Hot answers tagged wine
10
It sounds like it was bottled, intentionally or otherwise, with sugar present in the wine. The residual yeast digested this sugar turning it into alcohol and CO2, providing the fizz. It's safe.
Wine generally doesn't get "unsafe", it goes bad. As wine is exposed to oxygen it turns to vinegar. This is safe but unpleasant to drink.
6
You can absolutely open the bucket if you feel it's necessary to stir the must. There is very little chance of contamination if you are diligent in sanitizing everything that will touch the must. If any air borne particles do get in there won't be enough to get a foot hold and will be overtaken by the yeast.
I have made over 20 meads that I have removed ...
6
I've bulk aged wines for up to a year with no bad consequences.
As long as:
You kept oxygen out
The airlocks didn't dry out
There was sufficient sulphur in the wine
The alcohol was sufficiently high
It'll be fine. Definielty taste it, and report back.
5
Preservatives generally aren't a part of winemaking, at home or commercially. If you are referring to sulfites, these are added to kill the yeast to stop fermentation at a specific point, not to preserve the wine per se.
Most sulfites dissipate, break down, or precipitate out within about 24 hours after application. They are not preservatives because ...
5
You should be fine storing wine in a stainless container. It is entirely light proof and air-tight. Beer has been stored and served in stainless steel for many years. You are correct, white wines are fermented in stainless vessels. Reds can be too (they add wood chips to the mix to simulate barrels).
5
Stirring of the must during fermentation to off gas CO2 is a technique often used in commercial wine making. The stirring will not only release the co2 which is toxic to the yeast but it will also add oxygen which is essential for the growth phase. You can do this until the fermentation is about 50% complete because the yeast will consume the oxygen ...
5
Red and white wines are made differently, so there are different factors to consider when deciding on what yeast to use. White wine is basically just fermented grape juice, while red wine is made by fermenting "must" which includes the skins, seeds, and stems of the grapes as well as the juice.
Typically red wine is fermented at a high temperature (85°F), ...
5
I think secondary "fermentation" is kind of a misnomer, since fermentation is largely complete by this point. It's more of a secondary "clarification" stage where yeast and other stuff falls out to the vessel bottom.
Given this, I think it would certainly be safe to try. All of the alcohol is already in there, acting as a natural preservative. If anything ...
4
The only way to be sure if it is fermenting is to check the gravity. If the airlock is not bubbling it could just mean the seal on the bucket lid (or stopper) is not sealed air-tight. It may also need more time before it kicks up. The only time I fermented wine, it was a much less active-looking fermentation than beer. I'd say wait a day or two, then ...
4
It's honestly a matter of taste. A lot of wines are good young.
A younger shiraz (3 months aging) is going to be pretty fruity and very bright tasting. Something reminiscent of a Beaujolais nouveau, just a little deeper.
At the six month mark some of that frutiness will dial down and blend in with more of a floral aroma/taste.
Year old shiraz tends to ...
4
It's a combination of marketing and tradition. For better or worse you're average consumer expects white wine to come in a clear bottle.
This is not exclusive however, one example being Riesling which is traditionally bottled in brown glass.
Both white and red wine will change when exposed to light (Google "light struck wine" for plenty of interesting ...
4
The purpose of degassing in wine or mead is to benefit the yeast. CO2 is toxic to yeast and inhibits the yeast's ability to fully ferment the larger amount of sugars in wine/mead.
Degassing mead is highly recommended during primary fermentation to help the yeast, even if you plan on making a sparkling mead.
I'm curious about whether beer would benefit from ...
4
It's true, you want to keep your carboys topped up. Oxygen is the enemy of wine, even moreso for white wines. Ideally you want to top up with more of your own wine, either from last year's vintage of the same wine or, better yet, from the extra you've been making all along just for topping up. But if you don't have any topping-up wine of your own, then ...
4
You can use any kind of yeast to ferment a beer, but the problem lies in the results. Wine/champagne yeast fermentents different sugars. In particular, wine yeast doesn't ferment maltotriose, one of the main sugars in beer wort. The result is that you're left with beer that doesn't quite taste like beer. In addition, you may end up with a higher FG.
4
Well, you can either brew more often or brew larger batches. Either way, you'll end up with more beer/wine, so the first question is what to do with it?
Give it away. I tend to give away about 60% of everything I make.
Enter a lot of competitions. Expensive, but it does get the stuff out of the house.
Get (or build) a large fridge for long-term beer ...
4
No.
The reasons for fining or filtering are:
1) Appearance. Judges (and therefore many consumers) like to see a clear product. Generally, you will do better in a competition if your wine or beer looks like what the judges expect for that style, and most times what they expect is the mass-marketed crap you can buy at Safeway.
2) Flaws or bacterial ...
4
wine's primary fermentation can be airlocked if you like (I've done it with no problems). But if you're fermenting on the fruit then you'll want to stir the fruit back into the fermenting must a few times a day (this is called punching the cap) to keep any particular bit of fruit skin from growing mold (the active yeast fermentation will outcompete any ...
4
I take it that the balloon is meant to show you when fermentation has stopped since it will no longer expand? Although, you really have to have a good seal on it, and still take into account that a balloon is not an impermeable membrane. A simple fermentation airlock should also be able to give you the same information.
As for recipes that use concord ...
3
As brewchez suggests, there are a number of "wine cellars" on the market that are essentially mini-fridges that can run at cellar temp. Another option, if you have the room, is to use a Johnson Controls thermostat with a full-size refrigerator as brewers often do for control of fermentation temperature. (here is one example: ...
3
How hot are we talking?
A cool closet on an inside wall of the house should be fine.
But I think the only real answer to this is a dedicated wine fridge with finer temp control. One that you can set to a cellar type temp. You don't want to store your red wine as cold as a normal fridge obviously.
3
I don't think that you can actually put a specific time table on how long Organic wine can be stored. It will depend greatly on the style of the wine. Wine really doesn't spoil per say but it becomes less enjoyable to drink as it passes it's prime. As with most wines and beers there is definitely a point of diminishing returns when it comes to aging and ...
3
I'm making plum wine right now and was wondering about this. While this may not be an official "answer" here, I have read that you can pretty much add pectic enzyme at any point in the process, but it's supposedly best to add it in the beginning. Pectic enzyme effectively un-does the work pectin does in your wine-- pectin wants to make it into a gel, but ...
3
The commonly repeated belief is that green bottles are better at keeping sunlight out and whites don't need this because they are often refrigerated. I never put much stock into this since worldwide refrigeration was not always common and a most wine is stored out of sunlight anyway.
A few winemakers in Sonoma told me that it was tradition based on the ...
3
Banana is higher in sugar content followed by mango, papaya and then guava. Typically people add sugar in with the fruit to increase the specific gravity. This gives you more alcohol content in the final product. You may not have to add as much extra sugar if you mix the other fruits with bananas. Aim for something around 1.080 S.G. to start with.
Pay close ...
3
I would let it sit for now. Sugar tends to dissolve eventually and yeast are crafty, so they will find the sugar at the bottom and eat it, regardless of whether it has dissolved, although your initial gravity readings may have been off if the sugar was not dissolved when you took them.
You want to be really careful right now to avoid infection since there ...
3
Yes, wine should be de-gassed before bottling. Dry red wines, in particular, should be completely still to ensure they taste right. Dry white wines can be bottled with a little residual CO2; this helps to brighten them up, and fits with the crisp acidity expected.
The good news is that the CO2 will off-gas naturally with time in bulk storage. The bad ...
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