Wine not Fermenting, Mead is going gangbusters.

[gruffranch]

Hey there! I started my fist ever musts on Monday - a blood orange fruit wine and a lavender mead. I pitched the same amount of yeast in each at the same exact time. The mead is going crazy. The wine is doing nothing. Should i add more yeast or add nutrient? or try something else?

Thanks!

 

[cmason1957]

There are two general reasons a must doesn't start fermenting. First, sugar level to high for yeast to start, it takes a hydrometer reading to know. Second reason is due to the Ph Level of the must being outside the ranges that yeast are happy in, usually to low. It takes a ph meter or at least ph strips to know. Yeast are happiest if the ph is between 3.1 and 3.7-4.

Also, some musts take longer for the yeast to fire up and take off than others. 48 hours is suggested to wait, at least, if you just sprinkled the yeast on top. I always start my yeast waking up in warmish water, with some yeast nutrient and sugar 24 hours before I plan to pitch it and it takes off very quickly.

Another side note, your mead will need to have some extra nutients added to it, even if you followed a recipe and added some at the start. Honey and flowers have little or no good food for yeast, it all must be provided.

 

[gruffranch]

There are two general reasons a must doesn't start fermenting. First, sugar level to high for yeast to start, it takes a hydrometer reading to know. Second reason is due to the Ph Level of the must being outside the ranges that yeast are happy in, usually to low. It takes a ph meter or at least ph strips to know. Yeast are happiest if the ph is between 3.1 and 3.7-4.

Also, some musts take longer for the yeast to fire up and take off than others. 48 hours is suggested to wait, at least, if you just sprinkled the yeast on top. I always start my yeast waking up in warmish water, with some yeast nutrient and sugar 24 hours before I plan to pitch it and it takes off very quickly.

Another side note, your mead will need to have some extra nutients added to it, even if you followed a recipe and added some at the start. Honey and flowers have little or no good food for yeast, it all must be provided.

I took a ph reading - looks to be between 3 and 4. Also did a hydrometer reading, first time, still trying to figure all this out... but the Brix number was off the charts, looked to be around 37. My hydrometer has a number next to that for approximate ABV which read (also off the scale) over 20%. Being a complete novice here... my guess is the sugar is way too high. I did bloom the yeast before pitching. Do you have any suggestions for correction? I can guess, but it would be just that, guessing.

Thank you!

 

[cmason1957]

Gotta get that number down a whole bunch. 22-23 Brix (SG 1.090-1.100, Potential Alcohol - That approximate ABV of about 12-14). Water, which has had Acid added to it to about the same PH as your current must is the way to go. Yeast aren't happy at all trying to start with that high of a sugar content. Osmotic Pressure is way to high and if the yeast will start, they will be unhappy, unhappy yeast make bad smells. In a delicate wine like blood Orange high alcohol will not taste good. How much Acidulated water to add depends on how much must you have. My advice, use an on-line calculator like Fermcalc, there is a version for phones and tablets, but the url for the on-line version is - FermCalc JS

Click on sugar -> Chaptalization and Dilution. target brix 22 , initial brix 37, I put in 1 gallon and it says you need to add about 3/4 of a gallon US of water.

There are other calculators, this is the one I use, since it does many things and seems to work for me.

 

[gruffranch]

Thanks for your help! I made some adjustments, things seem like they're going now. Appreciate you!