has my homemade wine gone bad?
i just started making some home made wine. two days ago i bought some simply apple juice,(100% apple nothing else) and yeast did the whole process with sterilized equipment, but instead of using a balloon with holes i just put the cap on loosely. today im lookin at the bottle and i see there is foam, some of the foam is white and some of it is brownish (the apple juice i added was brown to begin with and still is the same color). i sniffed around the cap, and it smells weired, is this normal? or has the wine gone bad? or should i just wait and see how it is in two weeks?
The foam is called krausen, it is completely normal for the first week or two. So long as the cider is in primary fermentation (as active as it is), an airlock would not be absolutely necessary. The krausen will fall, and when this happens, you will want to rack the cider into secondary (another clean, sterile vessel). Once in secondary, the airlock is needed because the cider is no longer actively producing the protective ‘pillow’ of CO2.
As far as the smell goes, if it’s a rotten egg or ‘rhino fart’ smell, that’s normal, that’s the SO2 being released during active fermentation.
If it’s only been going for 2 days, give it another couple weeks until fermentation slows, then rack and let it sit in secondary for a month or two until completely clear (clear enough to read a newspaper through the carboy). At this time you can either bottle and drink it, or rack it again into bulk aging so that Malo-lactic fermentation can take place.
Feel free to email me if you have any further questions.
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