Hey wine experts, new winemaker here. I've been doing beer for about 3 years now and decided to switch it up a bit.
I got a 6 gallon pail of Chilean Malbec juice from the winemaking supply store. They guy there gave me a package a dry yeast to ferment it. I let the juice warm up to room temperature (around 70) overnight, then I rehydrated the yeast and poured it directly into the juice pail. I covered to surface with cheesecloth and placed the lid loosely over the cheesecloth.
My question is, I know with beer you can expect to see a nice layer of foam on the surface as it ferments. With this wine I don't have any foam. It's been going now for about 2 days. I can hear it fizzing if I get up next to the bucket and it smells like something, but I'm not sure what (not really sure what fermenting wine smells like).
Just worried that I might ruin a 60 dollar pail of juice and trying to avoid that if possible. Thanks for the input.
I got a 6 gallon pail of Chilean Malbec juice from the winemaking supply store. They guy there gave me a package a dry yeast to ferment it. I let the juice warm up to room temperature (around 70) overnight, then I rehydrated the yeast and poured it directly into the juice pail. I covered to surface with cheesecloth and placed the lid loosely over the cheesecloth.
My question is, I know with beer you can expect to see a nice layer of foam on the surface as it ferments. With this wine I don't have any foam. It's been going now for about 2 days. I can hear it fizzing if I get up next to the bucket and it smells like something, but I'm not sure what (not really sure what fermenting wine smells like).
Just worried that I might ruin a 60 dollar pail of juice and trying to avoid that if possible. Thanks for the input.