Dead yeast?

[Drifter379]

I'm making an apple wine from vintners harvest apple .
Added all the stuff indicated on the directions and waited over night to add the yeast. Well it has now been almost 72 hours and I don't even have ansingle bubble. My last wine I had anhuge cap after 24 hours.


Sonny question is should I add another yeast pack to see if that takes off?

 

[woodsxdragon]

do you happen to have a sg level reading or a ta/ph reading? what brand of yeast?

 

[Drifter379]

Red star pasteur red wine yeast. It's been in the fridge for about 8 months. Did not get sg yet.

 

[cpfan]

Red star pasteur red wine yeast. It's been in the fridge for about 8 months. Did not get sg yet.

Always take an sg reading before pitching yeast. It's the ONLY way to know if a must is fermenting.

Steve

 

[winemaker_3352]

What is the current temp? If the temp is too low - it might have trouble getting started.

Did you add any yeast nutrient or energizer?

 

[Drifter379]

What is the current temp? If the temp is too low - it might have trouble getting started.

Did you add any yeast nutrient or energizer?

I added nutrient. I won't be able to get a temp until i get home.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I added nutrient. I won't be able to get a temp until i get home.

Let us know what your temp is. Should be close to 75 at first to get a good fermentation started.

 

[sly22guy]

Take an sg reading when you get home too! How much sugar did you add? how did you know how much to add without an sg reading?

 

[Drifter379]

Take an sg reading when you get home too! How much sugar did you add? how did you know how much to add without an sg reading?

The recipe called for 7 lbs

 

[Drifter379]

Ok so Im @ 78*
Now Im a little confused on the sg so I will try to explain the best I can.
My hydrometer has a rolled up piece of papeer in side so I dont know how accurate it is.

The top mark is 1.000 and then it decreases by 10 down to 1.100

the level of the wine is at the 80 mark between 1.000 and 1.100
so if i am reading it the way I think is right would that be 1.080?

So of course Ill check it again in the morning to see if it has changed.

 

[Numa]

That sounds like a SG of 1.080 to me. Without knowing your initial SG there's really no way to know how much fermentation, if any, has happened. I'm not familiar with your recipe or Red Star's yeasts so I can't tell you if it's stuck... but it may be because of either dud yeast or osmotic shock.

A quick and easy way to spot check the accuracy of your hydrometer is to fill your sample tube with plain water. Let the hydrometer and the water come to the same temperature and check the reading - it should be 1.000. It may be slightly higher depending on mineral content of the water used. You'll also want to push it down to let the hydrometer "bob" a little, and giving it a slight spin helps to get readings too.

 

[Drifter379]

I guess I'm back to my original question. If this yeast is dead is it all right to add another pack or do I have to scrap everything?

 

[Wade E]

If its dad then yes you can pitch another packet. A better way then just dumping n another packet thouggh is to make a starter yeast. Take 1 cup of OJ, apple or grape juice at room temp and add your yeast to that and a pinch of nutrient and let that it in a vessel thats about 3 times larger then whats in there fpor 24 hours before starting your wine. Doing this will both verifythat your yeast is good and get your wine fermenting right fast which is way better as beer and wine is most suseptible at this point.

 

[Drifter379]

So I get home last night and I see a couple of bubbles. I stirred the must and crossed my fingers. When I got up this morning it looks like fermentation has begun.


Now I know it takes patience to make wine and I am more than willing to wait months for it to be ready. Do you think I jumped the gun on being worried about the fermentation?

Is it normal for it to take 4 days for the yeast to kick in?

Any way thanks for the help and I'll keep you posted on how it's going.

 

[woodsxdragon]

might have been lack of oxygen or could be just cause the yeasties needed longer to rehydrate (assuming you didnt use a starter) or it could have been temp. i had one i started with some ec118. didnt show any signs of anything for like 3 days... i got worried so on a whim i racked to a glass jug... since it had a smaller neck the tiny bubbles were easier to see. so when you use a bucket it can be hard to see them is I guess the point i was trying to get across.