Slow starting fermentation

[DasK]

Hi everyone, new wine hobbyist here. This post is long winded.

My wife got me a one gallon kit for my birthday which I quickly expanded.

Then a few weeks ago, I remembered my buddy and I making beer when we were much younger and I managed to get our 6.5 gallon carboy from him.

Since I had such good luck with cranberry in my gallon setup, I thought I'd start with that in a 6.5 gallon variety. So I went to the store, got a new primary bucket, and all the supplies, and a couple of days ago, my wife and I bludgeoned the cranberries/raisins and put them into the bucket. Then we started putting in water...

We got to about 50 of the 91 cups that we needed and quickly realized that the 7 gallon bucket wouldn't be big enough for our 6.5 gallons of liquid + fruit.

My thought was, we'll let the yeast ferment out the primary as much as possible with this amount of water and then top it off when we rack into the secondary. So we sealed it up and pitched 2 packs of EC-1118 champagne yeast the next day.

Now, with the gallon batches, I'm very used to seeing fermentation start within a few hours and going well by the next day. So when I woke up this morning to see that the airlock wasn't bubbling at all I got a little nervous because of the must being so off.

So I pulled the lid off, gave it a good stir, managed to squeeze in another 12 cups of warm water and gave it some yeast nutrient.

I'm honestly not sure what the S.G. is, I didn't bother measuring since I knew the ratio would be way off anyway. TA is ~.5 so I don't think it's too terribly far off.

So, do I wait? Instinct tells me to wait.

 

[RedNeckWino]

Personally I would set the lid and airlock off to the side and just cover with a clean towel. The yeast should take off a little better letting O2 into the bucket. If you have the Hydrometer handy, sanitize it and just take a reading in the bucket, and Temp if you can. Always best to have them in case there are questions later. Jeff

 

[Wade E]

You need to take a reading as if its too high in sugars it will shok the yeast and nothing will happen. You also need to know what its at so you know what to add later and not just go by a recipe as lots of recipes out there can get you into big trouble.

 

[DasK]

I took a reading and it's 1.13 after I added more water today.

I know that's high, but I figured the yeast would ferment out what it could and then when it got down to a more manageable level I'd rack it to the secondary and let it finish out there... or wind up with a desert wine.

 

[Koom]

Your gonna wind up with rocket fuel not desert wine. That's a high starting sg. Your definitely gonna need a fpac.

 

[Wade E]

They are going to water it down when they pull the fruit out. Thats not to bad and the yeast should take it from there. Are you sure about that TA cause thats actually pretty low for cranberry which is usually very high. Cranbrry and Blueberry naturally produce benzoate which can hinder a fermentation and not being diluted enogh could be actually making that concentration higher then norm making it hard fir the yeast to do their thing. Maybe you could split it in half and diklute to where it needs to be by putting half in the carboy now, the part with no fruit in it. Otherwise and even so if you arent using both nutrient and energizer I would recommend that especially for these 2 wines when being made.

 

[DasK]

Well it seems to have finally taken off. Fortunately I have the fruit in a bag, because the yeast is pushing the fruit over the edges of the bucket.

I'm definitely going to go about this differently next time!

 

[winemaker_3352]

Welcome aboard!! We all live and learn. I would check back here before starting another batch. There are a lot of knowledgeable vino's in here that can help assist as you go along.

As stated before - it is wise to take SG, TA, and temp readings for your primary - it helps debug issues.

Takes notes as you go along - a lot easier than trying to remember.

 

[DasK]

Just a follow up.

This wine is turning out really well. It was a little iffy, and I thought for sure at one point that I was going to have to get rid of it. I stuck it in the pantry for a few months and forgot about it. My wife knocked the airlock off a month ago so I sampled it and it was REALLY good. I'm aging it for another month or so and then bottling.

Next on my list is a peach wine.

 

[Tom]

See what Patience will do??

 

[closetwine]

See what Patience will do??

Drive you crazy?


And make good wine!

Glad to hear it turned out! I understand your original plight my blueberry was a bear to get started. Live and learn, and now drink good wine!