12 hours and no yeast explosion?

[FlTropical]

On my lychee wine the yeast the yeast made its presence known within 8 hours with bubbling and matting.

On this elderberry wine it has been 14 hours and I do not see anything much.

So one difference between the two is this recipe called for 6 campden tabs. I let them sit in the must before adding the yeast for 24 hours. I added everything else listed in the recipe, including the super ferment.

Is the slow start due to the amount of campden tabs and the fact that the welches grape juice has a little sulfite? Anything I should do to kick start it or just be more patient?

More details here: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14024

 

[Tom]

Whats the temp?
Did you do a TA test?

 

[Julie]

I have never used welch's red grape concentrate but I have the white. I know the white does not have any sorbate in it but did you check to make sure that the red did not have any sorbate?

6 campden tablets won't be the problem. Like Tom asked, what is the temp? And how old was the yeast? Sometimes wines are a little slow in starting, this might be one of those times or is has started but it is very slow and you just don't see it.

 

[Arne]

If the can doesn't list sorbates on it you might have to try a yeast starter. Get a cup or two of sugar water, add a little nutrient to it, pitch the yeast in. Warm not hot water will help it start faster. When it gets going, add a little of your must. When going good on that, add another cup or so of must. Add a couple more times and when all is going good, pitch the whole works into your must. It should take off gangbusters. Arne.

 

[FlTropical]

Thanks all. No sorbate in the concentrate. I had already added yeast starter. Temp is 72-74.

It finally got going, it just took a little while. The yeast packet was due to expire in 10 months, that could have been in? I would have thought the 6 campden tabs, but I am a noob.

So now that I have two going, I find myself with extra lychees again Maybe I should find something great to add to lychees to make a variant of the first. Maybe mint...