Making Wine Using the FastFerment – Day 0

      14 Comments on Making Wine Using the FastFerment – Day 0

I’m finally getting to try my new FastFerment (what’s this?), a new and improved reincarnation of the V Vessel from FastBrewing & WineMaking.

I love making wine, but I also enjoy using equipment that makes turning grape juice into wine easy without compromising quality. And a passion of mine is testing new products. And so it is I decided this winemaking season to try a 20-liter (5-gallon) batch of California Sauvignon Blanc.

Why Sauv Blanc?

It’s one of my favorite whites but, more important in the context of this test, is that it’s a variety sensitive to oxygen. Although I will not be quantifying oxygen uptake amounts and levels, any significant problems with oxygen will be easily detected with this varietal. There are many possible oxygen entry points – the top cover, through valve fittings, and thermometer-well and sampling ports. But everything seems well designed with a conscious effort to minimize, or eliminate, possible oxygen ingress.

There have been concerns in various forums about the large headspace volume, about 10 liters (2.5 gallons) with 20 liters of juice. Yes, this would be a concern for long-term storage, but the FastFerment was designed primarily for making kit wines and wines from fresh juice meant to be processed and drunk relatively quickly. It’s still a long time from the end of fermentation to filtering and bottling, a period when there is no more CO2 in the headspace to protect the wine. This is easily dealt with by using a CO2 cylinder and flushing the headspace with CO2 gas. Granted it’s additional equipment and costs, and likely beyond the interest of most hobby winemakers at this scale.

Getting Ready to Test the FastFerment

The first step was to clean and sanitize the unit. I used hot water for pre-rinsing followed by a thorough cleaning with Powdered Brewery Wash, or PBW, an alkali cleaner from Five Star Chemicals and Supply, as suggested in the instructions. Since the unit is manufactured from HDPE plastic, it is compatible with most cleaning and sanitizing agents. I also used the 20-minute contact period to check for leaks – there were none.

For sanitizing, I used a sulfur-citric solution at a concentration of roughly 10,000 mg/L of sulfite plus equal parts of citric acid. Citric acid not only increases sulfite efficacy but it also neutralizes alkaline residues. I finished off with a thorough hot-water rinse.

The complete cleaning and sanitizing process was very easy to perform, particularly that the vessel empties quickly and easily – no more need to flip carboys over. A floor drain makes this whole process that much easier.

Before doing anything, I measured the pH, TA, SG/Brix/PA and temperature of the juice to ensure everything was good. TA was a bit low for my liking, so I added tartaric acid to increase it from 4.4 g/L to 7.0 g/L.

Then, I poured the juice into the FastFerment. The large 6-inch hole makes pouring simple. I did use a large funnel at first given that the pail of juice was full to the rim. I decided to keep the bottom valve closed for now to facilitate stirring until fermentation starts and becomes vigorous. I will also not be doing that first racking (usually at SG 1.030) instead preferring to ferment completely to dryness before any racking.

I prepared the yeast and yeast nutrients and then inoculated the juice, and gave it a good stir with my drill-mounted stirring rod. This is the only cumbersome part thus far – stirring. The conical shape makes it difficult to reach any sediments at the bottom – another reason for keeping the valve closed for now. With a little practice, it becomes easy to stir into the narrow portion of the conical shape by using the (variable-speed) drill on slow to keep the paddles from opening up, and then moving it up and increasing speed. Although the paddles are made of hard plastic, I was still careful not to touch the wall of the vessel so as not to cause any scratches that might otherwise harbor microbes and complicate the cleaning and sanitizing process.

Everything is ready now. I set the cover and fermentation lock in place.

All I need to do now is wait for fermentation to start.

