temperature drop in primary down to 64

[brendathebrewer]

My fermentation has been going strong for 5 days, sg is at 1012. my temperature was between 70 and 75 till yesterday. it is a fruit wine (chokecherry and saskatoon). today is 64 degrees and few bubbles. should i bring the temperature up with a heating pad or so, or simply strain and rack to secondary? wont be able to buy my glass 3 gallon carboy till tomorrow though...

 

[beano]

My fermentation has been going strong for 5 days, sg is at 1012. my temperature was between 70 and 75 till yesterday. it is a fruit wine (chokecherry and saskatoon). today is 64 degrees and few bubbles. should i bring the temperature up with a heating pad or so, or simply strain and rack to secondary? wont be able to buy my glass 3 gallon carboy till tomorrow though...

While not the expert, I'd say the temp change would slow the ferment down. Also, as the ferment is nearing its end it might slow down. What was your starting SG and type of yeast? You do mean 1.012 SG, right

Beano Joe

 

[brendathebrewer]

starting sg was probably 1080 to 1090. it was 1060 i added grape concentrate but it was too thick to measure acurately. sg and sugar is probably right., yes the ferment is now at 1012 or so.

I put a heating pad under it, will keep it there for a bit but plan tomorrow to strain the fruit and put into secondary. i am not sure if i should strain all the fruit and put it into a 3 gallon or leave some fruit and put it into a 4 gallon. i started with 25 pounds of fruit.

what should the temperature be in secondary? because perhaps i shouldnt be worried about raising it right now.

 

[Stressbaby]

I would strain the fruit, put it in a 3 gallon, and any extra put in a wine bottle, beer bottle, or other smaller container for topping up later.

 

[Turock]

Sounds like the fruit didn't break down totally. Did you use pectic enzyme on it?

Once a ferment is going, you should never add more juice to it because that is adding sugar that the yeast can't use any longer because after 50% sugar reduction, you can't add more nutrient.

I suspect that the reason the ferment did not finish strong all the way to dry stage is lack of nutrient. You have to step-feed nutrient--one dose at the beginning is not enough for the future generations of yeast cells to get the nitrogen that they need for their life-cycle.

 

[brendathebrewer]

well i pitched the yeast on the monday along with 1 tsp of nutrient/energizer. added more sugar/juice on tues and thursday and also on thursday added another 1/2 tsp energizer/nutrient. it was on friday that the sg was down do 1015 or 1012 and i then added another grape concentrate and 1/2 cup of sugar. seems like the sg hasnt changed much since then, well when i tested, could have gone up and come down as well. it was on sunday the ferment seemed pretty dead but the temperature was also down to 64. i racked and strained yesterday (monday) and got 3 gallons plus a quart out of it but that was with a measly hand straining effort (too much work!!). i have brought the temperature up to approx 68 or so, i havent seen any bubbles. the alcohol seems to be 11 or 11 1/2 percent. sg is between 1010 and 1015 my "feeling" is that it might be stuck. have nothing to go on, its only my second wine batch ever.

i also can not remember if its recommended to add that campden stuff now. i havent used any till now. i did last time a smaller than recommended amount on one of the rackings (cant remember which one) and also miniscule amount at bottling. is a nice clear smooth wine (but low on body due to too much added water). in any case i will add some but not the full amount,seems to workfor me.

but if my ferment is stuck how can i find out and what is the best way to proceed?

 

[Turock]

Once you have adjusted the brix of the must for your potential alcohol content, don't add anymore sugar in any form. All you're doing is adding more food for the yeast, increasing the alcohol content above what the yeast can tolerate, causing them to die from alcohol toxicity, resulting in much residual sugar.

Different yeast strains have different alcohol tolerances and you have to know what that is so you don't go above the alcohol content that they can stand. I'm not sure how you learned to do a ferment this way, but it is incorrect. I would say the ferment is permanently stuck due to high alcohol content killing the yeast.