Help~~

[Wine4Me]

I started a Vintner's Harvest Fruit Bases = Boysenberry on 1/20,, SG was at 1090! Next day I added Red Star Cote des Blancs [had no Cuvee at the time which is what the directions called for].. On 1/29 it was the SG was still at 1090 and I added Red Star Curee and today is still at 1090!!
I have pretty much given up on this batch... Am I right??

 

[arcticsid]

Wine, I wish I had a suggestion for you, but I just don't have the experience to help. But, I do feel your stress, that is a scary feeling to think it all went wrong. I hope one of the gang can help, I wish I could. Hope you can resurrect it.

Troy
(incidentally I used Cuvee on this orange wine I've been talking about and it seemed to work excellent, I did note when I googled it that it said this was a good yeast to use when jump starting a stuck fermentation)

 

[twissty]

Chances are that if your yeast wouldnt grow, then spoilage organisms won't either, so your probably ok. If there's no funky smell or taste, then its still good.

How is your temps?
was your water heavily chlorinated?, Did you boil it?
What did you use for sanitizing?
Did the kit include sorbate?...did you add them by mistake?
was your yeast fresh?

try stirring it up to get a bit of oxygen into the must.Yeast needs a bit of o2 to get started. If you boiled your water first it may not have much left in it.

If that doesnt start it, try moving it to a warmer spot for a few days and hit it with some agressive yeast, like Lalvin EC1118.

 

[Wine4Me]

How is your temps? I keep the area about 70°
was your water heavily chlorinated?, Did you boil it?
I run the water through a purifier [pitcher style]
What did you use for sanitizing? one step
Did the kit include sorbate?...did you add them by mistake?
you get nothing but the can with juice & fruit it & I didn't add sorbate
was your yeast fresh? ???? I suppose both packs could have been bad??

 

[Luc]

So you did not add sorbate, but did you add K-meta ???

The water was filtered and not boiled I presume.
Boiling water can drive the oxygen out which the yeast need in the first days of fermentation.

If you added too much K-meta or boiled the water some splash racking (meaning transferring the must from one bucket to another from some hight so it splashes) you will introduce oxygen in the must which might help.

Are you fermenting in a primary with the lid off and use a cheesecloth as a cover ??? That way some oxygen can get to the must which helps fermenting the first days....

Do you still have some yeast ???
If out do I would make a yeast starter and start adding
small doses of the must to that starter to see if you
can get fermentation going in a stepwise way.
So make a 1 liter starter, wait till it ferments vigorously, add half a liter must wait till it ferments vigorously again, then add half of that volume etc etc.

Just some suggestions that helped me with troublesome ferments in the past.

Luc

 

[Wine4Me]

K-meta? I added Potassium Metabisulfite.. This is what you mean??
Yes I filtered the water but not boiled it..
I have it in a "bucket" with lid..

I did stirred it up & will give it a day or so like Twissty mentioned & then if needed will try the splash racking..
and thanks for explaining splash racking because I didn't know exactly what it was....lol

 

[Wade E]

What size batch is this and what amount of potasiium meta( K is the chemical name for Potassium, campden tablets are also k-meta) did you add? The directions for adding a k-meta solution can be confusing and if not careful you could add about 19 times the amount required which will result in a must that will never ferment, How do I know this< I did this with my very first batch!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Wine4Me]

The batch is a 5 gallon batch
as for K being the chemical name for Potassium = that is one of them thing I SHOULD HAVE GUESSED... lol
I added 1 teaspoon of Potassium Metabisulfite / K-meta [I went by the direction on the Potassium Metabisulfite package]

Thanks for all this help I have gotten!!!!!!

 

[Wade E]

Those directions are very wrong wether it be you misreading them or a misprint as it should be 1/4 tsp per 5-6 gallons. If you stir very well like with a drill mounted stirrer and I do mean dont be gentle, maybe even spalsh rack from 1 primary bucket to another a few times and then do a starter yeast you will get this going. The must is over sulfited right now and killing off any yeast!

 

[cpfan]

K-meta instructions are often misleading. K-meta is used as a sanitizing agent, and that is quite strong (50g per 4 litres). And as a wine additive, and that is weaker.

The 50g K-meta package that I have in the house only gives the instructions for creating the sanitizing solution. In the past, I have seen a package that gave one set of instructions in English, and both sets in French.

Steve

 

[Wine4Me]

CRAP!!!!

So for future use [still have a lot left of this K-meta] how much do I use per gallon or do I just throw it out & stick with Campdon pills?? The directions said 1/6 teaspoon per gallon so I assumed about a teaspoon/5 gallons would be ok.. Or was my math screwed up??

 

[Manimal]

I always refer to texts when adding sulfite, just to be sure, but off the top of my head I think that if you were using fresh juice you'd be alright with that level of sulfite but since you used a concentrate, it probably already had a pretty high SO2 content. I wouldn't add sulfite to a concentrate prior to fermentation.

 

[arcticsid]

Wine, just wanted to let you know, I am hoping for the best for your batch. I hope you can recover it. (gives you the big thumb up)
Troy

 

[cpfan]

Wine4Me:

You can use campden tablets if you wish, but I would definitely not throw out the powdered K-meta. Many uses, and it's easier to dissolve than campden.

Steve

 

[Luc]

CRAP!!!!

So for future use [still have a lot left of this K-meta] how much do I use per gallon or do I just throw it out & stick with Campdon pills?? The directions said 1/6 teaspoon per gallon so I assumed about a teaspoon/5 gallons would be ok.. Or was my math screwed up??

Sounds about right.

However if you have used too much campden like throwing in a bit and already having a sulphited must, splash racking like I mentioned earlier would be the way to go.

Luc

 

[Wade E]

Do not throw this stuff away as it is a good sanitizer, for making a sanitizing solution we use 3 tablespoons per gallon, For making wine we use 1/4 tsp per 5-6 gallons. For use in a 1 gallon recipe it is very hard to get this measurement unless you have a pill splitter that you can get at CVS or Walmart.

 

[Wine4Me]

OKK now do I add more yeast after I Splash Rack??

 

[Skyhawk]

Yeah, throw in a starter of Lalvin EC-1118 or something similar after it's sat over night.

 

[Wade E]

I agree, EC 1118. Premier Cuvee, or even Red Star Champagne.

 

[Wine4Me]

This morning I splash racked the Boysenberry and added Cuvee yeast..
I also have a Welch's Raspberry/Grape wine that I think I also over dosed... I started it 2/5 with no change & used same K-meta on this batch!
What yeast do you think I should use?
My choices are Red Star Montrachet, Cote des Blancs, Cuvee.