Daniel

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14 thoughts on “Making Wine Using the FastFerment – Day 0”

  2. Daniel Langlois
    The fact that you seem so interested in testing the possibility of oxygen degradation seems to indicate that by design the headspace might be too big. I have used -and continue to use- the previous version V-Vessel for several years and adapted my home wine making techniques to it. First I made sure my V-Vessel was hooked up over the big laundry room sink. Some wines will bubble out no matter what you do.I installed 2 brackets, one to lower it as much as I could while giving me enough room to fill it and bottle, the second one higher so that I could use my sink if needed. Second I started my primary fermentation with 21.5 to 22 liters and did the top up to 23 at the so called secondary fermentation. Third, I created a gadget that combines a airlock with a Wine pump cap. This type of airlock is ideal because it actually concentrates more the CO2 in the headspace, since it is a bit more difficult for the CO2 to escape this type of airlock, because of the design, while allowing a gentle pump of the excess oxygen when we need to remove the bung. I hooked up at some point a T with a vacuum/pressure gauge to test the negative pressure and CO2 concentration and make sure I was safe without distorting the plastic. After a while you can feel the number of pumps you need. I also developed a recipe to extract oak flavours from oak chips in a small bottle with a mix of alcohol and half a campden, using also wine pump to get quickly the liquid through the wood and extract. I was able to get a good tasting red wine without putting any oak chip in the V-Vessel clogging it. I also found that using a flash lite will tell you when a gentle stir is needed to unclog the base and facilitate the transfer to the collector.
    Reply ↓
    1. Daniel Post author
      Thank you for your tips — those are great. Headspace – large headspace – is indeed a problem for average home winemakers who do not have the know-how, experience or simply the interest in dealing with the headspace. I have both the old and new versions of the V-vessel. I use them both and make good use of them, and I use CO2 to purge headspace after racking.

      Thanks for sharing.

      Reply ↓
    2. Chris Stoodley
      I too have the V Vessel, I bought two used. I was unable to track down any instructions on line for it. I will be using the fast Ferment manual until I can source one.
      I am just about to start my first wine, so I was happy to see this Blog. any online forums, or resources for the V vessel wold be appreciated

      Chris

      Reply ↓
  3. Daniel Langlois
    You mentioned how difficult the stirring could be with the V-Vessel or fast ferment. Again I adapted my wine making technique to it. I modified the WineExpert three prong degasser by gently warming up each leg over the kitchen stove top burner, giving each leg a bent shape towards the centre. It works extremely well and never scratched the V- Vessel. Doing the quick change of rotation when some foam is forming works its magic.
    Reply ↓
  4. George Hutchings
    First time user of Fastferment 2 concerns
    How do I use oak chips in mesh bag into my batch of wine
    How do I deal with large head space

    Thanks

    Reply ↓
    1. Daniel Pambianchi
      Yeah, the FastFerment is not designed for aging wine; you need to rack to a carboy and top up to eliminate headspace. You can drop oak chips loosely into the carboy. It makes racking a bit more tricky but not a big deal; I do it often. You cannot use a mesh bag in a carboy.

      Cheers,
      Daniel

      Reply ↓
    2. Danniel Langlois
      I got rid of my V-vessel 3 years ago, I used it for 12 years, and started to use a fast ferment as alternative when I am not using my 6.5 gallons big mouth bubbler glass fermenter. For wine what I found is that it is better to setup a separate pressure regulator than the one that comes with the Fast Ferment and keep it around 10 PSI. If you want to keep this CO2, like me for the white wine, it is better to clarify at cold temperature, the cold crashing works fine and after 20-25 days it is so clear I can bottle it. I keep all the bottles in the fridge because of extra CO2. This little extra CO2 makes the taste of a Pinot Grigio explode in your mouth. The headspace filled with 10 PSI of CO2 is not an issue for wine, no top up needed. Some aging can be done in the fridge without affecting the taste, to the contrary – improving it. We are talking here about the type of short aging where the false “second fermentation” in the small container stays open to the wine to give it a more complex taste.
      Reply ↓
      2. Daniel Pambianchi
        Pressure regulator that comes with Fast Ferment? I am not aware of a pressure regulator for the Fast Ferment. And yes, you could use CO2 to flush the headspace and leave the wine in, but not more than one month, not unless you can measure FSO2 and adjust as required. HDPE does “breathe” and so FSO2 will be consumed at a faster rate.
        Reply ↓
  5. Daniel Langlois
    You are right I actually confused the Fast Ferment with the Fermentasaurus, I don’t use the Fast Ferment. I switched from the V-Vessel to the Fermentasaurus. What I wrote applies to the Fermentasaurus.

    Thanks Daniel for regulating this blog.

    Reply ↓
  6. Daniel Pambianchi
    Right! I found it strange that you switched from a V-Vessel to a FastFerment as they are essentially the same.
    Reply ↓

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