Hi all from snowy Finland...

First time wine maker. Got about 23 liters in a bucket, mostly from
grapes with about 1.5 kilograms of crabapples mixed in. Fermentation
seemed to go very well but the bubbling has definately slowed way down
lately. After two months I removed the must today and filtered the rest
through a fine cheescloth into a clean white bucket. What I have left
is a brownish liquid that tastes ok and definately has a kick but is
not very pretty. At the moment I would be very popular in a prison
setting but not among accomplished winemakers, this I know. Based on
limited reading I think I need to let sit a while longer and rack into
containers. I'm not sure how to clarify the liquid at this point. It
will not likely turn out competely clear anyway. Then bottle and age in
cool surroundings. This is easy to do in the Finnish winter, cool
surroundings are everywhere. Any comments or ideas? All are
appreciated. I just joined so will be lurking around to see what all
you pros are doing!

Thanks and happy holidays to all...

Steve Crawford

You left the wine in primary for 2 months?

I would get it into a carboy and under airlock to clear. And add some
metabisulfite.

Sounds like good advice, in addition fill the carboy to the very top.
Once it ferments air contact should be avoided. It usually clears on
it's own. Your wine may be oxidized; if it tastes a little like dry
Sherry that may be all you can make it into at this point. (Brown
color is usually a sign of oxidation.)

Joe

Now I got to find a carboy in Finland! This will be interesting. I was
under the assumption that a layer of gas would form on top of the wine
and prevent it from oxidizing. But if the fermentation is over then its
over, eh?

Thanks, or as we say in Finland, kiitos (key toes)

Hi Finnlamar,

Can you order your winemaking supplies online? I'm sure there must be a
homebrew store in Finland somewhere that would do mail-order.

If you don't want to make a sherry-style wine, and you'd like to do
everything you can to "save" your wine otherwise, here's what I would
recommend:

- If you smell and taste appreciable amounts of vinegar or if you smell a
pronounced rotten-egg smell at any time, consider throwing the batch out and
just marking it up to experience.
- Otherwise, treat it immediately with potassium metabisulfite, 1/4 teaspoon
per US gallon (3.79 liters)
- As soon a possible, get the wine into a carboy with an airlock affixed.
Top off with wine or water to make sure the carboy is filled into the neck
of the bottle.
- Once you're hooked up with a source of homebrew supplies, get an acid
testing kit, and adjust the acidity of your wine if it is low. Use acid
blend powder to get the total acidity level into a good range (0.65% to
0.75% is a good range to aim for). If the acidity is over 0.75%, just leave
it alone (don't try to adjust it down). If the total acidity is over 1.0%,
consider throwing the batch out.
- If the grapes you fermented in the bucket included the grape skins, you
may have a very tannic (as well as oxidized) wine. Taste the wine -- if it
tastes bitter on the back of your tongue and makes your mouth feel dry,
that's tannin. I would startrt seeing what you can make of it by fining.
To reduce the tannin content, you can first do a fairly heavy fining with
gelatin (either from a homebrew store, or unflavored gelatin from the
grocery). You can start with 0.5 gm per US gallon (1 US gallon = 3.79
liters), mix thoroughly, allow precipitate to settle, taste, and repeat once
if the wine still tastes very bitter.
- To try to reduce the browning caused by the oxidation, I recommend a
second fining with PVPP (a fining agent you can find online from a homebrew
store). Mix thoroughly, wait two or three weeks for all the particles to
precipitate, and rack (siphon off) the wine into a second carboy.

At this point, you may have allieviated some of the symptoms of your overly
long fermentation (actually, if you had fermented in a airtight container,
you would have done what's called an extended maceration). Hopefully the
gelatin has reduced the bitterness, and the PVPP has reduced the browning
and taste effects of the oxidation. If the wine is not yet clear, you will
want to add a pectic enzyme and then fine it yet again ... maybe with
Sparkolloid.

Since you have now fined this wine a lot, and you're dealing with oxidation
that can make the wine taste flat, you want to test your acidity again and
make sure it's still high enough. The acidity will add some brightness to
the taste to counteract the "flat", raisiny taste the oxidation may have
introduced.

At this point, you can consider adding some sweetness to the wine, assuming
it has fermented to dryness before. You could add just sugar, dissolving a
1/4 cup at a time to taste, or you could add some clarified apple juice.
You will also want to add potassium sorbate, which will keep fermentation
from restarting once you bottle it.

Jon
[Check out my winemaking homepage
http://users.rcn.com/jcgilliam/Southeast_PA_Winemaker/!]


"finnlamar" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Now I got to find a carboy in Finland! This will be interesting. I was
> under the assumption that a layer of gas would form on top of the wine
> and prevent it from oxidizing. But if the fermentation is over then its
> over, eh?
>
> Thanks, or as we say in Finland, kiitos (key toes)
>

You might also want to consider making this a spiced wine, by sweetening and
either adding a commercial "mulling spices" mix, or adding some spices
(cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, ginger) to the wine (tasting periodically
to rack it off the spices before it gets too strong).
Jon

Yup, probably a month too long! Thanks much...