Making Wine Using the FastFerment – Day 5

Today I took a hydrometer reading of my Sauvignon Blanc and, as I suspected, Brix is down by roughly one-third at around 15 as fermentation has been quite vigorous even at the relatively cool temperature of 13°C/55°F. That means it's time to add some yeast nutrients—I use Fermaid K.

One advantage compared to wine fermenting in a carboy, like my Pinot Grigio racing alongside this Sauvignon Blanc in the FastFerment, is that I could pour a sample into the hydrometer cylinder right from the sampling valve—no need to use a wine thief and go through all the cleaning and sanitizing. And the thermometer allows me to monitor temperature throughout fermentation.

I measured the amount of Fermaid K I needed and then poured some of the wine sample to dissolve the yeast nutrients, and then poured the suspension into the FastFerment via the top opening. I stirred the wine thoroughly using a twin-paddle stirring rod mounted on a variable-speed drill. I placed the lid back and voila, I was done in minutes. And the headspace is of no worries since CO2 is still protecting the wine and is still being generated by fermentation.

And although the lid could be cumbersome to remove given its wide diameter, the off-centered fermentation lock can be used as a "knob" to turn the lid—a piece of cake.

I still have not placed the collection ball on preferring instead to wait until one or two days before the end of fermentation to start trapping all the lees.

Daniel