Alright I just racked some wine from primary to sec. And it doesn't taste very strong at all. The sugar has definetely been converted but i just can't taste much alcohol. I didn't put any nutrients or anything in it I just kept it very basic as this is my first batch of wine. I am currently adding sugar to the wine in hopes that the remaining yeast will make more alcohol in there. Is there anything else I should do? Perhaps repitch some yeast?
Wine semi-emergency
- Thread starter _bygolly
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DoctorCAD
Well-Known Member
What are your SG's?
When making wine, the goal isn't for it to taste boozy- it should taste like wine. It sounds done, except that you added more sugar so it should start fermenting again.
You need to use a turkey baster or something, sanitize it, and put it in a test jar (or the tube the hydrometer came in) and float the hydrometer.
I assume you have this wine in two one-gallon sized jugs, as I've never seen a 2 gallon carboy before. But if not, and there is a lot of headspace, rack to a vessel with almost no headspace at all, like two one-gallon jugs, and make sure to airlock it.
Get it out of the bucket ASAP, and put it in a carboy or two one gallon jugs, and top up to within an inch or two of the bung so that it's not in something with a wide headspace. Oxygen will ruin the wine fairly quickly in a bucket.
What was the starting gravity? If you know that, and you know how much sugar you added when you racked it, we can calculate the actual ABV.
bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
Five percent alcohol? Are you sure? What was your starting specific gravity? (that will tell us how much sugar was in the must and so we can determine the potential alcohol of your wine) - or do you know how much sugar was in the must before you added the yeast?
What was the gravity before you added more sugar? (If the reading was at about 1.000 then adding about 1/2 lb per gallon would raise the gravity to 1.020. You cannot know the actual ABV of your wine unless you know the starting gravity and the last gravity reading you have taken and you cannot know the potential gravity unless you know the starting gravity and the kind of yeast you are using..
What was the gravity before you added more sugar? (If the reading was at about 1.000 then adding about 1/2 lb per gallon would raise the gravity to 1.020. You cannot know the actual ABV of your wine unless you know the starting gravity and the last gravity reading you have taken and you cannot know the potential gravity unless you know the starting gravity and the kind of yeast you are using..
I thought that by looking at the side of it where the % thing was it told you. But I never took measurements in the beginning. I'm just now taking them for the first time. It's just really weak right now I know that.
Well, it might be, or not. If you tell us the ingredients, we can estimate the OG and then tell you the ABV%. Taste is not a valid measure of alcohol level- I have some 18% ABV meads that are so smooth you'd think it was non-alcoholic by taste.
buzzerj
Well-Known Member
What was the original gravity reading when you started the batch and how long ago did you pitch the yeast? If your hydrometer dropped to the bottom of your 2 gallon bucket, then the yeast had taken the wine to dryness (S.G. 0.990-0.995). Depending on the original gravity, your final %ABV should be ((O.G - F.G) x 1.33) + ((1.022 - F.G.) x 1.33) assuming the champagne yeast doesn't hit its upper toxicity tolerance. What was the must that you made? Maybe it was a very smooth result where you don't notice a hot alcohol. I think you need to be patient and let things develop. I don't see any emergency going on unless you didn't get enough sugar in the must to begin with. Relax dude and make another batch and take an O.G. measurement next time.
THe % this is the potential alcohol, not the actual alcohol, it means when they hydrometer is floating high up that you have a higher potential alcohol to make, and at the beginning you dont have any but if you ferment to dry you can have this potential amount. As the yeast eat up the sugar your potential amount of alcohol you can make decreases since you already made some of it you only have a lesser amount to keep making. People get confused when their wine is done and they hydrometer reads 0%, but thats because they have not more potential to make alcohol and its done, the real reading is at the begining when you mix everything up.
If you would post your recipe and yeast etc it would be helpful.
WVMJ
If you would post your recipe and yeast etc it would be helpful.
WVMJ
"Just drops to the bottom" doesn't mean a thing.
If your gravity is 0.992 and you put a hydrometer into a 100ml graduated cylinder that only contains 50ml of fluid, then it will always "just drop to the bottom" and prevent you from obtaining a measurement. If you put 100ml of fluid in the cylinder, then a hydrometer will float even at 0.992.
You need a 100ml graduated cylinder and you need to fill the cylinder with 100ml of fluid, every time. A wine thief pulls out pretty much exactly 100ml, you guessed it - for use in conjuction with a hydrometer that works in conjunction with a 100ml graduated cylinder. Of course if you ferment to terminal gravity in a plastic bucket with a spigot, then you don't need a wine thief (I recommend buying one anyway). You need the correct tools and you need to understand how to use them.
There you go, order one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006UKIASI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
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