Sludge at the top of my Carboy

Hello,

I am new to this forum and new to wine making. I have started my first batch of wine, it is a Pinot Gris from WineExpert. I fermented in my primary without problem (it actually reached 1.010 within five days). I racked over to my carboy yesterday, so it has been in the secondary for about 36 hours. When I came home from work today, I noticed a build up of sludge just above the wine. Should I be concerned? I am an extremely nervous person, so I may be over reacting.

Thanks in advance.

C.W. :cheers:

Looks mm mm good. :slight_smile: That is what yeast does. It eats the sugar, pees out alcohol and exhales CO2. Its a little more complex but basically that’s it.

I assume CO2 is still bubbling out the airlock albeit slower now?

While holding the stopper on you could try swishing the must in the carboy a little to see if more CO2 comes out of suspension. Be gentle at first as you don’t want to have a Mentos and Coke moment aka wine foaming out onto the floor. IF its not foaming too much you can swirl it more to mix up the yeast better into suspension. Not too much as to get wine into the airlock. That should help the wine a little. Or do nothing. :slight_smile:

I started using anto-foam (simethicone). I bought it at my local Northern Brewer. That has no preservatives and should be kept cold. I know others just by the stuff you give babies when they have gas.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/10324604?wmls ... 92&veh=sem

The baby stuff has preservative but once diluted in a 5 or 6 gallon batch is not going to prevent anything from happening. Plus you would not need to refrigerate it.

It keeps the must from foaming too much or foaming over if you don’t have the head space for a lot of foam. In the end it falls out of the wine with the lees. And if it stayed in it would be too diluted to help you pass gas. lol :slight_smile:

I have a Pinot Gris going right now. I’m making it from a Fontana 16 lt kit I found on Amazon, search Fontana on Amazon. I also have several Fontana 5.5 lt kits going. :slight_smile:

If you want more accurate SG readings take the temp of the must at the same time you do the SG reading. Then go here to find the hydrometer’s temperature correction.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

Kits wines, especially Winexpert kits, are almost fool proof. Its really hard to screw them up. Even if you screw something up it will probably still turn out great. :slight_smile:

Hope this helps
Paul

No, you should not be concerned.

Thanks men. Yes it is bubbling slower, I will take my SG reading in just a few days and proceed to the next step. I am getting really excited to see my final product.

Colton :cheers:

Just for your information the wine might take longer before it tastes really good. I taste my wine at the various stages and while it taste alright I know it may take a couple months for whites and even years for reds to reach their peak. If it doesn’t taste that good or even if it tastes awful just give it more time to age and it will eventually taste awesome. Even if it taste great from the start you might think about setting aside a few bottles to try in a year when the wine has peaked. If its a great wine that will be harder to do than it sounds. :slight_smile:

Let us know how it turns out.

Paul