FIrst Wine(s); stuck ferment?

trashcan79 2020-05-09 15:22:41 UTC #1

Making my first wines from 1 gallon Winexpert kits. It's two weeks from pitching and I checked the SG and racked, but neither wine is where I expected them to be. Both have had minimal/no airlock activity for a couple days.

I have a Pinot Grigio that started at 1.088 and is at 1.024 SG, and I have a Merlot that started at 1.092 and is at 1.032 SG. Both were in a closet for fermenting thats relatively stable temperature wise, and was at 65-70 F during ferment. (SGs are approximate, I wrote them down, but they're way over there while I'm typing )

Hoping that the racking stirred up the yeast a bit and introduced just a bit of oxygen to get things moving again. Any other tips or suggestions? If ferment doesn't start back up, what's next?

brew_cat 2020-05-09 15:48:53 UTC #2

Iv never made wine from a kit but 2 weeks is not very long in the wine making buisness. Everytime you rack will degass it and I add a little nutrient. Your not going to see much airlock activity. Put the hydrometer away for awhile. Do another rack in a month then in three months. Then let it sit until your ready to bottle. White wine 9 months, red at least a year. I just bottled a red that I started 16 months ago, fabulous the red gets even better aging in the bottle. I find white is better young

trashcan79 2020-05-09 16:56:03 UTC #3

That seems like a long time for a kit that says 'ready in 4 weeks'! I'm not surprised if ferment is longer, but the guide said should be ~0.998 after two weeks.

brew_cat 2020-05-09 17:13:13 UTC #4

Like I said I don't know about kits. I make wine from juice and even that sure you can drink it In 4 weeks as well. You could drink it probably in 2 weeks. Depends what your going for

brew_cat 2020-05-09 17:15:24 UTC #5

If the kit said ready in 6 months probably wouldn't sell as much.

loopie_beer 2020-05-09 18:36:28 UTC #6

Are you using a hydrometer or a refractometer for testing?

trashcan79 2020-05-10 19:48:20 UTC #7

Refractometer

loopie_beer 2020-05-10 21:40:06 UTC #8

There ya have it! Once alcohol is present a refractometer doesn’t read correctly, without a mathematical formula. If you search online you can find some programs that will convert your readings. That’s the problem with 1gal kits... taking readings.

trashcan79 2020-05-12 22:33:00 UTC #9

Wow thanks for this! I didn't realize you had to compensate for the accumulation of alcohol (I'd used to hydrometers!).

Took readings, ran it through calculators and I'm right where expected ~0.995!

Thanks again! Now I can degas and stabilize

Two_Bears 2021-01-22 09:48:42 UTC #10

You are absolutely correct a hydrometer and beginning gravity is the way to go.