Can I re-ferment a finished wine?
Justin Phillips
I have two batches of fruit wine that I made last summer, 4 gallons of
apple and 6 of plum. Although they were both feremented with
Champagne yeast and nutrient they are both way too sweet for my
palete. Now I am a little more experienced I think that the recipe I
followed was from days when sweet wine was the preference and so it
called for WAY too much sugar to ferement dry. The wine has had a
minimum of camden tablets added and has been cleared with Gelatin and
Kieselol(sp?).
I have decided that I will not drink this wine whilst it is this
sweet. I do not really want to blend it so my question is this;
Can I referment the finished wine using a 'super yeast' (high alcohol
tolerance/quick starting) to get a drier wine? I guess I will have to
make a good starter from wine/water as I think the wine is already
quite high in alcohol. Does anybody have any suggestions or opinions
before I start on this madcap scheme?
Thanks
Justin
Justin Phillips
All opinions are my own and do not reflect anything rational
GREATFERM
In article <4p18ef$b...@itnews.sc.intel.com>,
Justin_...@ccm.isw.intel.com (Justin Phillips) writes:
>Can I referment the finished wine using a 'super yeast' (high alcohol
>tolerance/quick starting) to get a drier wine? I guess I will have to
>make a good starter from wine/water as I think the wine is already
>quite high in alcohol. Does anybody have any suggestions or opinions
>before I start on this madcap scheme?
Yes, you can do it, I've done it several times, to kickstart a stuck
ferment or to reverse oxidative browning. You are, of course, limited by
the tolerance of the new yeast, and if your present alcohol + potential
alcohol of the sugar content exceeds this, you will have to water it down,
and perhaps boost the acid as well.
Start by making a vigorous starter in some compatible fresh juice, such as
apple juice, about a pint or so. When this is going well, add about a pint
of the stuck wine. Wait a few hours, and if all is going well, add another
quart. You will also need a broad-spectrum Yeast Food, such as
Superferment or Fermaid. Gradually add more wine, building it up until it
is all going.
These wines are sometimes very interesting, and ready to drink early. Good
luck !
Greatferm
Justin Phillips
Thanks for the advice, I have a couple of questions;
I have an acid test kit but I have never used it, the instructions
seem straight forward but will the results be valid given that this a
partially fermented wine and not plain must? Also, as I have never
used the kit before I have no idea what the correct acidity should be,
can you give any pointers?
I do have some nutrient that I intend to use but it is called
Tronozymol (sp?) I have never seen the two you mention in my local HB
shop (I live in southern England), do you know if Tronozymol is
similar?
Thanks again
Justin
grea...@aol.com (GREATFERM) wrote:
>Greatferm
Justin Phillips
samurray
In article <4p243h$6...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, grea...@aol.com says...
>
>>
>Yes, you can do it, I've done it several times, to kickstart a stuck
>ferment or to reverse oxidative browning.
This is intriguing -- I've always heard that nothing can be done for an
oxidized wine. I have a white and a red both oxidized in carboys (my
wine supply store discouraged topping up!). Can anything be done for
them? If not, how about making vinegar?
Please at least send me copy of yr reply by Email, as I'm not sure I get
all the articles in this group. Thanks.
-- Andy
Anthony Moore
You mean reduction? oxidation is gain of oxygen, loss of hydrogen, or loss
of electrons. reduction is gain of hydrogen, gain of electrons, or loss of
oxygen.
>This is intriguing -- I've always heard that nothing can be done for an
>oxidized wine. I have a white and a red both oxidized in carboys (my
>wine supply store discouraged topping up!). Can anything be done for
>them? If not, how about making vinegar?
>Please at least send me copy of yr reply by Email, as I'm not sure I get
>all the articles in this group. Thanks.
>-- Andy
Being a chemist, I would start by bubbling hydrogen or carbon monoxide gas
through the wine, this would have the effect of removing the COOH from the
ethanoic acid, and return it first to ethanal and then to ethanol. But dont
forget the nickel/platinium/paladium alloy for the catalyst8) This catalyst
is not used up, so can be filtered off and used again (good job, this stuff
costs a fiver for a tiny bottle) we did this at school in the fume cupboard,
and it returned the wine to a brilliant purpley-red.
We were not alowed to drink it, so im not sure what consequenses drinking
it would have.
If you want to turn the lot into vinegar, there are 3 ways it can be done:-
a) the pseudo accidental way -
stick the lot in a big plastic bucket, and leave it loosly covered with
a tea towel for a week or so. Sooner or later some vinegar bacteria will
get in and turn it to ethanoic acid (vinegar).
b) the cook's way -
stick the lot in a big plastic bucket, purchase a vinegar mother, or
find one in a bottle of vinegar. place the mother in the wine and leave
for a while until the desired acidity is obtained. The W.I. stall on the
local market might be able to help.
c) the chemists' way -
heat the stuff in the presence of a mild oxidising agent and a nickel
catalyst. seperate the vinegar from the catalyst by filtering, then the
vinegar from the oxidising agent using knowledge of the boiling points
and distilation.
note: I would not recomend c, it is supposed to be for producing industrial
ethanoic acid and for producing vinegar in bulk comercially, this requires
expert knowledge of distilation processes and boiling points of the
substances used. It wont make wine vinegar, the flavour is destroyed.
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