Chardonnay at 1.01 - Finished Fermenting

[bcwildthing]

I could use a little experience-based advice on this carboy. I'm making Chardonnay from California juice...started at 1.09 and has been at 1.01 in a carboy for 7 days in my cool room. Doesn't 1.01 seem a little too sweet to finish up a Chardonnay?

So...just moved it back to the kitchen and put it on a heading pad for a day. Once the temperature gets to 22C/70F or so (it was 18C/64F until recently, when it cooled to 15C/59F) I'm going to check for any last fermentation.

Sure hope it isn't a stuck ferment as I hate restarting a stuck. Smells good and a finger taste is okay, but I can still smell yeast, so I'm suspicious. Just racked it for the second time and there was very little sediment, but it is still a little less translucent than I'd like. It has cooled down significantly recently here so maybe the temperature was cool enough to temporarily stop fermentation. Speaking of which, I used EC-1118 yeast which has a wide temperature tolerance and still should be good at 15C/59F.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Any thoughts from someone who had this type of experience?

 

[Julie]

Yes the chardonnay should drop lower than 1.010 and it could be the weather. 1118 is a bear to stop once it gets going, so yes warm it up into the 70's and check your readings for a few days.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Yes that should be below 1.000 Can't recall how far mine got last year but it was most likely @ .996

That's a good yeast and if you warm it up it should restart. Further more if it's in a carboy there is less air for the yeast.

I prefer to ferment dry in a bucket even if I add an airlock the last day or two to the lid. This way the yeasts can finish their job in a timely manor. Your yeast may not have quit just slowed to the point you can't register it.

Fingers crossed.

P.S. I took 3 gallons of my Chardonnay and am making Champagne Fermented In The Bottle.

 

[winemaker_3352]

You should be fine - i would do as suggested above and see if it starts back up.

 

[grapeman]

If you have a brewbelt, put that on to raise it's temps up. Hopefully you didn't rack off too much yeast to get it moving again. Give it a few days and watch the airlock for bubbling. If it begins, let it finish up fermenting. If it doesn't you will need to decide if further yeast addition might be necessary. Good luck with it.

 

[buddy]

Racking your wine at this time was probably not the best thing to do as a lot of the yeast is in the sediment. But there still should be enough yeast to finish the fermentation once it warms up. It will just take a little longer.

 

[JohnT]

If you have a brewbelt, put that on to raise it's temps up. Hopefully you didn't rack off too much yeast to get it moving again. Give it a few days and watch the airlock for bubbling. If it begins, let it finish up fermenting. If it doesn't you will need to decide if further yeast addition might be necessary. Good luck with it.

Yup,

Try raising the temp.

 

[Wade E]

I agree that racking again was not a good idea as you most surely left behind most of your yeast. When cool fermenting a wine you should always start off warm to get it going good and then finish warm to make sure you go dry. Id give the warming up a try but you may need to make a starter and slowly introduce some of your must into it to get it going due to the higher abv already present.

 

[bcwildthing]

Restarting Chardonnay

Hmmm, all good advice above. Reason I racked was that it hadn't done anything too much for days. My theory is that it had stopped for some reason, even before I racked it. I did it last as it was the last wine I put on this season so I didn't rack it any too soon. The pinot I put on at the same time came down to 0.994 with no problem under similar conditions.

That being said, I racked it into a smaller 18l carboy and used some new yeast to restart the 1 gal remnant of the wine (with a little help from some white wine concentrate) at 23C. It seems to be bubbling on the heating pad so let's see what happens. Either I'll put the whole works back together, slowly, as I did with a previous restart, or I'll ferment this 1 gal to dry and add it. Not sure yet. There was remarkably little yeast on the chardonnay even when I put it into the carboy and again when I reracked it.

Stay tuned, as there's always a new twist on these same old stories!

 

[bcwildthing]

Chardonnay won't restart

I added the yeast but the gallon bottle is strangely quiet. I don't think I'll try to restart again unless I check the acidity and it was way off. Otherwise, I could start yeast using some concentrate and water and then try adding it to the jug when it is really going.

Out of the 6 pails of juice I did this year the chard is the only one giving me any trouble, the pinot finished out to dry and will be really nice and the 4 cabs I put on are starting to smell quite nice too after 2 months.

I may try making some champagne with some of it depending on the acidity. Never tried that before. It is a $50 learning experience, cheaper than getting your car towed but more expensive than a parking ticket! Something good may still come of all this.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Let that chardonnay clear and age at least 6 months. I aged mine 1 year. It had a perfect ph for champagne. When you are ready let me know and I'll help you make champagne. Very easy but you must adhere to some items without waiver.

I'm approaching the end of my weekly champagne shaking and soon it can age on the lees (second fermentation) until next Sept. Riddling and degorging. LookoutIncoming

 

[JohnT]

Let that chardonnay clear and age at least 6 months. I aged mine 1 year. It had a perfect ph for champagne. When you are ready let me know and I'll help you make champagne. Very easy but you must adhere to some items without waiver.

I'm approaching the end of my weekly champagne shaking and soon it can age on the lees (second fermentation) until next Sept. Riddling and degorging. LookoutIncoming

Steve,

When you disgourge, what do you use? I used to disgourge into a big stainless steel pot that I had laying on its side. BIG MISTAKE!!! the darned thing splattered me real good.

 

[djrockinsteve]

HA HA HA HA HA , I'll disgorge into boxes. I do plan on having an assistant around to help top off or add plastic plug.

 

[bcwildthing]

If you have a brewbelt, put that on to raise it's temps up. Hopefully you didn't rack off too much yeast to get it moving again. Give it a few days and watch the airlock for bubbling. If it begins, let it finish up fermenting. If it doesn't you will need to decide if further yeast addition might be necessary. Good luck with it.

Well I'll be danged if the gallon bottle with the added concentrate and chardonnay just started bubbling again. I had it on the heating strip for awhile and nothing, now just hanging around the kitchen I notice it is bubbling the airlock frequently. I'll wait for a day or two and try and start two gallons with this initial gallon (and add a little more concentrate to the 1.01 must I add to it.

I was thinking of adding a cup of concentrate to each 1/2 gallon of must and then splitting the active wine between those two. Last time, it took the sg up to 1.02 which seems to be the minimum I can get to restart. Anyone else have a better option for restart? Got lots of gallon jugs...