Hello from Belgium everyone, first question :D

[tom_1]

Hello from Belgum everyone, and thanks to whoever is responsible for this for the forum!


I primarily come here because I have a problem with my first bach with quince. I went quite wild since I do not have all the material nor the knowledge to succeed directly, even if I think I get most of the theory! At first a quite correct fermentation with alcohol with bred yeast, sugar and quinces. Then I transferred my bach on another tank to get rid of all the deposits (I let the peel of the quinces, so that was a lot). Then I did it again to get rid of the remaining deposit.

The problem is that everything seems to be fine before the transfers in terms of alcohol content. I made it taste some day ago to friends and it seemed quite a light wine, but acceptable for the first time. I thought it was odd because it tastes stronger before the transfers but justified with the presence of so much yeast in the deposit before. Now today I taste it again before putting some in a bottle, and it seems that most of the alcohol disappear, like if it is just a juice with a perceptible taste of alcohol.

I do not have (yet) a hydrometer so I have to taste the wine to estimate the alcohol content. I don't have either (yet) a siphon, so I just opened the valve of my tank to transfer the wine in another similar tank (avoiding shock as much as possible) so I suspect the loss of alcohol could come from that. I couldn't find an answer to my question of loss of alcohol (not a native English speaker) so I am wondering if one of you generous souls would have an idea of what went wrong. Was it the transfer, maybe too violent? Some kind of evaporation even if everything seem well sealed? Some chemical reaction I don't know of? Just the taste that diapered but not the alcohol?

 

[Stormcrow]

Without measuring gravity, it's really hard to say what might be going on. The alcohol isn't going to just disappear without a lot of heat. (Like distilling temperatures.) Just guessing, but I think the harsher fusel alcohols are just mellowing out as the wine ages, which is typically a good thing. The alcohol will still be there, it's just smoother. The fact that you're having trouble detecting it at all might just mean that your ABV is a little lower than you wanted. I make a lot more beer than wine, but I'd say this phenomenon is common to both kinds of fermentation.

Edit: Also, it's not uncommon to transfer wine several times. You just want to be as gentle as possible to limit oxygen exposure.

 

[tom_1]

Thanks for your answer! Indeed the alcohol is still present, people used as testers even have said that it seem quite alcoholic for a wine!
I think my taste was wronged because I previously tasted it with the yeast still very present, which gave a very strong alcohol taste. That means that it is a success, and that I will try my other projects: Mead, appel cider and ginger beer.
Thank you again!