Need Help with First Batch

[mbjg0788]

Last Saturday, I made my first batch of homemade wine. I made one gallon in a four litre bottle. I used 100% raspberry and pomegranate juice. I added one-half cup of sugar to the juice. I used red wine yeast. I did a yeast starter by added the yeast to a cup of warm water and letting it hydrate. I then added two teaspoons of sugar and let fermentation begin in the cup. I added the juice to the bottle and shook it up and then added the yeast starter. I placed a balloon with holes in it over the top of the bottle. Fermentation began in the bottle almost immediately.
I did some reading and was convinced that ½ cup of sugar was not enough. So on Wednesday, five days into primary fermentation I made a solution of one half gallon of the same juice with three cups of sugar. I added this solution to my fermentation bottle. Fermentation stopped five to six hours later.
I have since made two yeast starters and tried to restart fermentation but nothing has happened. My balloon which was at one time standing erect is limp.
What should I do? Should I forget about restarting fermentation? Should I throw out this batch and start over? When I added the juice and sugar what was in the bottle smelled like wine. Is there a chance that what I have now is still salvageable, and if so, how? Do I just proceed as normal? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

John S.

 

[Arne]

First thing, welcome to the forum. If you have a homebrew store close, itwould benifit you to get a hydrometer. It will tell you what is going on with your ferments. They are less than 10 dollars. You have put a lot of food for the yeast in at one time. Maybe all some more juice and maybe a bit of water to the mix. If you have a store close, you could use some nutrient and maybe some energizer also. By just chunkin ingredients in without being able to measure what is happening the whole works is just a crapshoot. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[mbjg0788]

Help with First Batch

Thanks so much for your reply. I hear what you are saying. Yes I purchased a hydrometer but have yet to receive it. I am trying to do what I can until I receive it.

 

[JohnT]

In the mean time, why not simply taste the wine? Does it taste sweet? If it does not taste sweet, then fermentation is complete.

 

[Floandgary]

OK,, first lesson to have been learned is ,, "it is best not to rush things with this hobby. Time is a tool and an ingredient,, use it". Without all of the necessities you can find yourself in a spot and not able to recover.. As Arne said, without that hydrometer, it could be a crapshoot!!

 

[NorCal]

I started the exact same way! Except I added so much sugar up front that mine tasted like a cheap mixed drink and had to dump it. My next step was to follow the skeeter pee recipe/instructions from this site. It's cheap and easy and teaches you all the steps.
I suspect that your yeast are not a happy bunch and the environment is no longer conducive to a happy yeast life. If you really wanted to salvage it, I would start a new, smaller batch, get it going and then slowly add this batch into it or get energizer and nutrient to make the current pool of half fermented juice a happy place.

 

[user 33364]

Sorry I realize, that this is repeating the above points but I did just want to throw in my two cents. Don't rush mate, all in good time. Don't be too disappointed with the mishaps either, they are inevitable. Let us know how it all turns out

 

[BernardSmith]

Last Saturday, I made my first batch of homemade wine. I made one gallon in a four litre bottle. I used 100% raspberry and pomegranate juice. I added one-half cup of sugar to the juice. I used red wine yeast. I did a yeast starter by added the yeast to a cup of warm water and letting it hydrate. I then added two teaspoons of sugar and let fermentation begin in the cup. I added the juice to the bottle and shook it up and then added the yeast starter. I placed a balloon with holes in it over the top of the bottle. Fermentation began in the bottle almost immediately.
I did some reading and was convinced that ½ cup of sugar was not enough. So on Wednesday, five days into primary fermentation I made a solution of one half gallon of the same juice with three cups of sugar. I added this solution to my fermentation bottle. Fermentation stopped five to six hours later.
I have since made two yeast starters and tried to restart fermentation but nothing has happened. My balloon which was at one time standing erect is limp.
What should I do? Should I forget about restarting fermentation? Should I throw out this batch and start over? When I added the juice and sugar what was in the bottle smelled like wine. Is there a chance that what I have now is still salvageable, and if so, how? Do I just proceed as normal? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

John S.

Hi John - and welcome... Without access to your wine and without access to an hydrometer it sounds as if your yeast has done what you asked it to do.. Here's why:
Juice expressed from fruit generally contains about 1 lb of fermentable sugar per gallon. One pound of sugar in a gallon will produce a wine - closer to a cider or beer of about 4-5% alcohol by volume (ABV). A weak wine , as wines go - but a wine , nevertheless and a wine that you could drink with pleasure. ( a session beer might be 3 or 4% and an apple cider might be 5 %). You added another 1/2 C of sugar and then a second 1/2 cup.. and a cup of sugar weighs about 1/2 lb so that will add another 2 percent of alcohol giving you a wine potentially with about 6-7% ABV.
Given a warm room and given enough nutrient in the juice for the yeast your yeast could convert all that sugar (1.5 lbs) to alcohol and CO2 in two or three days without a problem... so my money (until or unless you can confirm otherwise) is that you fermented out all the sugar and the yeast stopped producing CO2 as they had no more sugar to eat.
Bottom line? I think you may have scored a bullseye.. A low alcohol fruit wine. Taste it. It will still be very "green" as the yeast may need weeks to clean up after themselves and remove and metabolize chemicals that they produce as they convert sugar to alcohol. But don't even think about tossing this out and if I am correct then there is no need to try to restart the fermentation. I think you are home and dry.. For the record there is no law or rule that says that you MUST add sugar to fruit juice to make wine. The only thing you MUST do is add yeast and even then wild yeast might find their own way in..

I recently fermented a gallon of blackcurrent juice with no added sugar. It's the equivalent of a cider. That means I can drink it by the pint rather than the glass, if I choose to.. Horses for courses...

 

[mbjg0788]

Thanks to all for all the information, support and counsel and advice. My hydrometer arrived in the mail yesterday, but unfortunately it was broken. I expect to receive a replacement in two days. I did taste the batch and it tasted like young wine, not too strong, but like young wine with a low level of alcohol. I think Bernard hit the nail on the head. I also have ordered some sparkolloid and some yeast nutrient. I am also ready to start a second batch with some Welch's concentrate grape juice as soon as I get that hydrometer.
Cheers!
John S.