Wine Making Questions(newbie)

[Eslais]

Hey, first of all thanks for entering my thread and reading

Today, I made a batch of a little bit less than half gallon (1.5 Liters exactly) to try my luck in winemaking, following a ECKraus recipe. I scaled down all the ingredients and ended up in something like this:

1.3 liters of pasteurized, no additives red grape juice
100 ml/3 oz. of filtered water + 100g of sugar to make "syrup", evaporating a little bit of the water but without boiling(to avoid caramelizing the sugar)
Pitched 5g of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast, rehydrating it first (it's the only yeast that I have)
Wyeast Yeast Nutrient (don't remember, but scaled down also, no SNA)
LD Carlson Yeast Energizer (don't remember either, but scaled down, no SNA)

Took a hydrometer reading and got a SG of 1.112.
Covered with a cheesecloth for the next 5-7 days, without an airlock.
Set aside in a room with a fluctuating temp of 16-19ºC(60 to 66ºF)

My questions are:

When do I take the next Hydrometer reading? Once a week?
When do I stop fermenting, when I get the desired SG reading? Or should I wait for the one written in the recipe? Because I was told that the Lalvin EC-1118 yeast dries out really fast
How do I stop fermenting? Only cold crashing?
I have bentonite powder and Sparkalloid for fining, is it(fining) something usual to do in wines?

Thanks, and any help will be really appreciated

 

[PRM]

I'll answer your questions in order:

1. After getting SG, I will take my next hydrometer reading 1 day after I see fermentation starting. Then from there out, I will test every other day. Some people measure everyday, its kind of up to you. You have to be careful to clean and sanitize your measuring equipment every time. I also stir the must after I take my reading while in primary.
2. I would let the wine finish fermenting out as dry as it wants and then back sweetening the wine so you can control the sweetness more while minimizing the risks of re-fermentation. Plus you get the ABV you planned for and can potentially balance the profile a little easier.
   1. http://eckraus.com/wine-making-stop-fermentation/
3. Bentonite and Sparkolloid are both considered fining agents and you can either add fining, bulk age for a long time or do a little of both. I'd recommend following the recipe instructions for now. You could always try the bentonite, then wait to see if you need to add the Sparkolloid. You might find the links bellow to be useful.
   1. http://eckraus.com/wine-making-finings/
      
   2. http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/em016/EM016.pdf

 

[Eslais]

Thanks a lot PRM! And thanks for the links too.

Regarding one point in your second answer, since you say "fermenting out as dry as it wants" I'm pretty sure you are saying when I don't see any changes in the hydrometer reading from last reading, but at that point, when do I take the next readings? Every week? everyday? Because at some point the fermentation is going to "stall" or halt but I believe it's going to slow down first. My question is to not make the mistake of believing that it stopped fermentation only to realize that it was still fermenting but really slow.

 

[PRM]

Hey Eslais. Sorry I wasn't totally clear but you are correct. You'll want the hydrometer reading to be the same for 3-4 days successively. Once you see that you know fermentation is complete.

My general steps are:

• Get SG then add yeast.
• Add yeast nutrient and/or energizer about half way between SG and 1.010-1.020.
• Rack to secondary once you see 1.010-1.020.
• When I get 3-4 successive reading at or below 0.998 I rack again to a carboy for aging.
• Bulk age for x time. (Depending on how long you age, you'll have to rack a few times)

If you don't have a secondary, you can wait for the successive hydrometer readings then stabilize your wine and bottle.

For a wine made from grape juice bought at the grocery, you probably won't need or want to age for long. These types of wines are generally meant to be consumed fairly young.

 

[Eslais]

Thanks PRM! Gonna try out the advices you gave to me. Last question, if I siphon my wine into another sanitized container while I clean the first one, and then I siphon back into the first after sanitizing it, is going to affect it somehow? Because right now, the secondary is filled with cider

 

[PRM]

I think as long as the bucket is clean and sanitized before you rack into it you should be ok. Ideally the container will be food safe, but for the short amount of time it's in the temporary bucket it should be alright.

Two points of warning:

1. You'll want to make sure you minimize the headspace in the temporary bucket to reduce the potential for oxidation and unwanted guests.
2. If your primary is plastic you will want to minimize the time aging in it. Plastic is slightly permeable to oxygen and the plastic could pickup or impart a flavor and/or color.

 

[Eslais]

Thank you very much! Tomorrow I'll check the SG and maybe put an airlock on it.