Slow Fermentation

[jpsmithny]

Hi All,
Purchased a Chile Carmenere juice bucket from a local vendor.
Sg is 1.096 to start and I used 71b-1122 yeast that I re-hydrated with some of the must.

I was expecting a more vigorous fermentation. I pitched the yeast on 5/25
and today's reading was at 1.038. It just seems slow to me.

I' m comparing it to other ferments that were done last year on California juice so that's all I have to go by.

I've stirred the must several times following the great advice on this forum.

Temp is at 68 and steady.

Should I be worried?



TIA

 

[FABulousWines]

Nah, you are doing fine. 68 is on the low end, but that's OK. Some say that a slower ferment brings out more in the wine anyway. It's only been a few days and your SG is dropping. You'll be a'ight I am sure.

I had to chuckle, it wasn't too long ago I was asking this same exact question.

 

[Deezil]

Sounds like you're right on track.. 4 days to get from 1.096 to 1.038 isnt a bad thing at all. The 68F temp is probably the difference between this batch and your last batches, but wont hurt the wine at all

With the temp being below 70, the action you expected to see would be less, the ferment would take longer as you're noticing.. But the wine will retain more of any fruity characteristics it possesses, with a "truer" profile of the fruit than it would if the temp was high and fermentation was vigorous - this results in a lot of the fine aromatics being blown off, the fruit flavors turn more jammy and (if theres grape solids) results in more extraction of tannins etc, which leads to a longer aging time

Higher temps for bigger, bolder wines
Lower temps for finer, lighter wines

 

[jpsmithny]

Thank you both for the replies. It does ease my mind a bit.

 

[sdelli]

Might want to consider in the future doing a feeding with Fermaid k..... I started using a little while back and wow what a difference when you feed the yeast!

 

[jpsmithny]

Might want to consider in the future doing a feeding with Fermaid k..... I started using a little while back and wow what a difference when you feed the yeast!

I did use a yeast nutrient. Never saw such a slow ferment. Been a longtime beer brewer but just started with wine in the last year.

The ferment is just more subtle because of the relatively low temp.