First time wine maker question

Question

My hibiscus wine recipe says to ferment to dryness before racking to the secondary carboy. It's been almost a month, and the bubbling has died down. Is it time to rack?

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 09 '19 at 17:01

Depending on the fermentation temperature etc. then fermentation will take a different amount of time.

On average all of the wine I make ferments out to around 12% dry in around 5/7 days. If you have left it a month then I'm sure it will be done by now. Unless there has been any problems with the fermentation pausing.

Get yourself a hydrometer from a homebrew shop or online and measure the sugar content.

I use this chart to calculate percentage

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 14 '13 at 16:58

After a month it's more than likely fermented out. The way to know for sure is to take a sample using a wine thief and check the gravity using a hydrometer. If it's around 0.995 then the wine has completed fermenting. But if you don't have the equipment, then racking now to secondary should be fine.

muck41 · Answer 3 · 2013-07-23T17:29:44.390

1

I would if it were me. In fact when I use fresh grape juice anymore I transfer after just 3 to 5 days then again 2 weeks later. If you intend to bulk age at some point be sure to top the carboy up to the neck and if you're ok with Sulphites use 1/4 teaspoon of Potassium metabisulfite per 5 gallons to reduce risk of wild yeasts.

edited Jul 23 '13 at 17:29

answered Jul 22 '13 at 23:20

muck41

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First time wine maker question

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