# Wine started fermenting without yeast....



## agdodge4x4 (Jan 8, 2012)

Maybe....here's the backstory.

I am making a couple of batches of prickly pear wine. The first batch went off without issue. Here is my recipe:
10lbs prickly pears
1tsp yeast nutrient
1tsp pectic enzyme
1 1/4C raisins

The problem is with the second batch, its the same except without raisins. These are 1 gallon batches adjusted to 1090..the first batch was 1095 or so. Yeast is Lalvin 71B-1122.

I boil the pears for 20 minutes, they had already been frozen. Then i mash them with a potato masher and put the whole thing into a fine mesh bag in the primary. When it cools I put in my Campden, wait 12 hours, put in everything else, wait 24 hours and then add my yeast starter.

Now...that was the first batch, the second batch was started about a week later maybe. I RINSED my primary and cleaned my straining bag out. All were dry. Then I sprayed the bucket with sodium metabisulfite and the straining bag and let them sit for 10-15 minutes or so.

I put in my fruit in the bag and when it cooled, added the campden. 12 hours later....its fermenting. Near as I can figure there MUST have been yeast left in the straining bag that had dried and become reactivated.

My plan of action was to add all the remaining ingredients except yeast and let it go. I figure since the pears were boiled, then its probably not a foreign yeast.

That's my plan of action. Does the cause sound likely? Is there anything else I should do?


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## Wade E (Jan 8, 2012)

Must be what it is. Soaking the bag would be a much better idea as spraying something like a mesh is never going to get everywhere it needs to get.


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