I decided to try making some wine from apples on my place. 70 pounds of apples only yielded me 1.5 gallons on the first press so I added some water to the mash, heated it up and was able to press out another 1.5 gallons. Added some sugar and yeast and in 24 hours it was really working, foaming, bubbling nicely. Adding the watered down juice diluted the taste so much that I decided to add some apple juice concentrate on the second day of fermentation. That seemed to make my fermentation come to a complete halt. I added some nutrient to it yesterday to see if that would give it a boost. That didn't seem to help at all. Very little foam and no bubbles coming up through the air lock. Any suggestions on how to restart the fermentation?
How to restart a fermentation
- Thread starter Main man
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What exactly was in the concentrate? Could have had some additives that knocked your yeast out.
Best yet Apple juice frozen concentrate - "Contains 100% Apple Juice". Incredients list only Apple Juice and asorbic acid. What else should I be looking for? I let it thaw completely and it was at room temperature when I added it.
And have you been taking SG readings? What is it now?
Ascorbic acid is used in the concentrate presumably as an antioxidant, to help reduce browning. It shouldn’t inhibit fermentation unless it dropped your pH too low.
Another thoughT I had was related to what your starting SG was and the alcohol tolerance of your yeast. If your yeast were nearly maxed out by alcohol, they can’t go any further. Got any info there?
If your added concentrate increased the sugar content in the juice high enough, that can also inhibit the yeast from doing its job. That’s why honey can’t be fermented as it exists, and lasts so long with no refrigeration, it’s just too sweet.
Last thought. When added to must, yeast go through a phase where they reproduce to establish a colony of enough size to handle the sugar you have in the must, the lag phase. A big enough sugar jump may have caused the yeast to regroup and produce a larger colony to handle the sugar increase. If that’s the case, it may start back up.
SG started at 1.085 roughly. I only took a Brix reading of 21 at the start. It now is at 1.045 around 10 Brix in 3 days from pitching the yeast. I would think that if the concentrate increased the sugar it would be reflected in my current reading. I used 10g DV10 Cider and Wine yeast. My understanding is that it would tolerate the levels I have tested at. I can only hope that it restarts at this point. What do you recommend that I do?
Seems like the sugar and pH are in line, your yeast can go to 18%, so we can cross that stuff off the list. Keep the temps in the mid 70’s and give it a day. If it doesn’t get going, try making a starter and slowly step feed your must into the starter. Your DV10 yeast is a good restarter, so use that if you still have some.
Sorry, but I have to ask: How are you measuring SG/Brix, hydrometer or refractometer?
Its a tripe scale beer and wine hydrometer, with SG, Brix and potential alcohol. It has a white background with black lettering and scaling. It much easier to read for my wifes and my poor old eyes. We agreed to track brix only because it is easier to read! Not sure I'm missing anything by not tracking SG. It appears to be all relevant to each other.
No, what you are doing is fine. Refractometers don't work so well after fermentation commences (due to the alcohol). A completed fermentation tends to show up at about ~1.040 +/- on a refractometer, hence my question.
Sorry, I have no additional insight on your current situation.
Yes, EC-1118 will do just fine. Use the whole packet.
