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Couldn't be simpler. The bentonite was dissolved in 2 liters of warm
water at the bottom of the primary fermenter. The 4 gallons of grape
juice were then added to the primary. 4 liters of water were added to
the plastic pouch that the grape juice had been in, swirled about, and
added to the primary. A gravity reading was then taken. Somehow, I
ended up with an OG of 1.054, when it should have been 1.080 to 1.100.
My theory is that the final 4 liters of water were still sitting on top
of the more dense grape juice when I took the sample, giving an
anomalously low reading.
After 7 days, the gravity was checked (1.004, just where it was
supposed to be), and the wine was racked off the oak and into the
secondary for another 12 days. At that point, fermentation finished,
with a final gravity of 0.994. Depending on what the actual OG was
(1.080-1.100), this means an abv of somewhere between 11.25% and
13.88%. The potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate were
dissolved in 1/2 cup of cool water and added to the carboy. The carboy
was then shaken vigorously for several minutes in order to get the
dissolved CO2 out. The chitosan was then added to the carboy, and the
carboy was again shaken vigorously for several minutes in order to drive
off any remaining CO2.
After roughly a week, the wine was racked off the sediment and
allowed a couple more weeks to clear. Extra sodium metabisulfite was
also added, so that the wine will be able to age for more than 6 months
without going bad.
In early February, corks were sanitized overnight in a sodium
metbisulfite solution, and the wine was bottled.
As of mid-March, the wine is good, but slightly fruity. Still needs
a bit of time to mature.
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