# Added initial ingredients directly to lees



## FlavorSeeker (Oct 17, 2011)

Rather than reading through all the directions, as I always tell my kids, I added the initial ingredients directly to the lees from my mixed berry wine, presumably killing the yeast with the sulphites in the ReaLemon. Should I wait the recommended 48 hours and pitch the same Burgundy yeast I used in the initial batch? On hand, I also have a packet of Red Star Cuvee and one Lavalin.


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## Arne (Oct 17, 2011)

My money is on if you wait the 72 hrs. it will be going great guns. Make sure you get it up to 75 degrees or a little warmer. Never had a problem getting it to start with the lees. I usually add the lemon in a little at a time, tho. Good luck with it. Arne.


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## FTC Wines (Oct 17, 2011)

When I have my wine racked off the lees that I'm going to use for a SP starter, I pour a cup of my SP mix onto the lees each hour until I a roaring fermentation going, then dump it into the SP primary, & it takes OFF. last batch was also a "mixed berry", ie Wallmart. Roy


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## FlavorSeeker (Oct 17, 2011)

This evening my SP had what appeared to be a very dense sludge on top, but when I stirred it, the sludge dissipated effortlessly. I just checked it before hitting the hay; the layer of "sludge" had reformed, but I now there were bb-sized bubbles dotting the surface. These bubbles were slowly expanding, but I could also hear an effervescent bubbling sound (like a freshly-poured soda), even though the activity was too fine to see. Is this normal for SP? If so, it seems my initial worries were unfounded.

SG is about 1.074 @ 59 degrees (initial gravity was 1.070). Could the difference be due to cooler temps in my basement?

Note: I don't know that it matters much now, but for the sake of accurate documentation...I forgot to mention in my original post that I didn't have any Yeast Energizer, so I used four, rather than the three recommended tsp of Yeast Nutrient.


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## buddy (Oct 17, 2011)

Sounds like you have an active fermentation there.
Likely the change in your SG reading is due to air bubbles from the fermentation sticking to your hydrometer and giving you a false reading.


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## Arne (Oct 17, 2011)

Hmm, short 72 hrs.. Good luck with it, Arne.


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## mmadmikes1 (Oct 17, 2011)

Sulfates don't kill most wine yeasts. may stunt them for a few days, thats all. If sufiates did kill them we could stop active fermentation by adding them, and as one hell of a lot of people have already tried and failed will tell you. It does not work until the levels of sulfate are way to high for you to drink the wine


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## FlavorSeeker (Oct 18, 2011)

This morning I noticed strawberry seeds floating in my pee and figured that was probably the tip of the iceberg, so I sanitized a carboy and dumped the primary into it through a screened funnel. (I supposed this could be splash racking on steroids.) There was so much sediment that I had to back flush the screen several times. After cleaning and re-sanitizing my primary, I poured the must back into the primary. In addition to separating the solids, my intent was to hyper aerate the must and drive off as much sulfites as possible, per my original concern. This appears to have paid off, as it started fermenting stronger than ever about two hours later.


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