Fermentation hasn't started because...

[Kivanc]

I didn't add sugar? After first fermentation which has gone well, the must foarmed since the last day, I transfered my 2.64 gallons of grape must to secondary. After 3 hours I still don't see any signs of bubbling in the airlock. Is it because I didn't add sugar in the mixture?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[wyntheef]

Are you saying you don't think the fermentation has resumed in the secondary?

 

[robie]

We can help yo.

Once you transfer to secondary, it may take awhile for any bubbling to begin. If the SG is low enough, you won't see any bubbling at all, but that doesn't mean fermentation is not taking place. Remember that in secondary, fermentation is typically going much slower than it was in primary.

The only way to tell if fermentation is taking place is to measure the wine's specific gravity (SG) with a hydrometer, then go back in a day or so and measure it again. If the SG is going down at all, fermentation is taking place, regardless of whether or not it "looks" like it is fermenting.

Here are some questions that will help us help you:

Have you checked the wine's specific gravity (SG)?
What was it when you transferred the wine to secondary?
Check it a day later and see it it has changed.

What type wine is it?
What is the temperature of the wine?

Fermentation is finished only when the SG reading has not changed for 3 days in a row.

 

[Kivanc]

Are you saying you don't think the fermentation has resumed in the secondary?

Yes like I said, I don't think the fermentation has resumed in the secondary.

 

[wyntheef]

fermentation generally appears a lot slower in the secondary. this is normal.

refer to Robie's post above.

 

[Kivanc]

Hi Robie,

I checked the specific gravity. It was 1.000.

It is Turkish "Kalecik Karasi". The grape is being used in wine making. It's why I didn't add sugar. Hope I did the right thing didn't I?

The room temperature is 65 F.

 

[robie]

Hi Robie,

I checked the specific gravity. It was 1.000.

It is Turkish "Kalecik Karasi". The grape is being used in wine making. It's why I didn't add sugar. Hope I did the right thing didn't I?

The room temperature is 65 F.

I don't know anything about that specific grape, but it seems to have fermented fine down to an SG of 1.000, so sugar is not an issue. You wouldn't want to add sugar at this point, for sure. I am curious, what was the starting SG?

If you can get the temp up to about 72F, it would be better, but not totally necessary. 65F should work OK.

I doubt you have a problem. At an SG of 1.000, fermentation is very (very!) slow, so you likely won't observe much happening. Maybe the air lock will giggle every once in a while, or maybe not, depending on how much CO2 is being produced.

Check the SG once a day. If it doesn't go any lower for 3 days in a row, consider the fermentation complete and move on to stabilization and clearing.

You're going to end up with a great wine, so relax and be patient. I have never tried that kind of wine, so when it is all done, let us know how good it is.

 

[robie]

More about adding sugar.
If the grapes were not already sweet, your fermentation would never have started to begin with.

You would only have added sugar up front for a few reasons:
1) The brix percentage of the wine was too low to result in a balanced wine. I don't know if you checked the brix or not.
2) You want the alcohol level to be a little higher than the brix shows it would be without adding additional sugar. I do this sometimes, if I believe the wine can handle it.

You would add sugar on the back end after stabilizing if you want the resulting wine to taste sweet.

 

[Kivanc]

I don't know anything about that specific grape, but it seems to have fermented fine down to an SG of 1.000, so sugar is not an issue. You wouldn't want to add sugar at this point, for sure. I am curious, what was the starting SG?

If you can get the temp up to about 72F, it would be better, but not totally necessary. 65F should work OK.

I doubt you have a problem. At an SG of 1.000, fermentation is very (very!) slow, so you likely won't observe much happening. Maybe the air lock will giggle every once in a while, or maybe not, depending on how much CO2 is being produced.

Check the SG once a day. If it doesn't go any lower for 3 days in a row, consider the fermentation complete and move on to stabilization and clearing.

You're going to end up with a great wine, so relax and be patient. I have never tried that kind of wine, so when it is all done, let us know how good it is.

After waiting 1 day I checked the SG. It has moved a little bit lower than 1.000. Unfotunately I didn't check the starting SG.

Sure I will let you know about my wine.

Thanks for the advices...

 

[Kivanc]

I don't know anything about that specific grape, but it seems to have fermented fine down to an SG of 1.000, so sugar is not an issue. You wouldn't want to add sugar at this point, for sure. I am curious, what was the starting SG?

If you can get the temp up to about 72F, it would be better, but not totally necessary. 65F should work OK.

I doubt you have a problem. At an SG of 1.000, fermentation is very (very!) slow, so you likely won't observe much happening. Maybe the air lock will giggle every once in a while, or maybe not, depending on how much CO2 is being produced.

Check the SG once a day. If it doesn't go any lower for 3 days in a row, consider the fermentation complete and move on to stabilization and clearing.

You're going to end up with a great wine, so relax and be patient. I have never tried that kind of wine, so when it is all done, let us know how good it is.

Last week, I made people try my wine. They were satisfied much. One of my friend told me this: "As someone who doesn't drink much wine, and mostly drinks white wine, I was pleasantly surprised by how pleasant this wine was, without the sharp bitter flavour of many red wines. It was like meeting a mature person, subtle enough to be who they are without imposing. Neither sweet-syrupy not dry-sharp; I could certainly drink red wines like this!"

I feel the same thing while I'm drinking the wine I had made

 

[Wade E]

I never even saw this post. Everything sunded about right actually as while the wine was in the bucket it was fermenting good and also giving off lots of C02 gas. Once you transferred it to secondary it was just about done fermenting and by racking it you also released lots of that C02 so there really is very little action typically when doing this.