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snoopthulhu

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I have a 6 gallon batch of peach wine I started from fruit this past saturday. I made the must on saturday, added the yeast on Sunday (sprinkled on top) after maybe 18 hours, and I've seen no action at all from the yeast. Yesterday I thoroughly stirred it back up to oxygenate it a few times, and also pitched a new yeast in sugar water and added it in.

Today I still have bumpkus. SG is exactly the same, not even moved a bit.

I was doing some searching, and found this article, which I thought might be the culprit, as it matches what I did this time. It's a touch over 6 gallons in a 7.9 gallon white primary, and I put the lid on sealed with an airlock.

Reason #4 - Closing Up The Fermenter After Adding Sulfites

So, question: assuming this is the issue, if I vent the primary and oxygenate the must more, can I maybe try a yeast again after a bit?

Also looking for any other suggestions, thanks.
 
How much sulfite did you add and in what form - dissolved, sprinkled the powder ?
Was this from fresh peaches or peach juice? Fresh peaches tend to have a huge amount of pulp that results in large quantities of lees. The point of that is - you need to stir it in throughly (Sulfite)

The other usual questions apply as well:
- Temp of must/room
- Type of Yeast
- Yeast Nutrient Qty
- Starting SG
- pH
There are probably a few other questions I'm forgetting but those are the main ones.
 
  1. This was fresh peaches, hand pulped in a bag and suspended in the must.
  2. I used 3/4 teaspoon powdered potassium metabisulfite for the 6 gallon batch. It was stirred thoroughly into batch
  3. temp is pretty consistent around 78 F
  4. Yeast was Lalvin EC-1118
  5. Recipe didn't call for nutrient, just for energizer, which I used 1 tablespoon for the 6 gallons
  6. Starting SG is 1.09
  7. ph is between 4 and 5
 
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Oh my. That's about 3 times to much potassium metabisulphite, should have been 1/4 tsp. and that PH is not in the normal range for wine making. You are going to have to stir, stir, stir, probably cool the must down and wait. I would do this for about 3 or 4 days in a row and hopefully that will get the kmeta to mostly gas off. I would also add some tartaric or maybe acid blend to get that ph down in the 3.3-3.7 range, which is normal for wine.
 
GRRR. It appears at some point I found bad info on the ratio of pot. metabisulfite to 1 campden tablet. Seems its more like 1/16 tsp rather than 1/8. <sigh>

I rechecked the PH just now, and it is closer to 3 than 4 now. Not sure why the first reading was so much higher.

I'll give it several days of stirring and oxygenation, and see what happens. Thanks!
 
For a 6 gallon batch i add 1/4tsp of kmetA, stir every few hours, after 12 hours i add 4 tsp of pectic enzyme, then at 24 hours i add 3tsp of yeast energizer and 3 tsp of yeast nutrient. Adjust ph, i ussually add citric acid. I inoculate my yeast in a half cup of water heated to whatever the yeast calls for with a teaspoon of sugar, then after 15 minutes you should see it foaming, then i add 1 cup of the juice to the yeast and wait half hour, should be really active by this point, then i add another cup of juice to the yeast and stir it in, wait another half hour, should be really happy by this point, then i pour it into the juice bucket and i dont stir it in for 24 hours. For the first 24 hours the yeast want to be together after 24 hours you should see heavy fermentation, now you must stir twice a day to break up that cap. In my experience a happy yeast culture makes a happy tasting wine, i believe sprinkling the yeast without giving it a happy start can stress the yeast out and cause some off smells, ive only ever sprinkled yeast on once, it was a batch of dragons blood and its the only time i ever had "off" smells come off my must. Im sure other people will say otherwise but ive never had a batch fail inoculating the yeast first. Ive made lots of fruit wines, because thats what i have available rhubarb(technically vegtable) peach, apricot, blueberry,cherry,raaspberry, apple, i find fruit wines ferment much harder than any kit wine ive ever done, but also alot more pulp to deal with so i try and make larger batches so i can rack into a 6 gallon carboy when its done
 
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cmason1957 is giving you great guidance.

On the upside not only is it tough for YOUR yeast to get started, it's also a hostile environment for bacteria and other wild yeasts.

Just remember to keep the bucket covered with a cloth. For your situation I'd use a thin cloth like a tea towel, cloth diaper, piece of Muslin etc - something that will let gas out very easily. Tie a string around the top of the bucket to keep out fruit flies, bugs etc. And wait - using cmason1957 instructions.

Plastic lids on those fermentation buckets are rarely good at sealing so putting an airlock on is likely to make you think your wine is never fermenting (If you just watch airlock. Been there done that.) [I never use a plastic lid anymore unless I am transporting the bucket up or down stairs and don't want a spill.] Just use a cloth, the k-meta will protect the wine until your fermentation process kicks off and generates enough gas to protect the wine. Sometimes folks end up pitching yeast 2-3 times before the K-meta dissipates enough for the yeast to fire up the fermentation.

There is a difference between Nutrient and Energizer but I'm not going to pretend to be able to dive you the detailed differences. I use a a little of each, and so far my wine batches have had not trouble getting started.

Your yeast is a very good reliable yeast and PEACH makes an excellent dessert wine. How many pounds did you use?

You can recover and pull this off - hang in there. Now you will check all your measurements twice - it's part of the learning process.
 
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Not sure where I read this but energizer is the equivalent of coffee while nutrient is the equivalent of carbs and protein.. Despite what a "recipe" suggests, if the yeast need anything it is not likely to be "coffee". Nutrients provide the organic nitrogen and minerals like magnesium and zinc the yeast need to repair cells walls and to create sterols that enable the yeast to transport the sugars through their cell walls and allow them to metabolyze the sugars to produce alcohol. Wine grapes may be nutrient rich but most other fruits are not.
 
Just wanted to provide an update. I did a few days stirring, but also moved the primary to a cooler part of the house. After about 2 days, the yeast took off like gangbusters! I've since racked it twice, and it is now in a cool part of the house for a few months of settling. Thanks to cmason1957 for the advice.

Your yeast is a very good reliable yeast and PEACH makes an excellent dessert wine. How many pounds did you use?

I used 17 pounds of peaches, washed, pitted and sliced, but left the skins on. I had to travel while it was fermenting (which was not the original plan), so I didn't get a chance to monitor it while away, but when I returned the SG was down to 0.990. I'll probably back sweeten it later in a few months near bottling time. I did a 2 gallon version of this same recipe last year, and it was delicious!

Now you will check all your measurements twice - it's part of the learning process.

Well, it wasn't a case of measurements, it was a case of bad info I found on the ratio of campden tablets to potassium metabisulfite. I've updated my notes, and hopefully that will be the last time THAT ever happens again.
 
The only and major factor I have observed in starting the Fermentation is the temperature. Early spring it seems like it will never start (several days). Late spring, early summer it starts almost immediately (<day).

A couple of years ago I started a batch of Apple wine in November. It defied all fermentation efforts, until I threw an electric blanket around the bucket and turn it up as high as it would go. Wine came out GREAT.
 

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