Is my wine yeast dead or alive? (They need oxygen?!)

[BeginnerMark]

Hey guys I put my yeast in the juice this morning to start fermentation in my primary... I made one mistake... I closed the lid and put an airlock on it and I realized this after about 16 hours later and loosened the lid... Since yeast needs oxygen... Is it to late for my yeast? Did I kill off my yeast? Should I put in more?

Btw airlock activity is low (no bubbles)
Rc212 yeast activated in warm water

Thanks guys

 

[barbiek]

Hey guys I put my yeast in the juice this morning to start fermentation in my primary... I made one mistake... I closed the lid and put an airlock on it and I realized this after about 16 hours later and loosened the lid... Since yeast needs oxygen... Is it to late for my yeast? Did I kill off my yeast? Should I put in more?

Btw airlock activity is low (no bubbles)
Rc212 yeast activated in warm water

Thanks guys

Take the lid off and give a good stir leave the lid off and replace it with a towel
Give it a stir every so often should start right up if the temp is warm enough
Good luck
Barbie

 

[BeginnerMark]

Thanks a lot! I also pitched some more yeast... May need to wait more for it to clear but I think it's good to make sure

 

[Boatboy24]

The yeast can take up to 48 hours (sometimes more) to really get going. If you're seeing some activity, that's a good sign.

 

[BeginnerMark]

Hmmm is it bad if I pitched yeast in two times then?
Will it hurt the wine or anything or will it give me faster results?

 

[sour_grapes]

No, it is fine that you pitched two packets of yeast. It will not hurt anything. It may make the process go very slightly faster.

I agree with just covering with a towel is a better practice, but it would have been just fine to do the whole fermentation under airlock. The yeast would have used aerobic metabolism/reproduction until they exhausted the oxygen dissolved in the must and in the headspace, and then switched to anaerobic fermentation/metabolism afterwards.

 

[BeginnerMark]

Thanks a lot!

 

[heatherd]

Luckily wine is very forgiving!