Damson wine - pre bottling queries.

[Chris the Fish]

Dear All,

Bear with me on this one, there are probably answers out there but ive looked all around and maybe need a bit of reassurance/guidance.

I made a 1gal DJ of damson wine on the 15 Sept, and having racked several times to take it off the sediments have come to a stable 1010 gravity reading today (4/11) from a SG of 1100.

Firstly, is this too sweet? if so is there anything i can do to dry it out?

also...

Should i have added a campden tablet at each racking?

Should i rack prior to degassing? (and add a campden tablet?)

Do i add sorbate prior to degassing or after? (do i need to add sorbate at all?)

do i then bottle after stabilising/degassing, and will it be ok to bottle age in my garage (considering the colder weather coming up?)

Like i say, i maybe need a little guidance as this is my first wine and ive never done this before ..

Cheers in advance, and i promise not to be a lurker anymore

Chris

[lockwood1956]

A few questions...

what yeast did you use?

are you sure ferment is finished...how many days in a row has the SG been the same?



There is sugar left in there, but you could stabilise and let it sit for a while to make sure no further fermentation takes place, you dont want a damson wine at less than 1.000. but to achieve this i normally ferment to dry (0.990) stabilise and sweeten. The danger you have is the residual sugar left in the wine restarting the ferment (sorbate will not stop this, all sorbate does is stop new yeasties being born, so if the ones in your DJ are only resting, they can come back at you at any time)

from a start in september, this wine should only really be getting its 2nd racking about now...dont fuss with the wine too much (it knows what to do)

Sorbate after degassing (only needed if you plan on sweetening, anmd must be added with campden or off smells may occur)

its too early to bottle this wine, let it age in the DJ a bit longer, storing in your garage will be ok, and will cold stabilise the wine. You may get some tartrate crystals drop out (wine diamonds) this if fine, it will soften the wine.


tips:
Campden tablet to be added at every other racking, not every time

Always Rack before degassing

Always Degass before fining

always fine (or age to clear) before filtering

Always filter before bottling

Always mnake sure wine is stable before bottling

Always age in bulk as the wine is less susceptable to temperature fluctuations


hope this helps
regards
Bob

[Chris the Fish]

Cheers for the response, i think i racked too many times early on and (3) as i was trying to get it off the sediment (thats the beer brewer in me!)

The yeast was a red packet of vinquick (or similar name) and not a specific strain, as this was my first wine i used whatever the chemist had in stock.

The gravity has been the same for the last 7 days or so, could i try adding more yeast to get it going again?

Cheers again for the tips, you've cleared my head of all the little niggling doubts.

Chris

[lockwood1956]

Adding more yeast wont neccesarily do anything, as you have quite a bit of alcohol in there which will inhibit yeast activity. I think the problem is that your yeast has reached its alcohol tolerance and died off, in which case you should be able to stabilise it and then age a little before bottling.

or......
you could try restarting it by following this tutorial

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=911

let us know which way you are going and we can guide you through it


regards
Bob

[Chris the Fish]

Thanks bob, im off to work now (dont you just love a late shift!) but ill update tomorrow eve/friday.

Cheers again, and ill keep you posted.

Chris

[Chris the Fish]

Just a bit of feedback on this.

The wine hadnt finished fermenting (a quick swirl and it went from 1010 to 1004 over the last 2 weeks). So racked and de gassed, also used Pot. sorbate and sulphite. Now im going to leave it for a while, how long prior to drinking do you bottle?

when space becomes a premium and the missus makes you bottle it?

[goldseal]

Hint: 1 demijohn takes up far less space than 6 bottles; a 5 gallon carboy takes up less space than 30 bottles. This is why I have 9 carboys and 20+ DJs in the garage, rather than 400+ bottles on racks I haven't got

It is generally considered preferable to age in bulk. One reason is that the bigger volume of liquid maintains a more stable temperature (or at least changes temperature more slowly). Keep an eye on the airlock though - don't let it dry out.


You need to make sure it is crystal clear before bottling. The longer you leave it in the carboy/DJ, the more sediment will drop out, and therefore there will be less for you to filter out (or there will be less sediment in the bottle if you don't filter).

Once bottled I'd leave it at least a month before sampling: the longer you can leave it the better.