seems my must is stalling

it seems my must is stalling some. getting 1 bubble a minute now after 6 days. it started of very strong at a bubble every 2 seconds but noticed its slowed way down. not sure whats going on. any advice would be appreciated. last sg was 1.092. wanted to test it tonight but i dropped my hydrometer and it broke in half. help please to save my mulberry wine.

Why do you have it have in under an airlock so soon? Get it into a large mouth primary if not already and whip some oxygen into it, then cover with a clean cloth. At this early stage your must needs oxygen.

What gravity did you start out with?? If you had a good ferment going for 6 days and it isonly down to 1.092, you probably started pretty high. If the gravity was high to start with, your yeast could be slowing down because of having too much alcohol in your must already. Arne.

You should not judge the activity/activeness of the fermentation by the rate/number of bubbles. It's unreliable and tedious to count bubbles per minute. Use a hydrometer only - I leave my hydrometer in the must in the bucket, uncovered, for at least the first week. I can tell at a glance (and without contacting the must) how far along the fermentation is.

i started with a sg of 1.092. i have been stirring daily. but i am trying to find a hydrometer to check my sg and i am not having any luck.so i ordered one and asked if they would ship it next day. at this point all i have is watching the bubbles to see if it is active and it is 1 every 68 seconds. this is only my third batch of wine and what i did was juice out 20lbs of mulberries for 1.5 gallons of pure juice. i added my sugar, campden tablets, and yeast nutrient and boiled water to make it to 2 gallons. and let it sit for 24 hours. then pitched in my yeast which is Lalvin K1-V1116. should i have had some of the berries in this? my idea was to do a just juice batch.
in my previous batches i have put a airlock on my fermenter bucket cause that is how it came to me.

jamesmrussell, it will be fine until you get a hydrometer in, it takes way more than this to spoil your wine. Keep it under airlock and let it rest until your hydrometer comes in. The one thing about wine making is you do have time.

Julie, i was thinking about moving it into my carboys as planned tomorrow. at least get it off the setiment. what do you think?

You could, I don't see that being a problem. I normally let mine in the primary until it is done fermenting. Sitting on the gross lees really isn't bad at this point.

ok, ill just leave it be til i get my hydrometer. thank you for the advice.

anytime, glad I was able to help.

The advice you're receiving is different because your first post is a little confusing. It states that your last SG reading was 1.092. It looks like you corrected it later by saying you started at 1.092. If it started at 1.092 and it fermented for 6 days, you're fine. It's almost finished. Julie caught on and I would follow her advice.

Rodnboro said:

The advice you're receiving is different because your first post is a little confusing. It states that your last SG reading was 1.092. It looks like you corrected it later by saying you started at 1.092. If it started at 1.092 and it fermented for 6 days, you're fine. It's almost finished. Julie caught on and I would follow her advice.

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Certainly explains why I gave the incorrect advice I gave.

im sorry guys, didnt mean to be confusing about it. is it common for a mulberry juice must to ferment this quickly? i made a blackberry wine early this year and it fermented for almost a month. allthou i had the bleckberries in the must the first week then moved the juice to my carboys to finish fermentation.

jamesmrussell said:

im sorry guys, didnt mean to be confusing about it. is it common for a mulberry juice must to ferment this quickly? i made a blackberry wine early this year and it fermented for almost a month. allthou i had the bleckberries in the must the first week then moved the juice to my carboys to finish fermentation.

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Different scenarios will create different fermentation speeds. Depends on how warm the area it is sitting in is, the acid level, sugar level, yeast. I have had an elderberry take three weeks to ferment and then I have had elderberry that was done fermenting within a week. If the stars are all lined up, you will get a fast ferment.

Julie said:

Different scenarios will create different fermentation speeds. Depends on how warm the area it is sitting in is, the acid level, sugar level, yeast. I have had an elderberry take three weeks to ferment and then I have had elderberry that was done fermenting within a week. If the stars are all lined up, you will get a fast ferment.

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I agree with Julie - the type of fruit, the yeast and the fermenting conditions can create huge differences in fermenting periods. I would add that temperature is the single biggest factor IMHO - an ambient temperature of 55 F will lead to a very slow fermentation (as in 3 weeks or longer, or a stuck fermentation), whereas an ambient temperature of 78 or 80 F can cause the fermentation to finish in 6-7 days.

temp in that area has been 69-74 range the whole time. once my hydrometer gets here ill know the score better.

got my hydrometer today, my SG is .990. seems it fermented faster than my previous 2 batches have. time to go into the carboys to clear up.

The hydrometer is critical, glad you got one. .990 is perfect.

yea, i did something stupid with my first one. i sanitized it and was shaking it dry and holding it by the thin neck. wont happen again. when i put the wine into my carboys, i noticed a vinegar smell at first but then quickly got the wine smell. is that normal?

Different fruits produce different aromas. I have not yet made a mulberry wine so I cannot say what it might smell like after a week or so of fermenting but I doubt that if it was vinegar that that smell would give way to a wine aroma. Vinegar is vinegar and wine is wine and when the two mix the result will be vinegar. In suspect that your wine is ... um... fine.