. I checked it right now and juice was dripping from the topper, I took it off and there's a congealed layer of fruit, or something. It's the consistency of ground beef , or Cranberry Sauce.

EDIT: I also measured the Gravity with a Hydrometer, started at 1.089. And I probably didn't even have the full amount of Jam in the recipe too

It sounds like you're talking about krausen and having blow off. How much room did you leave in your fermenting vessel?

If there's not much room, put a rubber stopper with a hole in it too and a hose that connects to the hole and goes into a bucket or jar or starsan, it's called a blow off tube.

Should I remove it or let it settle or what?

Bathtub_Gin said:

Should I remove it or let it settle or what?

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depends on what you want to do. Some people use an oversized fermenter to avoid blow off and simply let it settle in.

Some will scrape it from a bucket

some will use a blow-off tube into a bucket or jar of starsan to allow it to blow out of the vessel and allow the rest to settle.

Stir the heck out of it twice a day and just cover it with a sanitized dish towel. When your SG drops to anything below 1.02, move it to your secondary and all that junk will be gone.

Yeah cause, I don't really want to remove it after realizing it has a lot of the fruit in it, I'll probably stir it in

Jericurl said:

Stir the heck out of it twice a day and just cover it with a sanitized dish towel. When your SG drops to anything below 1.02, move it to your secondary and all that junk will be gone.

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Bad advice

By stirring the heck out of it, you'll introduce oxygen. Krausen has bad flavors in it, but by leaving it alone, a lot clings to the vessel. Also by stirring you up the chances of infection. You also don't want to rack it off the lees too soon. It's over all bad advice in my opinion.

Just leave it alone. It'll settle out on its own. Leave a blow off tube on it for any excess to blow off. Let it sit on the lees for a bit before going to secondary to let it settle out.

This is a pretty normal occurrence.

Really?
Huh.
Maybe I've just been lucky so far.

insanim8er said:

Bad advice

By stirring the heck out of it, you'll introduce oxygen. Krausen has bad flavors in it, but by leaving it alone, a lot clings to the vessel. Also by stirring you up the chances of infection. You also don't want to rack it off the lees too soon. It's over all bad advice in my opinion.

Just leave it alone. It'll settle out on its own. Leave a blow off tube on it for any excess to blow off. Let it sit on the lees for a bit before going to secondary to let it settle out.

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I don't go for this type of wine, I'll admit- but it's common practice to stir the wine in primary, and rack to secondary when fermentation slows down and to get the wine off of the gross lees.

I'd stir daily, until fermentation slows, at least!

Yooper,

What would be the main difference in the type of wines produced with one method over the other?

I've been doing my wine this way and those who taught me also did wine this way.

Jericurl said:

Yooper,

What would be the main difference in the type of wines produced with one method over the other?

I've been doing my wine this way and those who taught me also did wine this way.

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I"ve never heard of anybody NOT stirring in primary to break up the cap, etc, so I can't answer that.

Oh good then.

The response upthread had me a bit concerned.
Even the straight prickly pear juice produced a thick layer of sludgy crud with foam during the first week of fermentation.
But when I add any fruit or anything even remotely solid I get a good 2 to 4 inch layer of crap at the top of my bucket.
I was told that stirring was necessary for flavoring and yeast activity.
I just stir it down into my must twice a day. As the yeast works through it, it eventually falls to the bottom a day or two before it's ready to rack.
I haven't noticed any off flavors or anything, but of course, that may not be the experience that others have had.