First ever wine batch seems not working :(

[Alex Storm]

Hello there...

My wine making experience is 9 day old, and so is my first ever wine batch which I started on December 31.

Upon watching numerous YouTube videos, this is what I bought and did:

- 9 liters of 100% grape juice (made of concentrate and water)
- 2kg of fine white sugar, 10 cups
- bread yeast (active dry).... wait a minute and don’t hate me. I really don’t have a choice as I live in a country where those things are not sold nor allowed to be sold.
- 15 liters bucket with a lid.
- airlock with silicon grommet fixed on the bucket lid.

I started the process with sterilizing every thing that will be used with chlorine sterilization tablets that are actually used for new born babies’ bottles and nipples. Once again, this is the only thing I can locally find.

Poured the juice into the bucket, added sugar and stirred very good until sugar was dissolved.

Activated the yeast (4.5 teaspoon) with a bit warm water and sugar until it all became foamy then added it to the juice.. all was stirred properly.

Finally, I placed the bucket in a dark place where temperature is around 21 to 23 C.

The thing is that after 9 days I still don’t see bubbles coming out of the airlock nor do I see any kind of foam on the top of the batch. I can smell however a kind of alcoholic odor coming out from the bucket.

Did I screw up?!

I can’t get a hydrometer, and the only thing I could buy online was a refractometer for brix sugar amount, still on its way.

Any help would be appreciated, as I’m not sure if the fermentation is dead or not, and as to what I can do to fix it.

As a note, when I tasted the juice right from its container and before adding sugar, it was already too sweet. Will it matter if sugar was too much in the mix, as certainly it is the case after adding 10 cups of sugar.

 

[Tinwakr]

Did you check it at all over the 9 days?

Although you won’t know the ABV you can still check to make sure the sugar has been consumed by the yeast with the hydrometer if you can get one.

 

[Alex Storm]

Did you check it at all over the 9 days?

Although you won’t know the ABV you can still check to make sure the sugar has been consumed by the yeast with the hydrometer if you can get one.

Thanks for your reply. Since I don’t have a hydrometer, I didn’t check it.

Well, I’m receiving soon a digital Brix refractomete.

I will make another batch. Can the refractometer help if I get an initial Brix reading and during the fermentation?

 

[salcoco]

the refractometer is good for the first reading. once fermentation starts the reading is distorted by the alcohol in the wine
http://valleyvintner.com/Refrac_Hydro/Refract_Hydro.htm visit this page for a calculator sheet that corrects the refractometer reading to specific gravity.

 

[Alex Storm]

the refractometer is good for the first reading. once fermentation starts the reading is distorted by the alcohol in the wine
http://valleyvintner.com/Refrac_Hydro/Refract_Hydro.htm visit this page for a calculator sheet that corrects the refractometer reading to specific gravity.

Thank you very much. That table is very helpful.

 

[Tinwakr]

Thanks for your reply. Since I don’t have a hydrometer, I didn’t check it.

Well, I’m receiving soon a digital Brix refractomete.

I will make another batch. Can the refractometer help if I get an initial Brix reading and during the fermentation?

You haven’t said if you checked it at all over the 9 days. Could be that it has finished fermenting if you hadn’t checked as fermentation in most cases finishes in about a week give or take.

 

[cmason1957]

You haven’t said if you checked it at all over the 9 days. Could be that it has finished fermenting if you hadn’t checked as fermentation in most cases finishes in about a week give or take.

He did say he doesn't have a hydrometer, you can safely assume that there have been no checks throughout the process or at least I assume that.

 

[iridium]

However th foaming during the checks indicate that fermentation happened. Have you tasted it. While that won’t tell you if fermentation is done it will tell you if fermentation occurred.

You might rack the wine (which means to move the wine from one vessel to another but minimizing the exposure to the air) into another vessel and put the airlock on it. If the airlock starts to bubble then likely some fermentation is still going.

 

[Tinwakr]

He did say he doesn't have a hydrometer, you can safely assume that there have been no checks throughout the process or at least I assume that.

What I am trying to determine is if he actually lifted the lid over the 9 days. [emoji15]

 

[Tinwakr]

However th foaming during the checks indicate that fermentation happened. Have you tasted it. While that won’t tell you if fermentation is done it will tell you if fermentation occurred.

You might rack the wine (which means to move the wine from one vessel to another but minimizing the exposure to the air) into another vessel and put the airlock on it. If the airlock starts to bubble then likely some fermentation is still going.

That also could be stiring up the liquid and releasing CO2 as well, not necessarily fermentation.

He hasn’t said if it was foaming, that’s what I am trying to determine.

 

[iridium]

That would be good to confirm. I read he had lifted the lid but you are right more information would be good.

 

[Alex Storm]

Thank you gents for your help... I did not try it (taste it), but I did after couple of days from starting the batch lift the lid and gave it a stir. I got lots of foam after that for a day only, then it got clear again. I can smell alcohol for sure coming out of the bucket. I will rack it and give it a taste

As you can see from the attached photo, there is still little foam.

 

[Stressbaby]

1. Don't use chlorine as a sanitizer
2. Don't rack it yet. Unwrap all that plastic and try to figure out where your fermentation stands. If you can't get a SG reading, then taste it. If it is still sweet, then one of a couple of things happening: a) it didn't start; b) it started and stuck; c) it fermented to the alcohol tolerance of your bread yeast (which may be only 7-8% ABV) and you have residual sugar. It's going to be tough to know which of these things is happening and your next move sort of depends. If it didn't start or stuck, stir it, warm it up if it is cool, and then you probably need nutrients - if you can't get yeast nutrient a crushed B-complex vitamin tab might work. You may need to pitch more yeast. If it fermented to the alcohol tolerance of the yeast, you've gotten what you can from your bread yeast and you probably need to rack and stabilize it. If on the other hand you taste it and it's completely dry, then proceed as with c). A hydrometer as you can see is really helpful in making these determinations. The other thing would be to retrospectively see if you can guestimate your starting gravity from the initial ingredients. Maybe a helpful forum member with more time right now that I have can assist.

 

[Alex Storm]

Thank you for your helpful contribution. Well, I tasted it and it’s actually bitter sweet.

Should I add more yeast? Can I add raisins to it?