Unsure if yeast nutrient is required...also other questions from a first time wine maker

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Tyler Martin

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I'm fermenting a wine using 3 quarts of Santa Cruz White Grape juice plus 16z POM pomegranate juice in a 1 gallon glass jug. The grape juice is completely free of preservatives, sulfites, added acid, etc. Not only did I not add acid blend beginning fermentation, I also didn't realize I may need yeast nutrient. I'm using D47 and it's bubbling away like crazy and smells fine, but I'm concerned I may end up with a stalled fermentation without nutrient. What do I do now?

Also, when my specific gravity gets to the point I want it, what are the steps to finish the project? I know I should rack to another container... When do I add Potassium Sorbate/Metabisulfite and SuperKleer?

Thanks so much!
 
Welcome to the forum. I'm new also. One thing I have learned is ; you must take the Specific gravity at the start to know when to add chemicals and know how much alcohol you have produced. Do you have a hydrometer? If so, write down the SG every time you do some thing to your wine. record date , temp and SG every time.
Someone with more experience than me will help you with the other stuff. Pretty sure you should have added the nutrient but, I'm not experienced enough to tell you for sure. Good luck!
 
Welcome to the forum!

Regarding your SG... Are your intentions to stop your fermentation before the wine is completely done fermenting on its own? This can be done but I believe most of us here will not attempt to stop fermentation early but let the process stop/end on its own. If it is a sweeter wine we're looking for we'll then add sweetener back into the wine.
 
If your s.g. is still above 1.030 or so I would give it a shot of nutrient. Just use about half what the bottle instructions call for. It should help it finish out and help keep the yeast from being stressed. If it is lower, think I would just let it finish out. When it gets down to 1.010 or so if you are using an open top container you can rack it so you can put an airlock on it. You stated you have it in a jug so makes me think you can just put an airlock on it. Let it finish out, (s.g. the same for 3 or more days in a row and below 1.000.) rack it off the lees and put it back under airlock with a shot of k-meta (campden tablets) and let it sit. In a couple of weeks you should have a layer of lees on the bottom that you can rack off of again. You can now let it sit til it clears or add the superkleer to it to clear it faster. If it sits for 3 months, give it another shot of k-meta. When it clears you can give it a last shot of k-meta and bottle if you are not going to sweeten it. If you are then give it the k-meta and the sorbate, sweeten to taste, let it sit for at least a week to make sure it does not start a referment and bottle it. Let it sit in the bottle to get over bottling for at least a couple of weeks, crack one open and enjoy. Arne.
 
Welcome.

It may be fine to add nutrient now, it depends on your SG. Adding nutrient late can be risky because the yeast might not use it all up, leaving nitrogen hanging around to feed spoilage organisms. I don't use D47 any more but I recall it can be needy nutrient-wise, so if you SG isn't too low nutrients now might be a good idea. Generally not later than 1/2 sugar depletion, but I've done it as late as 2/3 sugar depletion without notable issues.

As @bkisel said, for a few reasons, conventional wisdom is to let the wine ferment dry then stabilize with KMS and sorbate before back-sweetening (rather than trying to stop the fermentation). I don't normally do this until much later, after the wine has cleared. You will need to add some KMS (Campden tabs) after fermentation is complete, then roughly every 3 months while aging, more if you rack a lot.

You might need acid, might not, hard to say. You can measure pH and TA, but even before I had the equipment, I made acceptable wine by just using KMS every 3 months and adjusting acid to taste. Knowing pH and TA helps though because you can dial in the KMS additions, assure favorable environment for the yeast, and make adjustments prior to fermentation.

Also, most of us do most of our primary fermentation in an open bucket and move to carboy later, you can read up on pluses and minuses on that.

This is what I would do in rough order:
* take off the airlock and cover with a cheesecloth held by a rubber band
* get a hydrometer and measure your SG
* if SG above 1.040-ish add 1/2 dose of nutrient, not the full dose
* monitor fermentation until under 1.010 or so, then rack - on this rack don't try to keep it super clean, pulling over some sediment and yeast is probably fine, it will help the fermentation finish in the carboy
* after 7-10 days the fermentation should be completely done (as evidenced by SG under 1.000 and no change in SG for several days) so rack again and add KMS
* rack again at 30 days, then every 90 days
* the wine may clear on it's own, if so you don't need the SuperKleer; if the wine doesn't clear on its own or you are in a hurry, use SuperKleer as directed, then rack off of it after about a week
* stabilize by adding KMS, wait a day, add sorbate, wait a day, then backsweeten as needed
* watch for few days to be sure fermentation doesn't restart, then bottle.

There are many ways to skin a cat, others may offer perfectly acceptable alternative approaches.
 
I appreciate everyone's advice! Initial gravity was 1.101 (I prefer a very sweet wine). Gravity on day 3 is 1.071. bubbles on airlock every 6 seconds. So at this point, yeast Energizer is probably recommended? I would have to purchase this from Amazon, so would it be too late or add the Energizer at day 5? I'm expecting primary to be finished by day 9 or 10, stopping at an ideal 1.000 FG for an ABV of ~13.7% (D47 tolerance is 14%)
 
Nutrient vs energizer - ugh. I've never heard a truly scientific, well reasoned explanation of when to use one versus the other. It's always something like "think of energizer like your multiple vitamin and nutrient like your macronutrients" or some nonsense like that. I gave up and started using GoFerm (at yeast hydration) and Fermaid K (as nutrient).

Whatever you add, at this rate you'll probably be OK on day 5. Also while you're at it, order some sorbate if you don't have any, you will need it.
 
I
Nutrient vs energizer - ugh. I've never heard a truly scientific, well reasoned explanation of when to use one versus the other. It's always something like "think of energizer like your multiple vitamin and nutrient like your macronutrients" or some nonsense like that. I gave up and started using GoFerm (at yeast hydration) and Fermaid K (as nutrient).

Whatever you add, at this rate you'll probably be OK on day 5. Also while you're at it, order some sorbate if you don't have any, you will need it.

Will I also need K-Meta?
 
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