What's my problem?

[Big Port]

Wine related, my wife tells me the rest of my problems.

Okay, I thought this was a fluke till it happened again. I made 3 gallons of strawberry wine, I took the recipe off Jack Keller's site and multiplied everything but the yeast by 3. Fermentation took forever, last time I checked, it had finally reached 1.000 after about 4 weeks.


Well, it's happening again with a blueberry wine I started, after a week I expected the gravity to have dropped more then .020 points?? Below is the recipe for one gallon, I multiplied it by 5 for a 5 gallon recipe, is there something in there that is prohibiting the yeast from doing it's job?



<CENTER>BLUEBERRY WINE (1)</CENTER>
<CENTER>(Full Bodied)</CENTER>
<UL>
<LI>2 lb. blueberries
<LI>1 lb. raisins
<LI>2 lb. granulated sugar
<LI>½ tsp. pectic enzyme
<LI>1½ tsp. acid blend
<LI>½ tsp. yeast energizer
<LI>water to 1 gallon
<LI>crushed Campden tablet
<LI>wine yeast </LI>[/list]


Bring water to boil, then set aside. Wash and crush blueberries and put in primary fermentation vessel with all ingredients except yeast. Add hot water and stir to dissolve sugar. Cover well and allow to cool to 70-75 degrees F., then add yeast. Stir daily for 5-6 days or until specific gravity is 1.040. Strain out fruit pulp and press. Siphon into secondary fermentation vessel and fit fermentation trap. Rack in three weeks and again in three months. When wine is clear and stable, rack again and bottle. Allow a year to mature. Improves with age. [Adapted from Stanley F. Anderson and Raymond Hull's The Art of Making Wine]

 

[paubin]

I see that you are using yeast energizer which is a good thing but nutrient would be a good idea if not a better idea. I usually add a little nutrient and energizer again at the first racking. Keep in mind that taking 1 month to get down to 1.000 - .990 isn't all that unusual, at least for me.


Pete

 

[NorthernWinos]

I have read that Blueberry is hard to get going...has a natural yeast inhibitor, or something like that.....when I did ours I added extra yeast nutrient as well as yeast energizer....
Try adding some of the nutrient and energizer and stir it...see what happens....
Good luck...hope this helps...

I see someone else thought the same thing...Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[Big Port]

Sounds like a good plan! Thanks for the tips.

 

[grapeman]

My limited experience with Blueberry says take your time and be extra patient. Mine seemed to take forever to stop fermenting. Even though SG got down to under .995 and it cleared and appeared to stop fermenting- it hadn't totally. Apparently the temp got too low for it to show fermentation, but when it warmed up this summer. I had one bottle blow it's top. It had been bottled after 5 months and blew the cork at about 3 montrhs in the bottle. I put the couple I had left in the refrigerator and they have been fine since. I've gotta drink them sooner or later.


Don't rush it.

 

[Big Port]

Okay, guess I will wait it out. Did you leave it in the primary bucket or rack it to secondary???

 

[kutya]

Big Port: I used the exact same recipe from Jack, and mine took forever as well. I just assumed it was a little chilly in my basement. I was running about 68 degrees. I also added some nutrient.

 

[snoozer]

I started some blueberry wine about amonth ago and it's still fermenting (slowly). Racked it last night and the S.G. is 1.000, but that's down from 1.015 last week.

 

[grapeman]

Try to get it to about 1.010-1.015 and then rack to secondary. It seems to bubble forever.

 

[Big Port]

Well, I'm really glad to hear that I'm not alone on this one.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Wade E]

I to am having slow ferment with my blueberry melomel. I started a
strawberry kiwi and the melomel at the same time both having nutrient
and energizer and the melomel is at 1.020 while the straw. is at 1.00.
So i guess what Northern said is true because they both started at an
SG of 1.090.

 

[Wade E]

I will be sweetening and bottling both the Blueberry Melomel and the
Strawberry-Kiwi this weekend. Oops posted this one in the wrong post.
Tried to look back to the beginning and add it there. Didnt notice
where I was. Must have got lost in Cyber-Space.


Edited by: wadewade

 

[OGrav]

Same here, but let me tell you, it is worth the wait. I hadn't made wine in over 15 yearsand this was my first return to the hobby last March. It spent almostnine days in the primary, never had what I thought a good rolling primary fermentation. I started at 1.090, using K1V 1116 with1tsp of nutrient. Asked a local wineshop about blueberry wine. Said that since they have a lot of antioxidants, to add some energizer. I added 1/2 tsp to the gallon at racking to secondary, 1.043. The next day it had an inch of head in the jug and bubbling 45 times a minute. Took another twenty days to get to .995. Another note, when at last rack, it tasted a little bland, but aftertwo weeks bottle made a world of difference.
LT

 

[Waldo]

Temperature play a big role in your fermentation time also

 

[bmorosco]

It sounds like tempature is a bigger part in fruit base wines than say with a kit.. I have noticed with a kit if you follow the direction to the T evrything works out pretty good where as reading all this about fruit wines it seems that there is a little trial and error....