Need some help new comer

[tony31]

this is a batch of mango wine at the top there is a lot of foam is there something wrong?? And should I stir it down??


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[Yooper]

It's fine, but sure, give it a stir with a sanitized spoon to make sure it gets rid of some c02 and gets some oxygen. Once fermentation slows down, after about 5 days, you shouldn't stir at that point.

 

[Arpolis]

Yea that cap is normal in a fruit wine. Just stir it up and eventually it will fall to bottom after fermentation dies down. If not stirred periodically and the alcohol evaporates off the top then that is an invitation for mold. So it is important to stir periodically till fermentation dies down.

 

[tony31]

Thank you both


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[bernardsmith]

The carbon dioxide produced by the yeast is keeping fruit particles suspended. Many people who make wine prefer to initiate the fermentation in food grade plastic buckets which they keep covered with a clean towel or dish cloth. (Beer seems to be more susceptible to bacterial and wild yeast infections, so brewers seem to seal and fix an airlock the moment they pitch the yeast) AN open bucket allows wine makers to stir the wine several times a day partly to keep all the fruit in contact with the yeast rich liquid, partly to force the CO2 to escape and partly to introduce more oxygen into the mix (the yeast use O2 during the first stages of the process - after the fermentation has used up the sugar the yeast no longer take up the O2 and then you have a danger of oxidizing the wine itself so it is when the gravity falls close to 1.005 that you rack from the bucket (or carboy) and seal the carboy with a bung and airlock)...

 

[Dbaker59]

Hi,
Just started my first wine making venture. The instructions included with the wine making kit said to put
an airlock on the wine during the primary fermentation, but to open the wine daily and stir. This did not make much sense to me, but I followed the instructions. At bottling the wine tasted yeasty, and had an over powering taste and smell from metabisulphite I added to the wine during the clarification stage. Not sure what to do now, but I moved forward and bottled the wine.

 

[bernardsmith]

In fact there is no good reason during active fermentation to seal the bucket and covering it loosely with a cloth is fine. You want to be able to stir the wine during that first week or so to introduce air (O2) for the yeast and you want to remove CO2 to reduce acidity and to keep the yeast suspended throughout the wine. If you were fermenting on fruit rather than juice you need to punch down the fruit cap that forms so that spoilage organisms don't grow on the surface AND you want the yeast access to all the fruit.

After the first racking you do want to seal the carboy (note the different term). You want to seal the carboy with a bung and airlock AFTER you have racked the wine from the primary vessel into the secondary one - AFTER active fermentation has more or less ceased. At that point air is not your friend so you want there to be virtually no space whatsoever between the bottom of the bung and the top of the wine (an inch in the neck is fine, although kit makers tend to argue that even if the wine is up to the shoulders of your carboy that that is OK but then they are suggesting that you bottle after - a month or two and are not aging for many months of years.

 

[Dbaker59]

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated. Do you use potassium metabisulphite to preserve your wine? The instructions included with the wine kit I purchased from Midwest Supplies said the wine would be drinkable immediately, but it is not. I contacted Midwest Supplies and they suggested that I let the wine age in the bottle for 6 months to a year, and during that time the metabisulphite would dissipate. Does that sound reasonable to you? Thanks again.

 

[Coffee49]

Wine making requires a large space to allow for proper inventory. So after the initial startup, time will make your wine better than retail purchases trouble is we open our wine sooner than desired because it is drinkable.

 

[slayer021175666]

Ya, all these guys are right about stirring it and punching the fruit down. I have only done 2 wines but, its what they call off gassing. It drops the fruit back down in the liquid and helps release more co2.

 

[toadie]

Yeah some of my first wines were a little hot. I regret buying the cheap corks at the homebrew supply because longer term aging and lotsa space seems useful!

 

[Mallerstang]

Wine making requires a large space to allow for proper inventory. So after the initial startup, time will make your wine better than retail purchases trouble is we open our wine sooner than desired because it is drinkable.

Agreed - my advice to any new winemaker would be to start a LOT the first year or two, so you can drink some technically too early and also have some to age properly. Get ahead of the process!