Fermentation stopped at 1.000

[SBWs]

I've been trying a number of different wines to get my feet wet. One is a cranberry made with welch's Frozen Concentrate - 3 cans cranberry, 1 can white grape, 1 can grape juice using Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast. The starting S.G. was 1.080 everything went well except it stopped fermentation at 1.000 and has stayed there. I stirred it yesterday and it fissed up but today still at 1.000. Temp is at 72 degrees. No bubbles in air lock for 3 days now. My question is - Is this wine done at 1.000 ? Forgot to add I'm very new at this.

 

[robie]

I'm not a fruit wine guy, but I'll add this:
I had a wine (kit) stop at 1.000 and stay there for a couple of days. I then added enough heat to get the temp up to about 76 F. Of course there was no bubbles or fizzing I could see, but in about 5 or 6 days, the SG was at .996.

 

[ibglowin]

Let it go for ~12 days. Just keep it warm, (72-74). Fermentation has slowed way down to a crawl but its still going on in small amounts. You might watch the airlock for 20 minutes straight and never see it burp. Turn your head for 1/2 second and it will burp on you everytime!

.996-.998 is absolutely fine it just takes some time and effort to get it there.

 

[pelican]

Hi Scott^S,

I'll jump in as I'm a fruit wine maker -- with frozen juices too...

How long has it been since you started this batch?

Did you have it under airlock in the primary or is this now in the secondary?

Have you racked it once yet?

Is this a 1 gallon or 3 gallon or ? gallon batch?

Do you have any yeast nutrient? If so, I would add a small amount -- how much depends on how large a batch, but lets say if it's a 1 gallon batch, add 1/8th to 1/4 tsp and if it's 3 gallon, add 1/4 tsp. Then stir well.

Warming it up as the prior poster said also can help.

If you don't have the nutrient to add, then rack it or stir it vigorously and warm it up, let it sit another couple weeks even and then test it again.

Depending on how gassy it is, the SG reading might be artificially high due to the CO2 in suspension, so after another 2 weeks 'fermenting' under airlock, give it a thorough degassing (stir the heck out of it) and then when it settles down again take a new readings.

If it's still at 1.000 then, stick a fork in it and call it done. Sometimes they just don't go any further.

Hope this helps!

Mrs. Pelican

 

[SBWs]

Thanks for the help everyone. I bumped the room temp up this morning before going to work and it was down to 0.998 tonight. I got to learn to give it time. It's two 1 gallon batch's and it's been in the primary from start. I started this one on the 10th of April so I figure it's got to be done. I'll rack, degass, add sorbate and K-Meta tomorrow night and sweeten if I get time.

 

[Wade E]

Also when racking to carboy with a wine that is not fermented out completely stir it up some to get all the viable yeast to come with it or you could leave too much of that behind and the yeast left over wont be strong enough to finish the job. I ferment all my red wines dry in the bucket with a lid and airlock towards the end and rack over any lighter fruit wines or whites at around 1.015 but bring over almost everything with it especially if I really want it to ferment totally dry.

 

[IQwine]

I ferment all my red wines dry in the bucket with a lid and airlock towards the end

Wade... how do you do this? what do I need to know to use your procedure? thx

 

[Wade E]

I just let it keep fermenting in the bucket like some of then RJS kits instructions tell you to do. If it has a grape pack or if Im using fruit then ill usually pull the fruit out after 7-10 days depending on temps (cooler fermentations and you can leave the fruit in longer like the 10 days). When the sg reaches about 1.015 I snap the lid down and use an airlock. If the sg reaches those numbers before the 7-10 day period then I snap it down and shake the bucket around to get the fruit wet like punching down the cap. Ive never had any problems and a few of us use this method. I typically have the lid snapped down all the time anyway but type it as put the lid down to people who do open fermentations. I have a cat that will immediately get in there or sit on top. I dont do this with fragile wines like whites or apple that can brown very easily!

 

[grapeman]

I started this one on the 10th of April so I figure it's got to be done.

That is only 14 days which is not enough time to assume fermentation is over. It can continue on for a while yet before totally dry. Give it time. That will also let it clear better on it's own.

 

[Casper]

Do you really want your wine below 1.000, some fruit wine are best when it still has some sugar, it bring up the fruit flavor. I made a lot of fruit wine and I always finish my wine at 1.002 to 1.004.But it is a personal choice some people like it very dry.<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

 

[ArdenS]

My personal preference when I want it a bit sweeter is to ferment to dry, then to sweeten to taste after stabilizing.

 

[vcasey]

Do you really want your wine below 1.000, some fruit wine are best when it still has some sugar, it bring up the fruit flavor. I made a lot of fruit wine and I always finish my wine at 1.002 to 1.004.But it is a personal choice some people like it very dry.</span></span></font></span></span>

I let my wines ferment until they are dry and if I want to sweeten them I add sorbate &amp; kmeta and then sweeten them to 1003 (my preference). I would much rather the yeast finish what they've started then trying and hoping they'll stop. Only to find out later when corks start flying across the room they were only stunned and have reawakened to finish the job.

 

[u01dtj6]

I would personally be happy with a wine finishing at 1.000