New wine maker here and I got a little excited and forgot a step when starting my second batch of wine.
I'm starting my second batch of wine, first was a cabernet kit, from fresh picked La Crescent grapes. We picked and crushed/pressed the grapes 5 days ago. I let them settle for about 12 hours in my basement then added some pectic enzyme to settle more. I then racked it into my primary fermenter, off most all the lees (some snuck though), added EC-1118 yeast to start fermentation, I didn't hydrated the first batch and it never really started after 24 hours. There is a decent amount of headspace but I didn't think that would matter much because CO2 would be given off. I started a second batch of the same yeast in warm water and 24 hours later CO2 was coming through the airlock.
Where my concern start is that there is are white surface/clumps in the must that looks similar to the bacteria you would see in kombucha? I realized I haven't added any potassium metabisulfites to it to kill off any wild growth in it. I got too excited to get the process started (I've made myself a physical checklist now lol). The smell wasn't bad this morning but am I supposed to rack away from that stuff into a carboy? Will the fermentation be stopped if I rack it again and will it get over oxygenated? I would rather have a mediocre wine than to through the whole batch out but live and learn!
Starting OG was 1.096, Brix 21.5 > Day 1 settling > Day 2 Pectic Enzyme adding in morning and racked that night with dry yeast added > Day 3 Hydrated Yeast added > Day 4 Notice fermentation started > Day 5 Fermentation is going but white floating stuff is in there as well. Thanks for any help! I'm want to get one more batch going yet this fall and will take all the advice I can get! I can add pictures if it helps later tonight when I get home.
I'm starting my second batch of wine, first was a cabernet kit, from fresh picked La Crescent grapes. We picked and crushed/pressed the grapes 5 days ago. I let them settle for about 12 hours in my basement then added some pectic enzyme to settle more. I then racked it into my primary fermenter, off most all the lees (some snuck though), added EC-1118 yeast to start fermentation, I didn't hydrated the first batch and it never really started after 24 hours. There is a decent amount of headspace but I didn't think that would matter much because CO2 would be given off. I started a second batch of the same yeast in warm water and 24 hours later CO2 was coming through the airlock.
Where my concern start is that there is are white surface/clumps in the must that looks similar to the bacteria you would see in kombucha? I realized I haven't added any potassium metabisulfites to it to kill off any wild growth in it. I got too excited to get the process started (I've made myself a physical checklist now lol). The smell wasn't bad this morning but am I supposed to rack away from that stuff into a carboy? Will the fermentation be stopped if I rack it again and will it get over oxygenated? I would rather have a mediocre wine than to through the whole batch out but live and learn!
Starting OG was 1.096, Brix 21.5 > Day 1 settling > Day 2 Pectic Enzyme adding in morning and racked that night with dry yeast added > Day 3 Hydrated Yeast added > Day 4 Notice fermentation started > Day 5 Fermentation is going but white floating stuff is in there as well. Thanks for any help! I'm want to get one more batch going yet this fall and will take all the advice I can get! I can add pictures if it helps later tonight when I get home.
