Wine that I started before I got into this group

[Tony moree]

Before i got into this group I started a wanna be wine and listened to a guy at work on how to make it.. no chemicals added.. he said just let the blueberries ferment in a bucket for no longer than 7 days, so that's what I did.. starting hydro was 1.125 or 16 %.. I then put the juice into a carboy where it sat letting gas out for 3 months.. I just checked it again and its setting at 1.080. Or 10 %.. dont get me wrong it tastes great somehow as I love sweet wines.. the hydro says table wine.. my question is it's only 6% alchohol, why?

 

[Intheswamp]

What kind of yeast did you use?

 

[Tony moree]

Before I knew better I didnt use yeast, the guy I was getting my info from said theres natural yeast

 

[Intheswamp]

Ok, well, it's probably that the wild yeast that fermented the must/juice had a low alcohol tolerance. Some wild yeasts, from what I've read, can indeed get into the 10%+ range but others may struggle to get 5%. Some people have a native yeast population that is actually a good strain that produces good wine. Others are not as fortunate and may have a poor/medium grade yeast population in their environment. That is why most winemakers use a commercial wine yeast...the yeast has a track record of how high of an ABV% tolerance they have and other characteristics. Bread yeast is used by some people with decent results, but YMMV. Some people do well with the wild yeast. Most people do better with something like Lalvin, Red Star, Wyeast, etc., store-bought yeasts.

Most likely your wild yeast hit it's alcohol tolerance and shut down, leaving a sweet wine and low alcohol level.

Here is an interesting article regarding using wild yeasts to ferment with: Spontaneous Fermentations. Maybe more people use wild yeast than I think.

Best wishes.
Ed

 

[salcoco]

I would add some EC1118 year maybe begin a yeast starter and pitch the yeast again. it will ferment down to dryness.

 

[Intheswamp]

If Tony doesn't have wine yeast on hand and doesn't have a LHBS close to him could using bread yeast get the fermentation going again?

 

[Scooter68]

He's already about at the point where bread yeast gives out. Either find some EC-1118 or let it age into a sweet wine - BUT gotta add some K-meta to keep it from spoiling if not adding more yeast. Chances are with blueberries that the acidity is fine for preserving the wine, just need to either restart fermentation or protect the wine with K-meta. 6-7 percent is not a range for a good keeper wine.