# Messed up the Yeast!



## BobR (Nov 25, 2012)

I pitched a pack of Lalvin EC1118 last night on some strawberry wine. When I seen that nothing was taking place today, I took another look at the EC1118 package and found that I messed up. The instructions call for putting the yeast into warm water and then letting it sit for 15 minutes. After that, stir and then pour into the must. I put the yeast in the warm water, stirred it and then let it sit for 15 minutes. If it does not take off in the next 24 -48 hours, can I add another pack, or how/what can I do to get this juice fermenting?


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## Rocky (Nov 25, 2012)

BobR, give the first yeast a chance to start working. There are two ways to introduce yeast, one by hydrating which is what is described on the package and one by pitching it dry on top and letting it work, which is what you did originally. What is the temperature of the juice? You need to get it into the mid-70 degree F measures. Be patient.


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## BobR (Nov 25, 2012)

Rocky,

I hydrated the yeast, I just messed up on following the steps. Instead of putting the yeast in warm water and letting it sit for 15 minutes before stirring. I put the yeast in the water and immediately stirred the yeast and after stirring, I then let it sit for 15 minutes. Just messed up 4 simple steps. I was thinking about rocket science as my next retirement hobby. Last time that I checked, the juice was right at 70 degrees.


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## Pumpkinman (Nov 25, 2012)

Bob, that isn't a problem, it is probably just in the lag stage, Reproduction is the first priority upon pitching the yeast, and the yeast will not do anything else until it build up its food reserves.
Give it time, you should see some activity very soon.
The biggest lesson I had to learn was patience, wine making has a lot of "hurry up and wait" stages...lol

Tom


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## BobR (Nov 25, 2012)

Pumpkinman said:


> The biggest lesson I had to learn was patience, wine making has a lot of "hurry up and wait" stages...lol
> Tom



I'm beginning to find that out Tom! Before retiring 1 1/2 years ago, I planted a few grapes and I thought that it would be a nice retirement hobby. Hmm, beginning have second thoughts about that. So this year, I thought that I would try making some wine, ha, my wife reminds me that I have no patience. Still don't know anything about growing grapes, but at least I have a little more fun with them than I do with the wine making thing. I guess it all takes time.


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## Brew and Wine Supply (Nov 25, 2012)

No real mess up, just give it some time. If after 48 hrs you still have nothing then use the second pack of yeast. Yeast doubles it size about every hour so starting with 5 grams it takes a while to wake up and get going before you see anything.


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## cpfan (Nov 25, 2012)

BobR...

Did you take a specific gravity reading? Visual signs of fermentation are not reliable.

Steve


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## BobR (Nov 25, 2012)

Doug,

I'll wait and see if anything happens in the next day or two. Would you use the same yeast, or would you try something different?

cpfan,

No I have not gotten a S.G reading since the yeast was added. The recipe called for bringing the sugar level up to 1.090 to 1.095. Before yeast it was at 1.092. 

cp fan.....is that short for Canadian Pacific railfan?

Thanks guys!


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## BobR (Nov 26, 2012)

cpfan,

My beginnig S.G. reading on the 24th was around 1.092. This morning the reading was 1.090 with the juice temerature still at 70 degrees.


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## DoctorCAD (Nov 26, 2012)

BobR said:


> cpfan,
> 
> My beginnig S.G. reading on the 24th was around 1.092. This morning the reading was 1.090 with the juice temerature still at 70 degrees.



Congrats!!! You're making wine.


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## grapeman (Nov 26, 2012)

The yeast will work either way. Just have a bit more patience and you will be OK.

DoctorCad I see your signature says "Just say "No" to sideads!"
You do know that you can turn them off on this site, right?
Just go to "MyAccount"and click on edit options. Scroll down to the last setting - allow sidebar ads and check the NO option. Give it a try.


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## BobR (Nov 26, 2012)

Thanks Rich!


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## BobR (Nov 27, 2012)

Well I'll be darn, went to stir it this morning and it's foaming and bubbling just to beat the band. Ahh, and it smells good too.


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## Pumpkinman (Nov 27, 2012)

Awesome!
Patience is soooooo important, hard, but important!


