Dragons blood quit

[akron]

Not sure where to post this.. My dragons blood quit fermenting at 1.066. I followed the recipe exactly except i added 6# of wild blueberries instead of the fruit called for. Starting gravity was 1.080, temp was 72-74. PH was 3.6 if my test strips are still good. I recall reading something about blueberrys being difficult to ferment. If that is my problem what can I do now? Or, what might be my problem. I have stirred it daily as the recipe calls for. It has been 5 days now.

 

[Johnd]

Not sure where to post this.. My dragons blood quit fermenting at 1.066. I followed the recipe exactly except i added 6# of wild blueberries instead of the fruit called for. Starting gravity was 1.080, temp was 72-74. PH was 3.6 if my test strips are still good. I recall reading something about blueberrys being difficult to ferment. If that is my problem what can I do now? Or, what might be my problem. I have stirred it daily as the recipe calls for. It has been 5 days now.

I‘m betting that your SG and temp readings are correct, but not pH. You can have a hard time with the acidity of blueberries, test strips are a poor way to test for acidity. Potassium bicarbonate can be used to correct this problem, you’ll need controlled doses and frequent, accurate pH monitoring.

 

[cmason1957]

To further suggest that your ph is the issue, I did a very quick search for ph test strips accuracy. On Amazon, I found what the title says is high accuracy 0.5 +/- test strips. So assuming that's what you have and you very accurately read the color chart (which isn't all that easy) your PH could be anywhere between 3.1 and 4.1, since the PH scale is a logarithmic scale, meaning each change of 1 number means times 10 change in number of hydrogen ions, you could be anywhere from barely able to start due to PH being to low to somewhat hard to keep stable, due to ph being to high. Most wine should be somewhere between 3.2 and 3.8, which means ph should be read with something that is +/- 0.01 or if in a pinch +/- 0.1.

 

[KCCam]

Which recipe did you use? If you used the “official“ one from the DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine thread, you probably would have posted there. The official version uses 1 48 oz bottle of Real Lemon. There was an older version that used 2 48 oz bottles (as it was based on Skeeter Pee). I have been using 1 32 oz bottle.
A lot of people use more than 6 lbs of fruit, you could try adding a few lbs of something less acidic. Maybe others can give you better idea of what to try since you’re flying blind. I usually add overripe bananas, and sometimes raisins, but not sure if those would help or hurt you.

 

[akron]

Which recipe did you use? If you used the “official“ one from the DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine thread, you probably would have posted there. The official version uses 1 48 oz bottle of Real Lemon. There was an older version that used 2 48 oz bottles (as it was based on Skeeter Pee). I have been using 1 32 oz bottle.
A lot of people use more than 6 lbs of fruit, you could try adding a few lbs of something less acidic. Maybe others can give you better idea of what to try since you’re flying blind. I usually add overripe bananas, and sometimes raisins, but not sure if those would help or hurt you.

Thanks all. I just used one 48oz bottle. Potassium Bicarbonate?....I may have some Calcium Carbonite around. I’ll have to order anything else. If it takes a week to get anything, should I put this under an airlock for safety? These alaskan variety of blueberry are tart, but flavorful. I do have access to some frozen grapes, and can get raisins, bananas, etc. I will also order some device to get a more accurate Ph. Ideas?
Thanks.

Update: I checked it this morning and SG is the same, but I can see tiny bubbles coming up lightly. Probably just co2? Maybe that will protect it for a while. I am cautious about aerating it during this time as the recipe says I should do daily.