Jam wine

[jerry]

I made wine using Smuckers strawberry jam in the past, it came out very good. I used Lalvin71B 1122 yeast. Is there a better yeast I should use because the Lalvin 71B stopped around 1.020.

 

[Sammyk]

I have never had a jam wine stop except one time and it was too cold. I use 71B for all my wines because it works great for fruit and I mostly make fruit wines.. I have made several jam wines.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Duster]

what was your starting SG? Is it possible that it stopped do to alcohol toxicity?
there is several things that could have caused it. I like Red Star, Cote des Blanc but I have never used 71B so I can't really say

 

[jerry]

My starting sg was 1.100

 

[BernardSmith]

I had a similar problem although I used Red Star champagne yeast. I added more sugar and the fermentation took off again and fermented dry. I wonder if the problem may have something to do with high fructose syrups used in some commercial jams.

 

[jerry]

I never used jelly, just jam. I think jelly would have a lot less sediment when racking, but I think the jam would taste better and have more nutrients .

 

[skyrat]

I had a similar problem although I used Red Star champagne yeast. I added more sugar and the fermentation took off again and fermented dry. I wonder if the problem may have something to do with high fructose syrups used in some commercial jams.

I think you are correct about the high fructose. I do a Raspberry Wine from Jam and it finishes out the same around 1.020 (using Pasteur Red). Don't think the yeast is the issue since 3 different yeasts are all stopping "early".

I don't push it further since after Oaking we like it with the residual sugar at that level.

 

[Luc]

I had a similar problem although I used Red Star champagne yeast. I added more sugar and the fermentation took off again and fermented dry. I wonder if the problem may have something to do with high fructose syrups used in some commercial jams.

Fructose will ferment just fine. That is not the problem.
Maybe there are some additives that are the problem.

I made several jam wines and they came out fine although as I am in continental europe they are made from different brands:

http://www.wijnmaker.blogspot.nl/2011/09/wijn-van-jam-wine-made-from-jam.html

and

http://wijnmaker.blogspot.nl/2009/11/appel-aardbeienwijn-apple.html

Luc

 

[Julie]

There can be multiple reasons why it does not ferment out and it is not the fructose. What was your temps during fermentation? Did you add any nutrients?

If you post your recipe, I'm sure we will be able to help you out.

 

[Norske]

More than likely it is due to the additives they use in making the jam. Look at the ingredients label especially for potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, and or others you do not recognize. When making jam wines, you are much better off finding jams that do not use any preservatives, modifers, or artificial ingredients. Jack kellers site has some recipes and info on jam wines.
Also, make sure you use pectic enzyme since most jams have added pectin to aid them in "setting".

 

[olusteebus]

I did a Cabernet with black berry jam and it stopped at about 1.005. It is a dnang good wine though. My temp was fine. I couldn't get it to restart. Maybe because there was not enough sugar at 1.005 or 1.010.

 

[wpt-me]

Using Julies recipe. I made a one gal batch and had it stuck at 1.030.
I racked to clean carboy and added 1 teaspoon of nutrient,1/4 teaspoon
energizer, stirred to get some oxygen into it. It has slowly restarted

bill

P.S> yeast used was Red Star Pasteur Champagne

 

[BernardSmith]

Luc, if additives were the problem then why would the wine ferment with no problem early but stick around 1.020. I am not a chemist but from my reading I think the yeasts we tend to use are more comfortable converting glucose rather than fructose and I wonder if the high fructose corn sugars that are added to commercially produced jams might be left untouched by the yeasts earlier in the fermentation process and when those are the only sugars available for conversion the yeasts are under too much stress (starvation and ethanol poisoning) to effectively convert HFCS. I think this is discussed in the first section of the paper below. Perhaps the solution is to feed the yeasts more nutrients when the SG approaches 1.030 or to use a yeast that is more fructose tolerant

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1855598/

 

[Downwards]

I made a blackberry jam wine that also stopped fermenting at 1.020. The only wine I've ever made that could not go further either. I also like it though, very good flavor and we also oaked it. Beautiful garnet color. I'll be putting this one in the fair this year. Kind of surprising that I like it so much, I'm not a big fan of sweet stuff usually.

 

[jswordy]

One thing I notice in this thread is that there's talk about where it stopped. Where it stops is a direct function of where it starts and what yeast is used.

7B1122 for example has 14% tolerance. So if you start it at 1.100, you might not make dry before it dies in its own alcohol. If you'd started it at 1.080, that same must might've finished dry.

 

[Downwards]

One thing I notice in this thread is that there's talk about where it stopped. Where it stops is a direct function of where it starts and what yeast is used.

7B1122 for example has 14% tolerance. So if you start it at 1.100, you might not make dry before it dies in its own alcohol. If you'd started it at 1.080, that same must might've finished dry.

Good point! It could also be that with using jam we are adding way more sugar than we know. Mine was SG 1.110 (higher than I wanted it to be) when it started and only stopped at 1.020. I used RS champ. yeast.

 

[jerry]

Jam vs jelly

Would most agree jam makes better wine than jelly?

 

[Downwards]

Jerry, I would agree. It's the difference between using fruit and juice basically. Jam has the fruit in it still. I'm only agreeing in theory though, I've never used jelly.

Bumping this because yet another Jam has done the same thing to me. This time 1.080 SG, using KV 1116 and it still it has stopped at 1.020. Sat there for about 3 weeks now, no change at all. I'm stumped.
I was thinking before that maybe my notes were wrong about the Champ. yeast, which should have gone dry (my last batch)- I used to often use Montrachet or Champagne, it would make sense if it had been the Montrachet right? So I tried it again with another high alcohol yeast. Wouldn't you know it? Stopped at the exact same number.

What would you do?

 

[BernardSmith]

I wonder if commercial jam makers use non fermentable sugars. There is too much of a pattern here with the ferment stopping at 1.020, no matter the yeast used, the starting gravity, the use of nutrients...