71B-1122 limits confusion

[cajunlte]

So I am new to the wine making scene and learned a great deal with my first ever wine using Old Orchard Apple Cherry concentrate. What I didn't plan for was the fact that I believe my starting SG (Didn't have the hydro yet) was very high causing the fermentation to stop at 1.030. Question I have is with yeasts like 71B. What happens when ACV hits 14%? Does it continue to ferment higher until all of the sugar is gone or is it hard to push? I have since sorbated and K-meta'd the batch, but don't know what to expect going forward. It doesn't smell quite hot although I have yet to taste it.

 

[seth8530]

Typically, once a yeast reaches its max alcohol tolerance it will tend to poop out and die shortly thereafter. However, sometimes you can get surprised. However, just because the tolerance might be say %15 does not mean it will always hit it. Ie, if you run out of nutrients, the fermentation can stall out even if you are below the ABV tolerance and their are still sugars remaining.

 

[dralarms]

Well, 14% is an average. I would pay closer to the starting sg going forward.

 

[cajunlte]

So I am going to probably end up with fairly sweet wine then? I plan on letting it site for a couple weeks before racking off the lees to another carboy and plan on tasting at that time. Really don't know what to expect.

 

[wineforfun]

At 1.030 you are going to have a very sweet wine. Give it a go, you may like it. I make something similar to what you did using Welch's grape concentrate(look on here for jswordy and you will see the link in his signature). I start it out at 1.140-1.150. I use RC-212 and it usually dies off around 1.028-1.032. Too sweet for me, but my wife and her friends love it. Finishes around 14% ABV.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Without a hydrometer reading from the start how do you know your starting SG was to high? Did you add nutrients, you have to feed 71B to make it happy. 1.030 is a very sweet wine. How long has this been fermenting? Did it clear before you added your sorbate? Looks like for your next batch you are going to be more experienced just like everyone who starts out from their first batch. WVMJ

So I am new to the wine making scene and learned a great deal with my first ever wine using Old Orchard Apple Cherry concentrate. What I didn't plan for was the fact that I believe my starting SG (Didn't have the hydro yet) was very high causing the fermentation to stop at 1.030. Question I have is with yeasts like 71B. What happens when ACV hits 14%? Does it continue to ferment higher until all of the sugar is gone or is it hard to push? I have since sorbated and K-meta'd the batch, but don't know what to expect going forward. It doesn't smell quite hot although I have yet to taste it.

 

[cajunlte]

Yes it was starting to clear and was about 14 days. I had pitch additional nutrients and it still did not move.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi cajunlte, It is possible to determine by calculation the starting gravity. We would need to know the sugar content of your concentrate and how much you diluted it and how much (if any) additional sugar you added. The label suggests that each 8 oz can contains 174g of sugar. I don't know how much water you add to dilute the concentrate or how many cans you used but 174 g of sugar is equivalent to about 1/3 of a lb and 1/3 of a lb of sugar in 1 gallon of water will raise the gravity by about .013, so if you know how many cans you used and the total volume of your must then we will know what the gravity of that solution was. if you then added more sugar and you know how much more you added we can calculate the gravity before you pitched the yeast. OK.

If you had not said that you added k-sorbate I would have suggested that you add some more of the diluted concentrate and so reduce the overall (starting) specific gravity. In other words if your gravity started at say, 1.120 and you added the same volume of must but at a gravity of 1.060 the total starting gravity would be about 1.090 and the yeast could potentially handle that. But if, as you say, you have stabilized the first batch it will not referment. You could, though, still start a second batch using the same must. THis time make certain that the gravity at the start is within a normal range (say , 1.090). Pitch the yeast etc. If the second batch ferments dry (1.000) and you blended both then the average would be a wine with a final gravity of 1.015 - still sweet but not cloyingly sweet. If you doubled the second batch and blended both after that batch had finished fermenting then the final gravity would be around 1.007.

 

[agsimon]

I recently had 71B-1122 go to about 16.5% ABV before it stopped. That was with nutrient additions for 3 days.

 

[cajunlte]

Hi cajunlte, It is possible to determine by calculation the starting gravity. We would need to know the sugar content of your concentrate and how much you diluted it and how much (if any) additional sugar you added. The label suggests that each 8 oz can contains 174g of sugar. I don't know how much water you add to dilute the concentrate or how many cans you used but 174 g of sugar is equivalent to about 1/3 of a lb and 1/3 of a lb of sugar in 1 gallon of water will raise the gravity by about .013, so if you know how many cans you used and the total volume of your must then we will know what the gravity of that solution was. if you then added more sugar and you know how much more you added we can calculate the gravity before you pitched the yeast. OK.

If you had not said that you added k-sorbate I would have suggested that you add some more of the diluted concentrate and so reduce the overall (starting) specific gravity. In other words if your gravity started at say, 1.120 and you added the same volume of must but at a gravity of 1.060 the total starting gravity would be about 1.090 and the yeast could potentially handle that. But if, as you say, you have stabilized the first batch it will not referment. You could, though, still start a second batch using the same must. THis time make certain that the gravity at the start is within a normal range (say , 1.090). Pitch the yeast etc. If the second batch ferments dry (1.000) and you blended both then the average would be a wine with a final gravity of 1.015 - still sweet but not cloyingly sweet. If you doubled the second batch and blended both after that batch had finished fermenting then the final gravity would be around 1.007.

Thank you so much for the analysis. I used 15 cans which from your calculation is equivalent to 5lbs of sugar and I also added 5lbs of sugar. This was put in 6.5 gallon carboy which was just at the curved part before it starts to get narrow.

 

[cajunlte]

I's that .013 correct? I know after about 1 week the SG was at 1.090. Perhaps it was because I used distilled water. I am almost to the point I am going to chuck this initial batch and start correctly.

 

[BernardSmith]

If the total was equivalent to 10 lbs of sugar and the total volume was even 5 gallons then your gravity would be about 1.080 and that is not particularly high. If your volume was 6 gallons then your gravity would have been closer to 1.066. So the potential ABV would be somewhere between about 10.5 % and 8.6% alcohol by volume. Your yeast should have had no problem with that amount of sugar/alcohol. It is possible I misread the nutritional information on the label or the information posted online is inaccurate. I am unfamiliar with this brand.
Distilled water may pose a problem as the water would have no minerals the yeast needs.