Rhubarb Wine - stuck fermentation

[tedpoppke]

Hello, my fifth batch of rhubarb wine this season appears to be stuck. Two sins; I was a pig and added extra sugar at the beginning and I did not take a starting gravity.

Here is the blow-by-blow;
Rhubarb Wine 07
2014 07 16 - chop and sugar 25# of rhubarb with 20# of sugar.
2014 07 23 - rinsed with hot water, added 5 cups of strong black tea (4 tea bags), added 3 TBS yeast nutrient, brought up to 5 gallons, Lavlin K1-V1116 yeast.
Note - the first drain of syrup off of the fruit was 2.1 gallons.
2014 08 17 - transfered to large glass carboy, very cloudy, gravity 1.012.
2014 09 23 - added second packet of Lavlin K1-V1116 yeast.
2014 09 29 - Transferred to small glass carboy, gravity = 1.014

http://recipe.poppkegenealogy.com/2014/06/2014-rhubarb-wine.html

Fermented between 65 and 70 degrees F.
Question - Should I make a proper yeast starter, go back to a primary fermenting bucket, and warm it up, or add campden and have a sweet wine?

Thanks,

Ted

 

[Turock]

It could be stuck because of too much alcohol. Since you don't know the initial brix, it's hard to say if you exceeded the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. Technique is REAL important--without using good practices, this is the kind of trouble one runs into.

 

[tedpoppke]

Yep, I was lazy and did not want to weigh out the sugar when I had a full bag. If I'd wanted to kick the sugar and alcohol up, I would maybe add it on a transfer.

 

[jensmith]

For five galleons I use 20# rubarb with 10# suger. I end up with 12-15% abv. Fermenting to dry. You used 20# suger for the same volume. Watter that wine down if you want to ferment to dry. The abv is probely sky high. No wine yeast can work with that high an abv.


Sent from my iPod touch using Wine Making