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rrob

Junior
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Hi all: I have my first batch of rhubarb wine on, it stopped working at 1.020 and has a very sweet taste, obviously it stopped prematurely, I was out of town and couldn't watch it and I suspect it was a little to warm. I need your expert help on how I can restart this batch to let it finish up. I already tried putting it back in the primary and adding a packet of yeast (Lalvin ec-1118) nothing happened so I siphoned it back to the secondary. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for the help, I really don't want this one to go to waste, it smells unbelievably good! Cheers. Rob
 
need to know specific gravities and temperatures.

Steve
 
Steve: It was 1.110 to start, I was out of town and it wasn't all that warm in my basement at the time so I put a brew belt around the primary and a blanket ( i did this last year on crabapple and it worked fine) the wine is pretty steady 72-75 degees now. Rob
 
Steve: It was 1.110 to start, I was out of town and it wasn't all that warm in my basement at the time so I put a brew belt around the primary and a blanket ( I did this last year on a crabapple and it worked fine) the wine is pretty steady 72-75 degrees now. Rob
 
I think the key word there is "now". So do you know how high the temp. got? "If" you have killed off the yeast with a high temp. you will have to make a yeast starter and repitch the yeast.
 
Rob, sounds good to me. What was the initial yeast, and did you use yeast nutrient?

You're now at 12%. When the pitched the second yeast (EC-1118), did you just sprinkle on top? If so, it may have had trouble with the existing high alcohol, nutrient depleted environment.

Steve
 
Steve: I'm not sure how high the temp went, as I said I wasn't home. The second reapplication of yeast I rehydrated for 15 mins in water as per the instructions on the packet. Yesterday I made a starter with new yeast and added 1/4 cup of the wine every 4 hours (3 times) and it was working away in the measuring cup. I added this mix last night and just checked it, 22 hours, there is a little activity, some small islands of bubbles on the surface, maybe 2-3 % of the surface but at least its working again. I'll leave it alone for 4-5 more days and see what happens, thanks for your response. Cheers. Rob
 
Afterthought: Should I have put more yeast nutrient in ( which I didn't) , could more be added now? Rob
 
I'm no expert on this stuff, but I think that nutrient can be added now.

Steve
 
You could add more nutrient at this point and do a yeast starter and slowly add some wine to it again and again then add it to your wine. The brew belt would have been fine on its own but the blanket may have been too much if you had a vigorous fermentation and 1118 usually does that. 95* is is possible with a real good fermentation, a brew belt and a blanket!
 
Afterthought: Should I have put more yeast nutrient in ( which I didn't) , could more be added now? Rob

I would put more yeast nutrient and yeast energizer in the wine. Rhubarb is quite high acid unless you lowered it to .60% before you added the yeast. Yeast will always start more slowly in a high acid must. That may also be part of the problem in the restart. If I were lowering the acid in the rhubarb I would use potassium carbonate and not calcium carbonate. Lalvin Ec118 should be good to almost 18% alcohol.
 
If the EC-1118 doesn't do it. Use some Red Star Premier Cuv'ee plus yeast nutrient and yeast energizer. Try to keep the must at 68 to 70 degrees until it starts, then stand back. It is hard to stop Premier Cuv'ee yeast. Very similar to EC-1118 but I have had better luck with it in these types of situations. The manufacturer claims it will ferment at 45 degrees F. I like to at least get it started at 68 to 70 degrees and it sometimes takes about 30 hours to get going full bore, especially if your wine is higher in acid.
 
Ive heard that EC 1118 and Premier Cuvee are the same yeast disributed to these companies and sold under different names which is quite possible as the charecteristics, temp and abv tolerances.
 
Very well could be, although the spec sheet shows some minor differences. I always like to keep some Premier Cuv'ee on hand for restarts. Premier Cuv'ee is cheaper. Don't know why.
 
I actually prefer Red Star myself, something about not being able to just tear open a packet tells me it is packaged better and I have had trouble before with Lalavin yeasts not starting in 2 kits. My local store sells only these and she is the cheapest on most everything she sells then anywhere I have ever looked but most stuff you have to order through her.
 
This is a very good example of the difference between Premier Cuv'ee and EC1118. Premier Cuv'ee is an S. bayanus strain. EC1118 is an S. cerevisiae bayanus strain. Although there are more flavor enhancements with the EC1118 because of the mixture of strains (actually the S. cerevisiae strain is a better strain) the Kit wine people stay with the S. bayanus strain because it is fool proof and stronger in that nothing much can stop it from fermenting out. It is almost impossible to have a stuck fermentation with the S. bayanus.
 
Ill take your word for it as I heard it through rumor and your speaking Chinese to me! HEHE!
 

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