Stopped fermenting?

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Allison Gray

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But, you went from 1.076 to 1.050. What was the temperature of the must at the 1.076 reading? It shouldn't matter what yeast you're using, you should have fermentation by now. Did you add other items? Campden, etc?
 
Have you tried stirring daily and adding yeast energizer?
 
What I would do is check the gravity again today. Has it stalled or is it dropping but slowly? Try whipping some air into the fermenter. It won't do any harm at this point but it might help revive the yeast. If that does not help or if the fermentation has in fact stalled you may want to repitch some yeast but you turn the process on its head. by that I mean you create a small starter with the fresh batch of yeast and when you see the yeast being active you add enough of the stalled batch to the starter to double the volume of the starter and then you watch and wait. You are waiting to see that the amount of stalled liquid is busy fermenting and you wait a little bit longer and then you add some more from the stalled batch so that what is in the starter is again doubled in volume.. and you watch and wait.. and you wait and so you repeat this process until all the stalled batch is now fermenting in the new starter. This can take a day or even longer. Good luck.
 
Sorry, im confused. What do you mean by starter? Is there a proccess to pitching yeast or do you just sprinkle it in?
 
Sorry, im confused. What do you mean by starter? Is there a proccess to pitching yeast or do you just sprinkle it in?
Search this on Google.
How to Make a Yeast Starter Solution: Jack Keller
It should be very helpful. I always make a yeast starter never have a problem with fermentation.
 
Hiya Allison, "Yeast starters" are typically used by brewers rather than wine makers perhaps because dry yeast does not really need a starter in quite the same way that liquid yeast does. A starter is when you pitch the yeast into a small volume of fermentable solution (in this case, a cup or so is perfectly adequate but where the SG of the sugar solution is not going to exceed about 1.040. In other words, you want to grow the colony of yeast. Here, you might simply use a cup of apple juice as long as you know that the juice has absolutely no preservatives (especially no sorbates). Follow any/all yeast rehydration protocols and pitch the rehydrated yeast onto the fruit juice - and that juice + yeast becomes your starter. What you want to do is agitate the juice + yeast to keep it aerated. This aeration encourages the yeast to focus on budding (reproducing) rather than pumping out ethanol. What you are looking for is a relatively large, active, and very healthy colony of yeast that will be able to neutralize any systemic problems in your stalled batch as long as you don't swamp the starter with too large a volume of problematic sugar solution - which is why you "feed" the starter by doubling its volume once you know it has no problem fermenting what byou lst fed it.
 
Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. I would recommend pitching the yeast again, perhaps something different. If Bernard's recommendation of a yeast started seems more than you would like to deal with I would at least re hydrate the yeast. It's kind of fun and guarantees you have an active yeast.
 
I would at least re hydrate the yeast. It's kind of fun and guarantees you have an active yeast.
+1.

Not sure if this has anything to do with it and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but it does look like there's quite a bit of head space. You think that could have anything to do with it?
 
+1.

Not sure if this has anything to do with it and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but it does look like there's quite a bit of head space. You think that could have anything to do with it?
A lot of head space during primary fermentation is a good thing. Not only does it provide an oxygen rich environment for the active yeast, but it avoids a potentially messy situation if the fermentation is overly active.
 
So 2 nights ago I made a starter by dissolving yeast nutrient in some warm water, adding a packet of yeast, and putting it into 1/4 of a gallon of the wine that has the issue. It foamed some and then I added it back into the fermenter the following morning, this morning I checked on it and it didnt effect the batch. Should I try something else or put the fermenter into a sink of hot water? Somebody mentioned that to me. But the temp of the wine has been staying around 70° and the instructions on the base says to stay between 68-72. I started this batch on the 19th of mayl
 

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