I aint no brain like these folks but I love elderberry, native to my area, my starts act dead as well, I use a 18v cordless drill and either a 5 gallon joint compound mixer or a 5 gallon paint mixer, I whip it up twice a day into a foamy mess for the first 4 or 5 days then I cut back to whipping it into a foamy mess once a day on 5 an 6 gallon batches I use a 14 gallon fermenter open top food grade barrel also a brute trash can from home depot for bigger batches,, so you can get your must to climb the wall, as the smarter ones on here has told me only during fermenting is oxygen your friend after that except in minute amounts oxygen is no longer your friend, I will plainly state my knowledge is extremely limited. but because of the people on here I enjoy my wine better then I can buy, of Corse I live in a very rural area and my options are limited to almost Boones farm , TJ Swan and Mad Dog 2020. and yes I have not hung myself yet thanks to this site and the open exchange of these giants knowledge. so maybe I'd be better off keeping my mouth shut, but I've been called many things but never not knowing whom to listen to, from your replies I see some of the top dawgs are giving you all you'll every need, on elderberry I use a mix of 1118 to start and red pasture added on day 5, this may be stupid but I like the taste test, sadly all my elderberry goes into under the house or into a root cellar, I pray I live so long,, elderberry dose not gain it's prime until it is 10 years old, just my opinion, but as these very people have told me over and over I only need please myself, it took them a little while to make me understand that,
HOUND DAWG
Richard::