Think I'm getting clever..

[astebbi1]

K so i have a batch that has been taking a while to ferment (been makin progress but sgrav is still too high), supposed to be 15% when finished.. And recently i mixed a 5gal that i had to take a 1/4 bottle out due to vigirous fermentation and not enough head space in my containers..
What i was wondering is if i ad the 1/4 bottle of over-active juice from before to my slow fermenting, high ABV wine, will it speed things up?? Will my 1st (low activity) batch benifit from a splice with an over-active batch?? Will it loose some ABV?? worth it at all??
Thanks,
-Andrew

 

[Deezil]

Introducing the new bottle might have some difference, provided the yeasts are different - because you would be introducing a different strain. It's possible that the new-yeast-on-the-block could override the slower fermenting yeast.... or vice-versa.

It's quite likely that the slow fermentation is caused by a multitude of things being slightly "off", making the yeast work harder. Introducing a new yeast in this instance, would have no or negative effects - H2S problems, etc; depends on the yeasts..

Seeing as you're only talking about roughly 200ml of wine, i would lean more towards it having little or no effect, because the yeast population in the 200ml is waaaay less than what would be found in a packet of wine yeast itself..

Not impossible, but not probable

 

[closetwine]

Since your shooting for 15% it will take it a long time to finish out... I'd let it go and not add the other for reasons Deez mentioned. Also depending on your yeast it may have stalled, some yeasts won't do 15%.

 

[saramc]

Can I ask...what is your perception of "taking a while"?

Many factors play in to the turn around time on fermentation from the recipe and the steps you followed to the container you started the ferment in and finished in, lid on/lid off/tight/loose, when did you airlock, temperature, yeast, sugar content, nutrients available, oxygen available at a certain point. I've had wines go from 1.090 to dry in 5 days (which freaked me out) and I have had them take a month.

 

[astebbi1]

Introducing the new bottle might have some difference, provided the yeasts are different - because you would be introducing a different strain. It's possible that the new-yeast-on-the-block could override the slower fermenting yeast.... or vice-versa.

It's quite likely that the slow fermentation is caused by a multitude of things being slightly "off", making the yeast work harder. Introducing a new yeast in this instance, would have no or negative effects - H2S problems, etc; depends on the yeasts..

Seeing as you're only talking about roughly 200ml of wine, i would lean more towards it having little or no effect, because the yeast population in the 200ml is waaaay less than what would be found in a packet of wine yeast itself..

Not impossible, but not probable

Thanks Deezil, could of been a cool experiment but I'd rather not mess with what I hope to be 15% wine so thanks for weighing the pros and cons for me.. I just took another reading and this stuff tastes sooo good can't wait to get it into bottles and drink it..

 

[astebbi1]

Since your shooting for 15% it will take it a long time to finish out... I'd let it go and not add the other for reasons Deez mentioned. Also depending on your yeast it may have stalled, some yeasts won't do 15%.

Thanks someone told me this before and it looks like my yeast's tolerance is only 13% so I'm hoping to reach that at least

 

[astebbi1]

Can I ask...what is your perception of "taking a while"?

Many factors play in to the turn around time on fermentation from the recipe and the steps you followed to the container you started the ferment in and finished in, lid on/lid off/tight/loose, when did you airlock, temperature, yeast, sugar content, nutrients available, oxygen available at a certain point. I've had wines go from 1.090 to dry in 5 days (which freaked me out) and I have had them take a month.

Well it's been about a month and a half and it's still bubbling so I don't think it stalled yet.. I took a hydro reading today and it was down from 15% to 5% which Isn't quite what I was hoping for but I'll still wait it out a little longer. Hah it would be nice though (and a little freaky) if one of my batches only took 5 days I'd make that all the time!!

 

[astebbi1]

Oh also no suffer smell yet from this batch, think I might just be getting lucky..

 

[robie]

I thought I'd ask, just in case...
Are you measuring your SG, brix, or (???) with a hydrometer or with a refractometer? Once a wine contains alcohol, you can no longer use a refractometer on it, without utilizing a special conversion formula. Otherwise, it will not read below about SG 1.020, even after months in the fermenter.

 

[astebbi1]

I thought I'd ask, just in case...
Are you measuring your SG, brix, or (???) with a hydrometer or with a refractometer? Once a wine contains alcohol, you can no longer use a refractometer on it, without utilizing a special conversion formula. Otherwise, it will not read below about SG 1.020, even after months in the fermenter.

Im using a hydrometer and looking at the potential abv for readings.. I know its not as accurate and i dont know the conversion right now without looking at the hydrometer but im going with the PotentialABV for a general reading..

 

[mmadmikes1]

Even when you reach the ABV you are looking for you will need to know SG and make sure the wine is finished. 3 days in a row with no SG change.
http://grapestompers.com/calculations.aspx. Here is a calculator you can use

 

[robie]

Im using a hydrometer and looking at the potential abv for readings.. I know its not as accurate and i dont know the conversion right now without looking at the hydrometer but im going with the PotentialABV for a general reading..

The better scale on the hydrometer is the specific gravity scale. The potential ABV scale is not that accurate, because it is based on your wine finishing at an SG of 1.000. Many times a wine will finish lower than 1.000. Mine usually finish around 0.996.

To better calculate ABV:
Subtract ending SG from beginning SG.
Take that result and multiply it by 131.

Example:
Starting Sg is 1.100
Ending Sg is 0.995

(1.100 - 0.995) * 131 = 13.755% ABV