House of Beaverdale CS

MattM1

Hi - i'm making the above - the instructions aren't particularly clear and am hoping you can clarify. I'm at the primary ferment stage and am at day 5 i thought that fermentation would have stopped now but it's merrily bubbling away still - i intend to transfer into a secondary bucket prior to bottling - i think i have to wait for the fermentation to stop before doing this - giving it another day or two to finish. Is this correct ?

Thank you  

HBO_Staff

That's right, the fermentation times can vary, but wait for each stage to finish before moving on to the next, it may take a little longer but that is no bad thing. Often it is the temperature which can make it take longer, especially if it is a bit cooler or towards the lower end of any brewing temperature recommended by the manufacturers, introducing gentle heat such as with a Brew Belt or heater tray will often speed things up if needed, otherwise just leave it to do it's own thing before continuing 

MattM1

Thanks HBO - I am at the finings stage now - had a quick look at Chitosam online and would prefer to make it without adding it - various forums have reported making wine without adding it and that it cleared OK - whilst i would rather not add this i dont want to produce a poorer quality wine by not adding it. Any advice appreciated. 

HBO_Staff

Sometimes people don't want to use finings as they can contain things that vegetarians wont drink. The finings bind the sediment suspended in the liquid together and help it clear, but you don't have to use them. You will need to leave the wine longer to allow the sediment to naturally settle out, and if making wine regularly we would recommend filtering it to remove as much as possible too. You can get various filters, some are expensive pumps, but this is a reasonable option which will help to clean the wine;

http://www.home-brew-online.com/equipment-c40/filtering-c61/harris-mk3-wine-filter-kit-p637