My 2nd Batch of wine - Damson Plums

I started my 2nd batch wine last weekend following this recipe:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/damson.asp

Slight changes I made were:

- instead of using one cup of the grape concentrate, I just tossed the entire can of grape concentrate into the mix

- used the hydrometer to determine the amount of sugar to use - I made sure the reading before pitching the yeast was at 1.090

- I used Lavlin EC 1118 yeast instead of the suggested yeast on the recipe, simply because that's all I have

- didn't bother with the yeast nutrient


I let the juices soak for two days, with the fruit in a sock, on the third day I drip drained the sock for a couple of hours then removed before pitching the yeast

I have it in a 6 gallon pale with an airlock. The airlock is currentely bubbling about every 7 seconds. Here are two pictures of the current fermentation:

12 hours after pitching yeast:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3067767&l=fdc0469397&id=620636234

3 days after pitching yeast:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3081843&l=c26d51b9fc&id=620636234

Right now the past 2 days (i am on day 5 fermentation) every time I open the bucket i have about an inch of nice foamy bubbles at the top. Similar to what's in my 3rd day pic but more thick. I stir it twice daily to let oxygen in. It has an awsome smell, my mother claims its the best smelling brew she has ever smelled.

I am wondering right now about the fermentation however. I have taken readings on day 3 and today (day 5) on day 3 it came in at about 1.085 and now its at about 1.078 - is that good or bad? It's dropping but not as fast as I was expecting.

The temperate in the house here is between 15c in the nighttime and 20c in the daytime.

Anyone? ....

Emerald said:

I haven't learned enuf yet on how to make that many different wines, but if your plum wine keeps that gorgeous color, and has great flavor, then you are gonna be one popular person next year at Christmas time!! they would make beautiful gifts.. At least all the hints from my family on wine for them next year would suggest!

ETA: On the question of the ferment going too fast, you could move it to a bit of a cooler area( I am also not good at translating C into F so not sure how warm that is) as all the research and reading on here suggest that a nice cool, slow ferment makes for a better wine.
AETA:Oops, I must learn to read better- your wine is probably going just fine. I went and looked up your temps and your home is about the same as mine temp. wise and it is a bit cool here as my third batch of wine is going very slowly too.

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Great, thanks for the insight! I checked it again this morning and its down to about 1.065 so its still moving - still has that great smell too

Sounds like it's going along just fine to me; though I think I'd quit stirring it now, put it under an airlock & let it do it's thing. Rack when it needs it, bottle in a year. Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

Sounds like it's going along just fine to me; though I think I'd quit stirring it now, put it under an airlock & let it do it's thing. Rack when it needs it, bottle in a year. Regards, GF.

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Thanks for the tip! I'll leave it alone for the next week or so now, thanks!

Its down to 1.040 now, and the foam has disappeared, just the liquid with the active bubbles at this point. The airlock is still bubbling at about every 5-6 secs.

I stirred it again today, as well as took a taste, its quite tasty!

My question is, how far down the hydrometer before I move it from the primary to the secondary?

Would it be possible for you to load up those pictures on something other than facebook? It's blocked for me.

I checked the hydrometer reading again today, its at about 1.035, activity is now starting to slow, the airlock bubbling at every 20 secs...

Should I leave it for another couple of days, or is it now time to move it to the secondary?

Hydrometer reading 1.030 now, I added 4 tbs of medium roast American oak chips to the primary for the next couple of days. A friend of mine told me if i wanted to add them to the secondary as well once I transfer just add them to a nylon for easy removal.

Airlock is still bubbling along at about 10 seconds now...

I have since placed this in the seconday at 1.015 and has been there since saturday. Sill a nice cloth of foam at the top. Finally got some extra equipment to clear the wine and degas it and such...should have a coker and such next week!

I took the slurry from this plum wine and added it to my hard lemonade which has been brewing since sunday! I have to say, yeast slurry from this +new batch of ec1118 yeast in lemonade as a starter went along way!

I checked it today and its down to 1.008 - its been there nearly a month now - should I just leave it be and check it in 1 month's time to see if its still dropping?

Thinkey said:

I checked it today and its down to 1.008 - its been there nearly a month now - should I just leave it be and check it in 1 month's time to see if its still dropping?

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Well Keller's recipe says to leave it for 2 months, you've left it for 1. You could stick with the recipe & wait another month. Keller seems to know what he's doing. With a SG of 1.008, it's pretty close to being done, you could give it a GENTLE swirl & raise the ambient temp a few degrees & see if that jogs the yeast back into action. Regards, GF.