Fermenting Agent

[Thirunavukkarasu]

I am trying for the first time to make grape wine. I have done all as per the instructions. But mixed up in the case of yeast. By mistake i added baking soda instead of yeast. I realized it after about 20 hours then added the yeast. I don't know what will happen. Please advise.
Thiru.

 

[Doug’s wines]

Hi @Thirunavukkarasu, the basic answers to your question are that the baking soda will reduce your acid level (raise the ph), could throw off an odd flavor but it won’t hurt anyone in the finished product. If you have a ph meter that would help you to see the impact Wine yeast is pretty tolerant to a wide range of ph so it will probably kick off anyway.

To more fully answer your question, we would need more information such as what type of grape must, what yeast, how much must, how much baking soda did you add, what is the current ph etc.

 

[Thirunavukkarasu]

Thanks. Your reply reduced my anxieties. Next time I will be more careful and scientific. One more clarification: At the airlock the bubbles are continues almost 2 to 3 per second. Is it normal.

 

[cmason1957]

Thanks. Your reply reduced my anxieties. Next time I will be more careful and scientific. One more clarification: At the airlock the bubbles are continues almost 2 to 3 per second. Is it normal.

Most of us have no idea, we don't use an airlock at the initial part of fermentation. The assumption is that the yeast are giving off plenty of CO2 to blanket the wine and provide protection. The problem I have with airlocks, is they lie, you might have a leak somewhere else and everything is escaping there. Fermentation is going great, but no bubbles in the airlock so folks become worried. Measuring the change in your SG is the only sure-fire way to know that fermentation is happening.

 

[sour_grapes]

Thanks. Your reply reduced my anxieties. Next time I will be more careful and scientific. One more clarification: At the airlock the bubbles are continues almost 2 to 3 per second. Is it normal.

I agree with Craig, but another thing is: We don't know what VOLUME of wine you are making. The amount of gas released per unit time will differ if it is a liter vs. 100 liters.

 

[Thirunavukkarasu]

Thanks for your reply. My must is about 10 liter. I added by mistake about 25 gm of baking soda and further added about 25 gm of yeast.