First timer & a problem

tippgod

Hi
i started my home brew for the first time last night. i bought a starter wine kit. I was using an old aquarium heater that i thought would do as a brew belt. The heater turned out to be faulty and this morning the temperature of my juice/yest mix was well above 40 degrees.

Do i have to start again or is it just a case of adding more yeast??

tippgod

Any help with this

Fat Joe

At that temp you may get some off flavours. Has the wine come back down to temperature 20ish. If so are there or was there any visible signs of fermentation? Was there a foamy head on top of the wine?

RasTa

Have a taste of the stuff, usually a good first clue.

tippgod

Fat Joe wrote: »

At that temp you may get some off flavours. Has the wine come back down to temperature 20ish. If so are there or was there any visible signs of fermentation? Was there a foamy head on top of the wine?

Yes this I'd my very first brew. I have a new heater in and I'm getting new yeast tomorrow. There is a foamy head on the mix at the moment . Will adding more yeast do any harm

mayto

If it is still fermenting vigorously the yeast might be fine. The only way to know fermentation is ongoing is by taking hydromometer sample on consecutive to see if reading is dropping. If the airlock is still bubbling frantic I would wait a few days before taking a sample for the hydrometer.

Fat Joe

If there is a foamy head on the mixture then the wine is fermenting. No need to add another yeast but if you do, it will do no harm as the finnings and racking will take care of this anyway. As Mayto said I would take a hydrometer reading. You are looking for a reading of 1.000 on a wine kit for terminal gravity. It sounds like you will be OK.

RasTa

It will still ferment but you might get some off flavours with yeast doing it's thing at that temp.

I'd have a taste before putting any more yeast in

Finglas Incubus

Not similar but related issues - brewed a white wine kit brew on Saturday, all went OK, temps were at the right level for pitching yeast but theres been no activity in terms of fermentation, temps in the range of 18 - 21c throughout the day. On a couple of occasions, I saw air being drawn in through the airlock as opposed to being expelled! I had the brew belt on yesterday to kick it up a few degrees but nothing. My beer kits usually come to life in under 24 hours, a yeast problem perhaps?

Hingo

Finglas Incubus wrote: »

Not similar but related issues - brewed a white wine kit brew on Saturday, all went OK, temps were at the right level for pitching yeast but theres been no activity in terms of fermentation, temps in the range of 18 - 21c throughout the day. On a couple of occasions, I saw air being drawn in through the airlock as opposed to being expelled! I had the brew belt on yesterday to kick it up a few degrees but nothing. My beer kits usually come to life in under 24 hours, a yeast problem perhaps?

give it another day or so. Also check your FV seals - pres down on the lide slightly to see if the airlock bubbles - if no bubble then no worries, you just have a leaky lid letting the air out there - fermenting away.

You could also use a sanitized wine theif / turkey baster to take some wine out and check the gravity.

Finglas Incubus

Hingo wrote: »

give it another day or so.

Seemed to have worked, but I did throw on the brew belt on the third day and got the wort up to about 27 degrees which kicked off fermentation bit style, its been going solid for 2 days (and stinking the place out in the process....).