High sg quit fermenting

[mwhitnell]

I have a 5 gal batch of old orchard concentrate stagnant. I followed a recipe, which I knew better not to follow exactly. I normally start most batches with sg around 1.100, but this recipe called for 17 cans or old orchard and 9 lbs sugar...I know I should have been checking sg as I added sugar, and stopped at my normal sg of 1.100, but didn't. The starting sg ended up to be 1.170, using EC-1118, after about 4 or 5 days the sg was at 1.130, and fermentation stopped. I made a starter of 1 c water, 1/4 c must, 1/2 tsp nutrient, with EC-1118. Rapid fermentation started, I added another 2 oz must, it picked up again. In 6 hours I added another 2 oz of must, and fermentation stopped. I added another pkg of yeast and it started again. In 4 hrs I added another 2 oz of must, fermentation stopped. I added another 2 oz, no fermentation. Is there any chance of salvage?

 

[Turock]

With an SG that high, the yeast is dying from alcohol toxicity. 1118 is good up to 18% alcohol but your must is over 21%.

It's very important to set your brix for the alcohol tolerance of the yeast you're using, and it's wise to stay slightly below that number because a brix reading is all about POTENTIAL alcohol. I know of no yeast that will tolerate such a high alcohol content. I would take this as a lesson in being more accurate of what you're doing and just toss it and start over.

 

[Arne]

Instead of tossing it, start another wine with a low s.g. Get it going good and add some of your origional wine to it. Keep blending your origional in and eventually you should be able to get it to ferment out. As much sugar as you have in it, you mite have to do this a couple of times to get it all fermented. Of course it would be easiest to do like Turok says, but I hate to waste anything if I think I can make it work. Arne.

 

[Turock]

But no one knows the current alcohol content and that's hard to measure accurately, so not sure how successful the "salvage operation" would be. You may still end up with too much alcohol content for most yeasts to survive in. But I never discourage experimentation if you want the headache of trying to save this. Might just learn something from it.

 

[Dale1978]

Am I missing something, if his SG was 1.170 and now at 1.130, the yeast are not dieing from the alcohol yet. I agree it will at some point and never ferment to dry, but if the readings are correct, the must has not gotten to that point yet. To get more info, what is the SG as of right now, also what is the PH and TA, you may have a acid problem. But I agree with Turock the starting SG would come out to a 22% to 23% ABV, which no yeast can handle.

 

[mwhitnell]

Good for you Dale! The alcohol content would be .40*133 equals 5.3%............
The current sg is 1.130
The current pH is 3.4
The yeast is dying because the sugar content is to high and the yeast can't transport CO2 & alcohol thru the single cell membrane well....in other words can't breath.

 

[Turock]

I see what you're saying--the alcohol content is not there yet. However, you are not using near enough nutrient. You should use 1 tsp per gallon--and divide that in half and use the the first half when the yeast becomes active and the second half at 50% sugar reduction. I'll bet the lack of nutrient is why it won't stay going, especially with such a high sugar content must. However, even if you can get the ferment going, the yeast will die off at their alcohol tolerance and you'll be left with high residual sugar content.

 

[richmke]

If I did the math right, your starting SG (before adding sugar) was about 1.08. If you want to blend that down to the equivalent of 1.10, then you would need 4 batches (20 gallons) of your original recipe without the sugar (total of 25 gallons).

Alternatively, blending it with 2 batches (10 gallons) will give you the equivalent of about 1.11 starting SG, about 15% potential alochol.

 

[jensmith]

Split the batch in half or thirds, water it down to a reasonable sg. Add nutriants and or energizer. Let ferment and add more concentrate to taste if it ferments dry. Or use as top off wine. Check temps as well. It has gotten "cold" here.
I really hate tossing anything!!!


Sent from my iPod touch using Wine Making

 

[Tom_S]

17 cans or old orchard and 9 lbs sugar...

Wow, that seems like an awful lot of sugar. That would have been a syrup, not juice.

When I make wine from store bought juice, it usually only takes 3-4 cups of sugar to get the SG up to where I want it, usually about 1.085-1.095 or so. 9 lbs of sugar in a 5 gallon batch and you're going to have a glucose sludge on the bottom of your fermentation vessel. Not to mention the sugar contained in 17 cans of concentrate.

I think when you use the frozen concentrate, it takes two cans to make a gallon of juice. So instead of using 17 cans, maybe try 10. 17 will give your wine full body, however, but perhaps it might be too thick.

I agree with Arne's solution. Start another batch of wine (or two), don't add any sugar, and start blending the two. I think that's the only way to save it.

 

[cintipam]

Hi all

Tom, I started out making lots of wine from frozen juice concentrate. I agree that is a lot of sugar. but I read many times that one should use 4 cans of concentrate per gallon, and after making about 100 gallons I do agree that 4 cans per gallon gives the best body and flavor. I also often use ready to drink juice instead of water to add subtle other flavors and it really works out well. Right now I have Kiwi Apple Strawberry that is very promising, and everyone quickly finished off 7 gallons of Cranapple. They make light quick drinkers akin to Island Mist.

Pam in cinti

 

[Tom_S]

OK, it's been a while since I've used frozen concentrate.