Hello,
I'm by no means an expert wine maker, but I've made about 20 wine kits in the past and know a bit about the process. My current batch is throwing me some curve balls. 3 days in, the fermentation was so aggressive that it was bubbling out the air lock and spilling onto the floor. Now 1 week in, in the secondary fermentation stage, its still bubbling out the airlock and making a mess. The wine is about 4 inches below the airlock.
I've had 1 other batch with aggressive fermentation in the past, but not like this. I'm starting to wonder if I need to cut the process short, so I don't end up with rocket fuel. I tasted the leftovers form the transfer into the secondary fermentation, and I must say it tasted damn good. It's almost on par with a port, (which my dad and I like) but its an Australian Shiraz kit. The sweetness is a little much yet, but I'm wondering if I cut the process short by a few days will I end up with a sweeter wine, while still having the 12-14% alch. that the kit normally makes?
Also If I cant do this, I've read in the instructions that you can add sugar afterwards? What type of sugar do you use for this? corn sugar? and will it leave sediment in the bottom of the bottles?
Also I know that temperature can cause "explosive" fermentation like this but I've always been making my wine in 67-70F and only got results like this once in the past. Is it possible that there was to much yeast in the packet?
Overall, its not a really big issue, it'll end up good in the end, I'm just curious about why this is happening and what to expect when its done.
Thanks all,
Cheers!
I'm by no means an expert wine maker, but I've made about 20 wine kits in the past and know a bit about the process. My current batch is throwing me some curve balls. 3 days in, the fermentation was so aggressive that it was bubbling out the air lock and spilling onto the floor. Now 1 week in, in the secondary fermentation stage, its still bubbling out the airlock and making a mess. The wine is about 4 inches below the airlock.
I've had 1 other batch with aggressive fermentation in the past, but not like this. I'm starting to wonder if I need to cut the process short, so I don't end up with rocket fuel. I tasted the leftovers form the transfer into the secondary fermentation, and I must say it tasted damn good. It's almost on par with a port, (which my dad and I like) but its an Australian Shiraz kit. The sweetness is a little much yet, but I'm wondering if I cut the process short by a few days will I end up with a sweeter wine, while still having the 12-14% alch. that the kit normally makes?
Also If I cant do this, I've read in the instructions that you can add sugar afterwards? What type of sugar do you use for this? corn sugar? and will it leave sediment in the bottom of the bottles?
Also I know that temperature can cause "explosive" fermentation like this but I've always been making my wine in 67-70F and only got results like this once in the past. Is it possible that there was to much yeast in the packet?
Overall, its not a really big issue, it'll end up good in the end, I'm just curious about why this is happening and what to expect when its done.
Thanks all,
Cheers!
