@Zigs, @Scrungee - the vigorous fermentation that I mentioned yesterday apparently peaked at some point today in the large fermenter; I came home this evening to find the airlock full of wine coloured liquid, where it had obviously blown its way up through the airlock! And that is with just the plain yeast and some nutrient - - so much more vigorous than the last batch. I have also got the yeast into the strawberry wine this evening - temperature probe from my Inkbird ITC-308 is in the top of the liquid (taped in place to hold it), and then gaffa taped a cloth over the top of the bucket, with all edges sealed. Temperature currently is 19.8ºC and rising, but that is almost certainly because the house heating isn't that long on. If the temp rises above 24ºC, a fan will kick in to hopefully cool things a bit. The bucket is sat atop a black plastic bag, and an double folded mat, just in case it decides to make a bid for freedom. All I can do now, is wait.
Leave it a good few days for the finings to work, and then see where you are - losing 20% of your total seems a lot to lose too; are you using a syphon with a sediment trap?
Yes, I did use a siphon with a sediment trap - but kept it above the sediment so that none at all transferred to the new demijohn. There was also quite a thick layer of scum on the top of the demijohn - again none of which made it to the second container. This new container has now developed about an inch of sediment since adding the finings - so I'm going to leave as is for a couple of weeks. By the time I've siphoned what's left - should have about a glass full left......yum
If you have a deep, flocculent sediment, plus floaty scum on top, don't bother with any racking prior to degassing/fining, as those will (should) all be knocked down to the bottom together with any other crud into a far more compact form. A trick for getting more clear liquid from murky stuff is to put it in a tall, narrow (spaghetti) jar and a more usable amount will settle out for siphoning off the sludge beneath.
By God, no wonder the instructions on the turbo yeast said not to use an air-lock! I can't see in, because it is sealed under the taped on cloth, but you can hear the mixture bubbling away like mad - it is properly going for it! Standing at the back of our living room at the moment, it sounds as though it is pouring with rain, and there is a bit of a yeasty, fruity whiff in the air
The re-start yeast arrived today so this evening I sterilised the final fermenter, decanted all the bottles into it, diluted it and added a wee bit of citric acid and then put the yeast in. Time will tell now I suppose. The turbo charged strawberry jam wine is still going quietly mental in the bucket, and the cooling fan kicked in at some point overnight - it is currently 25.5ºC and reasonably stable at that with the fan on; the cloth cover is soaked, so the mixture has obviously bubbled up under it, so I am quite glad that the fan is on to deter fruit flies from landing on the cloth (just in case bacteria from then wicked back through to the wine mix). I will wait for it to settle down a bit, then I will knock a hole in the plastic lid and put that on the bucket with a smaller cloth taped on to cover the hole. So, somewhere around 100 litres of wine in the making - where the hell I am going to store it when it all arrives at the same time, I have no idea
A seasonal reminder for those that are careful with their cash and don't want to turn heating on/up unecessarily, EC 1118 yeast (AKA Champagne yeast) will ferment in temps down to 10 deg C http://www.lallemandyeast.com/company/products/ec-1118-wine-yeast.
Good news - the finings appear to be working - all it needed was time. It won't be crystal clear - but clear enough that you can't see 'things' floating around in it. Problem is I'll probably only get about 4 bottles out of it. If it tastes OK - I'll be going for bulk production...marvellous
What finings are you using? The only finings I now use are the 'A + B' sachet types from Wilkos @ £1 each, 1 sachet will clear 6 galls overnight, it's a bit tricky getting same value for money with smaller batches, but it can be achieved with use of a previously made 'neutral' red or white to dilute the finings and more easily spread them amongst the wines needing fining.
The same - Wilko's - threw the lot in from both sachets - a first and then b an hour later. I've just tried some now - surprisingly it wasn't that bad - I've tasted worse from a supermarket.
Looks pretty good to me @clanless For bulk batches, I can highly recommend one or more of these - I have two of them now, and they are fantastic. My turbocharged strawberry has calmed down a bit (been more than 48 hours now, so that is about right), so I think I will knock a hole in the bucket lid tomorrow (bung sized) and get the cloth off it and reduce the size of the hole (and therefore the risk) significantly. Batch two of the blackcurrant is slowing now - it is over the worst of the really foamy stuff that blew through airlocks, and the colour of the entire mix has changed to a darker, cloudier look, so that would suggest to me that the yeast is all the way through it now and has stopped multiplying? A quick sniff, and it smells like wine now, so we are on the right track - and so far, no vinegary whiff, so keeping my fingers crossed that I dodged a bullet. Batch one, restarted, still isn't doing very much - I have a feeling that the whole lot is going down the drain to be honest - however, I have nothing to lose with it at the moment, so I will sit it out over the weekend and see if anything changes.
I the past when something has made a batch 'suspect', I've labelled it as such to avoid at some future date possibly contaminating other wine, for example racking off a gallon of the suspect wine before racking another wine without resterilizing the siphon, so I'd leave the suspect wine to last for peace of mind.
Thanks @Scrungee - I generally clean and sterilise in between batches as a matter of course, but it is a good point as there is a better than average chance that this lot of wine is all going to be ready at the same time. If I manage to get to bottling stage with this suspect batch, does that mean I am pretty much in the clear, or is there still a risk that it will turn to vinegar?
Should be OK, for example think about what happens to a load of blackberries that have been crawling with flies then given a quick rinse and a dose of sulphite before adding yeast, no spoilage there, I've been told that the most dangerous time for wine fly spoilage at the end of/after fermentation, but peace of mind would add 2 Campden tabs per gall when it's finished. Sterilizing between batches is good practice, but if the wine looks OK and tastes OK (must check every demijohn!) I'll normally run a few few batches through equipment before resterilizing.
