First attempt at wine making

BeervaiBeervai Member Posts: 16
edited November 2015 in Wine Making
Hello

I've made three beer kits so far and have just received a Cellar 7 - Chardonnay kit. I've never made a wine kit before.

I've followed the instructions and its now ready to start fermenting.

The instruction booklet says the primary fermentation will be finished by day 5 and that i should then siphon to secondary FV and follow the procedures for degassing and adding the other packets. From experience with the beer kits the time it says to allow for primary fermentation is way off and takes about 2 or 3 times the time that they state even with accurate temperatures. With that in mind I'm very dubious that Primary fermentation will be finished in 5 days with the cellar 7 wine kit. Or are the wine kits different from the beer ones?

What do you think is 5 days likely or should i be expecting 10-15 days before transferring to the secondary vessel. I will of course use the hydrometer to check.

Any other first time wine brewing tips appreciated for the next stages.

Cheers

Comments

  • HBO_StaffHBO_Staff Administrator Posts: 2,115
    The time can be increased especially if the temperature you brew at is on the cool side, the guide times can be optimistic but as you say always just double check with the hydrometer. If in doubt leave an extra day or two to be sure as it needs to have competed fermentation or it will not clear properly etc. It will help if you can keep the temperature in the early 20 degrees C or a so.

    Once the fermentation is complete make sure the wine is well degassed too, this will help it clear, and then as with beers the longer you leave it in the bottles the better the flavours will be.

    Let us know how you get on....
  • BeervaiBeervai Member Posts: 16
    Thanks.

    It fermented in the expected time, which i was surprised about, as none of my beers have done so far.

    SG 1.90 FG 0.997.

    I've wracked it to the second FV and done all the stirring and extra packets of chemicals. There's a lot of sediment forming at the bottom, twice as much as there was in the first FV so far and its still got about another 30 hours to go on the settling stage.

    Tasted it and it tastes just like wine, so guess I'm on the right track hehehe.

    Can i use my little bottler from the tap when i come to bottling the same as I would with beer. Or should i be using the auto siphon? I ask because of the sediment. I'm not worried about the little bottler perhaps taking longer as it would be easier for me but i wonder if the sediment is likely to be sucked in more using the bottler?
  • HBO_StaffHBO_Staff Administrator Posts: 2,115
    Sounds as though it is going well, this is the stage all the sediment will settle as the wine clears, once it has cleared it can then be bottled. Once ready to fill the bottles you can use a syphon or the little bottler will be ideal, the flow from the bottler is steady and not too fast so shouldn't disturb the sediment (this is the same for beer and cider too), the only problem will be is if the sediment is above the outlet of the bottler, but this is not usually an issue. Try a bottle first - the very first bit might have sediment in it which is from inside the trap, but the rest should then be OK and clear
  • BeervaiBeervai Member Posts: 16
    Thanks. That's great.

    Yeah, hopefully shouldn't be over the outlet..
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