help

[ryanpetty]

So my wine is about three weeks old and the bubbling had slowed down, n I poured some for my girl n I to try. The next day it seemed to stop bubbling completely. Did I stop the fermentation, I don't want the alcohol content to be too low. Did I mess it up?

 

[Jaybird]

You probably just disrupted the Co2 and replaced it with air in the carboy or whatever you have it in. That will sometimes make the airlock stop moving. There is less wine and more room in vessel. The Co2 production being low it may take a little while to catch up. But just pulling some out, that is not going to stop fermentation.

Use the hydrometer for testing

Cheers
Jay

 

[jc5066]

Have you racked to secondary yet?

It should taste like sh*t. All the yeast that's still in suspension.

No, you didn't ruin it. Just don't do it again. You need to be patient when it comes to wine.

 

[DoctorCAD]

If you havent discovered by now, consuming live yeast can "loosen" up your lower digestive trac.

Are you reading this while sitting on a toilet?

 

[ryanpetty]

What do you mean should? N I'm new at this so I'm still figuring it out

 

[DoctorCAD]

What do you mean should? N I'm new at this so I'm still figuring it out

What we are trying to tell you is "green" wine is not very good because there are billions of live yeast cells still doing their job of eating sugar and pooping out alcohol. That is not a taste-free process. The flavors don't start to get good until all of the yeast have died from swimming in their own poop (alcohol toxicity is really what is happening, but I like the poop analogy). After they die, gravity will make them fall to the bottom of the carboy and that's when you rack the now clear wine into another carboy or bucket and do the bottling step.

Keep in mind that wine kit instructions give the bare minimums of time, they want you to get done quickly so you buy more wine kits. Most of us will let our wine sit a minimum of 6 months before bottling and 6 months in the bottle before ever drinking any. Some will go years. Wine just simply get better with age.

You are doing well so far, keep it up!

If you do want a shorter time wine kit, look for kits with names like Island Mist or Orchard Breezing. They are closer to wine coolers and really can be drunk in less than 3 months. They have low alcohol and artificial flavorings to overwhelm the "green" taste, but they are good for drinking while your good wine is resting.