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## Tom_S (Nov 29, 2012)

I've always just sprinkled the yeast on top of the juice and never had a problem. I've made starters before but never noticed any difference between doing that and sprinkling on top. Fermentation always takes off after a day or so.


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## Brew and Wine Supply (Nov 29, 2012)

Yea!!!!


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## BobR (Dec 1, 2012)

Two days ago, the S.G. reading dropped down to 1.022, so in following the recipe, I tried to strain the juice the best that I could, I then placed it in a one gallon jug. There was so much pulp and sediment that I had to remove the air lock twice to rinse all of the pulp out. It has since slowed and the air lock is working fine. I had the strawberries in a coarse nylon bag. When I strained it, the strawberries had just about disintegrated and the bucket was full of pulp. In the future, would it be better to use a fine nylon bag? Any pro's and con's on nylon bags? Also, with all of the cleaning and sanitizing, is it really worth messing with one gallon. With all the work involved, I would have been better off making 5 or 6 gallons. Right now the juice has a light orange color to it. Once things settle, will this return to more of a red color?


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## grapeman (Dec 1, 2012)

How many pounds of berries did you begin with? Anything less than 6-8 pounds will be light and probably an orange color. 
Small batches of strawberry are hard because you can lose so much for so much work. Use as small of mes bag as you can and it will retain more seeds and pulp. It will take a few rackings to get it clear so don't rush.


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## BobR (Dec 1, 2012)

The recipe called for 3 1/2 pounds for one gallon, but I had 5 pounds laying around so I threw them all in. Yeah, it really was not worth messing with a gallon. All the work that went into it all for what....5 or 6 bottles. Next time I'll try for 5 or 6 gallons.


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## Arne (Dec 5, 2012)

BobR said:


> The recipe called for 3 1/2 pounds for one gallon, but I had 5 pounds laying around so I threw them all in. Yeah, it really was not worth messing with a gallon. All the work that went into it all for what....5 or 6 bottles. Next time I'll try for 5 or 6 gallons.


 

The gallons have their place, but they are just about as much work as a 5 gallon batch. Sometimes you mite want to try a new recipe and only make a gallon. When you find it has become one of your favorites, you will wish you had made at least 5 gal. Then you get to use patience to wait til the next batch is finished. Arne.


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## BobR (Dec 5, 2012)

Hey Arne....couldn't agree with you more


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## Tom_S (Dec 7, 2012)

Arne said:


> The gallons have their place, but they are just about as much work as a 5 gallon batch. Sometimes you mite want to try a new recipe and only make a gallon. When you find it has become one of your favorites, you will wish you had made at least 5 gal. Then you get to use patience to wait til the next batch is finished. Arne.



When I started out I made all 1 gallon batches, but after I got my feet wet and refined my techniques, I graduated to 5 gallon batches. I do still use 1 gallon jugs for experimentation or smaller batches of fruit wine.


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## BobR (Dec 8, 2012)

Hi Tom S,

See that you are making some Concord. I have 13 gallons of Concord, but I am not sure when I should filter and bottle it. It's been in the carboys since late September. It has been racked four times since and has been sweetened to 1.012. Would it hurt to bottle it in the near future? 

Yeah, being real new at this wine making thing, I thought that I would scale back to one gallon batches after making the 13 gallons of Concord. Last December I started my wine making with a kit, but this fall I wanted to try and start with the grapes. Concord got messed up along the way, but might be OK now...long story...learn from your mistakes. Being a little gun shy from the Concord, I thought that I would try one gallon of strawberry. It's easier to throw out one gallon of juice if it doesn't turn out, but the mess that it makes is about the same. 

I need to get back and rack my strawberry. Too much going on and the wine got pushed to the back burner. I need to go back to work, so that I can have some free time.


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## Tom_S (Dec 8, 2012)

It probably wouldn't hurt to bottle it soon, but I've found that it is better to age it for a few months longer. I tend to age my wines about a year before bottling. This allows all sediment to fall out to the bottom of the carboy instead of at the bottom of the bottles. Just keep an eye on your airlocks and don't let them get low. One of the benefits is that once it's already aged for a year and then goes into the bottle, you don't have to let the bottles age before opening them up and enjoying them. But your wine will also get better in the bottles, too, if they last that long.


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## BobR (Dec 8, 2012)

Thanks Tom!


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