First "proper" batch very yeasty

[Blacksmith1]

By proper I mean not just thrown together "lets make alcamahol!" style.
One gallon batch. Started on Dec 5 2018. Used a pasteurized Juice with no additives other than ascorbic acid. added pectic enzyme, just in case. About 2 lbs of sugar IIRC. I know I shoulda wrote it down but I do Have the OG somewhere I think. Used Lalvin 1116. Used Campden tablet (potassium not sodium) at racking. racked twice so far. At last racking this morning, three weeks in, it was still very yeasty smelling and tasting. it is a light pinkish color where it started very dark. Plum/pomegranate/black cherry juice, so I am expecting it to finish darker than it is.
Is all this normal?

 

[Blacksmith1]

OK, next morning and the color is much darker. a lot more yeast on the floor of the carboy. I'm thinking this was too much CO2 keeping the yeasts in suspension.
How are we supposed to know when to rack, re-rack, etc? Or is this whole thing a "seat of the pants" adventure?

 

[Yooper]

Rack when you have lees 1/4" thick or more, or ANY lees after 60 days. Once you aren't dropping lees after at least 60 days, the wine would be ready for bottling.

The wine is what? 3 weeks old? It shouldn't be too yeasty- but until it's completely clear you will still have yeast in suspension which could contribute to a yeast flavor.

 

[Blacksmith1]

yeah, 3 weeks, all in 1 gallon carboys. first racking had about 1/2 inch of lees. next batch will get open ferment in a bucket. I'm thinking that better degassing in the primary will also help with dissipating the yeasty smell/flavor in the future.

 

[bernardsmith]

My understanding is that, counter-intuitively, yeasty smells are caused by too few viable yeast cells in your wine. Did you re-hydrate the yeast according to best practice? Did you use the whole pack of yeast? The other explanation could be that you used the appropriate number of viable cells but for various reasons the fermentation is not active enough to blow off normal aromas...

 

[Blacksmith1]

I think so
No
and it was as active as the other 4 one gallon batches I have going.
I may have left it a bit too long before racking. we'll see how it turns out. And given the abrupt color change after degassing there may have been too much in suspension

 

[jonereb]

I'm no expert, but I have found that during two years of aging, the yeast smell and taste dissipates. So don't be in a hurry to bottle. Keep the airlock on the carboy and rack as needed. I typically bottle after about 9 months in the carboy.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Thanks for the responses. If nothing else I will learn patience, or learn to drink yeasty jet fuel... I haven't even looked at it since Saturday, so I'll give it a quick look today and see if It"s got yeast at the bottom.

 

[Blacksmith1]

ok racked it and capped the gallon today. still a slight yeast taste and will need some acid but not too bad. took an OG at 1.115 and an FG of 0.999 so if I did the math right that's 15.7% ABV. 7weeks in and very still, so now I wait......

 

[jonereb]

Did you "cap" or airlock the gallon. Use an airlock so gases can escape.

 

[Blacksmith1]

I capped it and 3 others that were started 1&2 weeks before it. if the airlock stops O2 going in, how can it let gasses out when fermentation has stopped? there is no activity in the airlocks.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Dont cap...you stand a good chance of blowing the lid or breaking the bottle.

 

[Blacksmith1]

5 days and no bombs but I'll rack them open before I go to bed just in case.

[edit] just checked it and 2 out of the five hissed ever so slightly when I opened them. so since they went 5 days I'll put the airlocks back on all of them tomorrow. Just in case.

 

[jonereb]

I keep my muscadine wine under airlock for 9 months before bottling -- with periodic racking as needed.

 

[Blacksmith1]

that was supposed to say "crack them open". I guess I better learn patience as I just picked up a 6 gallon kit yesterday. screwing up a gallon is one thing, but 6?

 

[Blacksmith1]

Racked again to remove sediment. Added acid blend which made a huge improvement. Tomorrow I'm going to get another of the juice it came from and freeze concentrate for backsweetening. If all goes well this one will be tried again with proper notes being taken.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Picked up some K-Meta and K sorbate to stabilize, and got another 1/2 gallon of juice to freeze concentrate for backsweetening. I think this might be the one that proves to swimbo that I can really make something worth drinking.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Forgot to stabilze. Same batch backsweetend with freeze concentrate. The dark one is very sweet, the other is semi dry. How do I retain color in the ones I don't over sweeten?

 

[Maylar]

Sweeten with something other than juice.

 

[Blacksmith1]

still doesn't fix the lack of color.

 

[Blacksmith1]

+1 from Swimbo. She seemed surprised. And this hasn't aged yet.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Young but tasty. Drinking the first bottle now. I'll let the others age a bit and see what I get.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Never did age this. We drank it too soon.