The Witches Brew

Hi,

After adding Campden tablets, should the juice in the bucket stop bubbling? I got 6 gallons on Cabernet and added 6 tablets. It is still releasing a lot of gas. I figured that it would have stopped.

Thanks
Rick

Hi Rick

Well the bubbling usually means there is carbon dioxide in the wine which is from yeast eating the sugar. You actually want to do nothing till it stops bubbling. Including not adding the campden tablets because that kills the yeast and if you kill it too early you will have very sweet wine. Sometimes though what happens is if the wine gets warm the suspended CO2 will escape. So a suggestion on future kits. Double ALL times that they give you. Patience is key in wine making.

That being said, you didn't ruin your batch, if it is really really sweet still wait 48 hours and pitch a lot of yeast again.

Hope this helps, and I hope it didn't come off as being a jerk.

Its damned near impossible to arrest a fully fermenting must especially with campden tablets.

Potasium Sorbate and K-meta together might slow it down but even then if it was really ripping I doubt it would fully arrest it. RDWHAHB. It will be fine. What step where you at in teh overall process when you added teh tabs?

PTN

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I added the Campden Tablets to the buckets of Cabernet juice that a friend picked up for me. I expected it to stop bubbling. It really slowed down, after a couple of days. I stirred the juice in the bucket a couple of times a day, till the sulphur smell went away and just combined all of the 6gal buckets in a large barrell. I added yeast and am keeping my fingers crossed. I am not sure how long to keep the wine in the primary barrell, till it stops bubbling? Do I need to get Glass Carboys for secondaries? How often do you need to switch containers (Rack)?

I appreciate the help

Thanks
Rick

Ok, you've managed to totally confuse me. Was the juice in the bucket(s) bubbling before you added yeast? Is that why you added the campden tabs then? If so, you did the right thing, that would have been wild yeast fermenting the juice and adding the tabs would effectivley stun them and allow the yeast you want to get established and take over.

Help me help you by giving me a better pic of what is going on.

How many buckets are we talking about?
Fresh juice, kits or frozen must?
What kind of yeast?
Fermenting in what kind of barrel?
How full is the barrel?
When did you start, what day in the process are we on now?

And add any other details you can think of. It is relativley difficult to make really good wine right out of the gate, but it is even harder to totally screw the pooch and get plonk, so I'm sure we can still get you something that you''ll be able to enjoy.
But I need to know what has happened to this point to be able to give you advise that is worth more than what you are paying for it.

PTN
PTN