Home Cooking Gourmet Blog

I racked the wine again. There was sediment (lees) on the bottom so I had to be careful. The lees was noticeably less than when I racked in December.  The wine is still a bit cloudy. I lost about 2 cups due to racking. I am going to bulk age another two months before bottling due to cloudiness.

The next major step in the Concord wine adventure, assuming the wine will clarify from racking a few times over several months, will be stabilizing and sweetening. The plan is for this to occur in Jan or Feb 2012.

I have been researching the best way to sweeten wine, since Concord wine needs it.

After the wine is clear, it is time to stabilize and sweeten the wine. They both go together because adding sugar back to the wine might restart fermentation so killing the yeast when adding sugar is necessary.

Stabilize

Add stabilizing chemicals. In our case, 1/2 tsp. potassium sorbate (1 gram) and 1 crushed Campden tablet (per gallon wine) . Wait one day before sweetening so the yeast is inhibited.

Sweeten

Since sugar (granulated white sugar bought at any supermarket) and water can have contaminants, they must be boiled for at least 1 minute (3 minutes if you live over a mile above sea level). Boil (microwave works great. make syrup mixture in a large coffee cup) 1/2 cup water then add 1 cup sugar and stir until dissolved. Boil then let cool to room temperature. Add 1/2 cup syrup to wine, gently stir, and taste. Add another 1/4 cup, if necessary.

Put the airlock back on and let sit 1 to 4 weeks (longer the better) to make sure no fermentation starts.

I expanded on the subject here: winemaking: sweetening.

It has been a month since I filled the current secondary fermenter.

After sanitizing the necessary equipment (cubitainer, siphon, siphon hose, hydrometer, hydrometer test tube, airlock), on Dec 5th I racked the wine to a new container. The racking took out all but about 1/4 inch of the wine. There was some definite lees on the bottom.

The clarity is cloudy; hopefully it will go away as the wine ages.

I filled the hydrometer test tube about 2/3 full and measured the specific gravity. It was a little less than 1.000 which means no or very little sugar left.

Why less than 1.000? The alcohol is less dense than water and practically no sugar is left so with a mixture of water, alcohol, and no sugar, the density is less than water itself (1.000).

To measure the remaining sugar, a sugar analysis kit would be needed since the level of sugar is so low (around 1%).

I sampled the sample (about 1/2 glass) and, wow, that wine is for adults only. It will need to be sweetened before bottling, but the yeasties did their job.

I was happy that the taste was good; no off flavors.

Overview Timeline

Day 1 (Oct 26) – load primary fermenter with grape juice, additives. Measure acid, make adjustment.

Day 2 (Oct 27) – A.M. stir in pectin enzyme. P.M. check specific gravity. Adjust, if necessary. Add yeast. Fermentation starts. 70 degrees.

Day 11 (Nov 5) – fermentation mostly done. Rack into container with airlock (anaerobic fermentation starts). Move to cooler (60 deg) place. Note this should have been Day 7 or Day 8 but I had to restart fermentation.

Day 41 (Dec 5)  - rack into container with airlock

Day 71 (Jan 5) – rack into container with airlock

Day 75 (Jan 9) – fining, if necessary

Day 85 (Jan 19) – stabilize wine

Day 86 (Jan 20) – sweeten wine, if necessary

Day 96 (Jan 30) – rack into bottles

Why rack wine every few months? Why not let it sit until ready for bottling?

Autolysis. Yeast cells remaining will eventually feed on the lees. This induces bad flavors into the wine. Racking every few months will prevent this.

Bulk aging is better than bottling wine and letting it sit. The temperature variation is a lot less on a bulk of wine than individual bottles.

I plan on letting the wine sit several months before bottling as quickly as possible. The drawback is the container is tied up aging wine rather than making new wine. Since there are no immediate plans to make another batch of wine, I’ll use the cubtainer for aging.

Learned today that moving wine from fermentation environment (70 to 77 degrees F) to a cooler environment (60 degrees) helps clarify the wine. The temperature drop is the reason. I am fortunate to have a basement which is around 60 degrees. Hopefully this will help enough so fining agents do not have to be used, as they can alter the taste of the wine. Plan to rack two months then another two months for clarity.

I hope I did not introduce metallic contamination. I used a metal soup pot for the primary fermenter. I’ll have to find out if it is stainless steel; I doubt it. Also, I used a sterilized metal soup spoon to stir the must; should have used a long plastic food-grade spoon or glass rod. The metal may have introduced a colored haze to the wine.

The soup pot and metal spoon were stainless steel, which is ok. Wooden spoons are discouraged because they are difficult to keep sanitized. Next time I’ll use food-grade plastic spoon.

Nov 5, 2011

The yeast activity has definitely subsided. It has been about 6 days since fermentation started.

The hydrometer I use is calibrated to read accurately at 60 degrees; note this is the temperature of the liquid being measured, not ambient air temperature. The liquid (i.e. must) is 72 degrees. According to the hydrometer correction chart, which I’ll publish later, I add .0013 to the initial s.g. of 1.096 giving me the corrected 1.0973. I’ll use 1.097.

Since the must s.g. started at 1.097, I expect the wine to contain about 13.5% alcohol.

Beginning s.g. – ending s.g. * 125 = % alcohol. So far, (1.097- .995) * 125 = 12.75%.

I measured the specific gravity today and it was below 1.000; around 0.995.

I racked the wine into another cubitainer (the secondary fermenter) using an auto siphon. I practiced using the siphon in a gallon milk jug filled with water siphoning into an empty gallon milk jug. I must say it worked very well though it took several pumps of the siphon to get it going. The cubitainer containing the must was about three feet higher than the new cubitainer. I put both cubitainers in 5 gallon plastic buckets I got at a grocery store. I refilled the airlock with new sterilizing solution.

I sampled the wine and it tasted pretty good – no off tastes and not sickenly sweet.

I moved the wine to the basement where the temperature is about 60 degrees.

One thing I have not measured is the acid level. Unfortunately, this needs to be done before fermentation, where the acid level can be adjusted. I need to order an acid titration kit (around $10) to do this next time. I am a firm believer in “you can’t control what you don’t measure”.

Another late finding: several green grapes were included in the must. These are unripe grapes which means they have too much acid and not enough sugars. Next year, the green grapes go into the trash bin.

And another late finding: the must leftovers were tossed. I found out many old vineyards spread them around the base of the vines for compost/fertilizer. Supposedly, this makes the grapes hardier. Next year, this will happen.

Next step: Dec 5, 2011 – rack wine into other cubitainer.

The must is still fermenting. There is an odd smell (not like rotten eggs, which would indicate the presence of hydrogen sulfide).

I’m learning about the role of sulfites in winemaking (preserves). Adding sulfites adds sulfur dioxide which does several things: kills bacteria, speeds up alcoholic fermentation, prevents oxidation, and spontaneous fermentation of wild yeasts. Heating the must above 176 degrees F obviates the need for sulfur dioxide.

Well, whoops. I just found out that a sterilizing solution (not just plain water) should be used in the airlock. Sterilizing solution: 2 oz metabisulfite in 1 gallon water. I’ll keep it sealed in a jug for later use.