First time and things seem a little off - help?

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Mark_

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I really hate trying to come up with good subjects, apologies for the vague message and thanks for looking!

The short of it:
I started a batch of grape wine, started SG off at 1.100 with Montrachet yeast and after 3-4 days now I checked my SG and it is around 1.000. I expected at least 5-7 days. The temperature has been a constant 70 degrees F and it has been fermenting like crazy. I decided to siphon to secondary and 40 gallons of grapes has overflown my 3 gallon carboy. I need to go buy more bottles as I probably have another gallon I can siphon off. That seems like an excessive amount of fluid. I only added 3/4 of a gallon of water to this. It is all grape.

I tasted it and it DEFINITELY is dry and high in alcohol.

It just seems odd that A.) It produced so much juice thus far and B.) Primary fermentation took only 3-4 days.

Anything I need to be concerned about or just keep going?

Thanks everyone!
 
I would just grab more carboys. Ferments can go to dry in as little as three days(scared me, first raspberry mead--fabulous). What do you guesstimate to be your juice yield from 40# grapes, 4-5 gallons? I think the average is around 8.2lb yields one gallon of juice, though it will vary from 8-12# to get one gallon. Pulling that from memory, I hope I am close. What kind of grapes?
 
I really hate trying to come up with good subjects, apologies for the vague message and thanks for looking!

The short of it:
I started a batch of grape wine, started SG off at 1.100 with Montrachet yeast and after 3-4 days now I checked my SG and it is around 1.000. I expected at least 5-7 days. The temperature has been a constant 70 degrees F and it has been fermenting like crazy. I decided to siphon to secondary and 40 gallons of grapes has overflown my 3 gallon carboy. I need to go buy more bottles as I probably have another gallon I can siphon off. That seems like an excessive amount of fluid. I only added 3/4 of a gallon of water to this. It is all grape.

I tasted it and it DEFINITELY is dry and high in alcohol.

It just seems odd that A.) It produced so much juice thus far and B.) Primary fermentation took only 3-4 days.

Anything I need to be concerned about or just keep going?

Thanks everyone!

Yes, 40 lbs of grapes sounds right for 3 gallons, but it depends on the grape, the press, the water content...

A 70 degree temp sounds good (depending on the grape) and very possible for the quick ferment.

Grab a gallon jug or two and hope you get some good clean up by the yeast over the next few days.

What was the extra water for?

What's the grape?
 
saramc said:
I would just grab more carboys. Ferments can go to dry in as little as three days(scared me, first raspberry mead--fabulous). What do you guesstimate to be your juice yield from 40# grapes, 4-5 gallons? I think the average is around 8.2lb yields one gallon of juice, though it will vary from 8-12# to get one gallon. Pulling that from memory, I hope I am close. What kind of grapes?

I grabbed another carboy and siphoned more off. I now have two three gallon carboys. One is full and the other is half full. I think they are now done with the secondary as I am seeing zero activity. I'm going to check SG tomorrow. A quick taste tells me there practically zero sugar so I am probably good to rack and hit it with some kmeta.

Thanks for the response! Your reassurance was what I needed. They are red globe grapes from Peru, nothing special. I can't wait for the Grapes here in Napa to be in season!!
 
WilliamSlayer said:
Yes, 40 lbs of grapes sounds right for 3 gallons, but it depends on the grape, the press, the water content...

A 70 degree temp sounds good (depending on the grape) and very possible for the quick ferment.

Grab a gallon jug or two and hope you get some good clean up by the yeast over the next few days.

What was the extra water for?

What's the grape?

Thank you! I guess I just need some confidence. Being my first batch I wasn't sure of the results.

The extra water was to dissolve the sugar in that I added initially. I may have overdone it;)

The grapes are from Peru. Just a run of the mill red grape from Peru. Really nothing special.

Thanks for the response. I feel better about this. The extra air in my three gallon carboy being only half full is the only thing concerning me right now!
 
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