I came up a little short on berries to do a 6 gallon batch so I decided to do some experimenting with 3 separate 1 gallon batches.
Batch 1 - 6 lbs fruit (fruit loose in primary)
Batch 2 - 9 lbs fruit (fermented on the fruit but bagged)
Batch 3 - 12 lbs fruit (not yet started but will probably be on bagged fruit)
Ever had the fermentation begin with wild yeast before pitching the wine yeast?
I thawed the berries overnight and added 1 campden tablet to each the next morning along with pectic enzyme and snapped air tight lids on both. 24 hours later I open them up and there's noticeable fermentation, a yeasty smell and CO2. I bake a lot of sourdough bread from a homemade starter so I'm familiar with how much wild yeast there is in the air. I was shocked that the little beasties shook off the campden tablet and got started without any oxygen. I made my water and sugar additions then pitched the wine yeast the next morning. Any reason why I should anticipate any problems or off flavors?
Batch 1 - 6 lbs fruit (fruit loose in primary)
Batch 2 - 9 lbs fruit (fermented on the fruit but bagged)
Batch 3 - 12 lbs fruit (not yet started but will probably be on bagged fruit)
Ever had the fermentation begin with wild yeast before pitching the wine yeast?
I thawed the berries overnight and added 1 campden tablet to each the next morning along with pectic enzyme and snapped air tight lids on both. 24 hours later I open them up and there's noticeable fermentation, a yeasty smell and CO2. I bake a lot of sourdough bread from a homemade starter so I'm familiar with how much wild yeast there is in the air. I was shocked that the little beasties shook off the campden tablet and got started without any oxygen. I made my water and sugar additions then pitched the wine yeast the next morning. Any reason why I should anticipate any problems or off flavors?