Cellar Craft Not fermenting

[forsch]

Hi new to your forum but not a complete rookie in making kit wines. I have made about 15 kits over the last three years and always enjoy the initial fermenting process and the aroma of yeast eating sugar! I recently bought a Cellar Classic Cabernet Sauvignon with Cab skins from Fine Vine. This is my first with skins. I started the kit on Saturday and followed the instructions. Each day I have been pushing down the skin bag as instructed and I am noticing that I am not getting the usual fermenting bubbling or aroma. The skin pack always is floating at the top. Is this getting in the way of fermenting? Am I too anxiuos? Normally after 4 days I am getting all kinds of fermenting action. Not this time? Any thoughts?

 

[vcasey]

The yeast could have been old - happens sometimes. Since you did the smart thing and bought from George, who has outstanding customer service, I would give him a call. Also be sure to double check the SG to verify that it is not fermenting. And no the bag should not make fermenting any harder to ferment.

I almost forgot Welcome to the forum!

 

[v1rotate]

Hi Bob, welcome to the forum! What is the temp of your must? And the SG? Gravity readings are the final word when it comes to fermentation. It's been 4 days for your cab and the SG should be down to 1.050 or less. If the must is below 70' you would probably get a very slow ferment.

Let us know what you find out!

 

[forsch]

I am at work now and will check current SG tonight. I can tell you I measured 1.096 SG at the start and the must was at 72 degrees. I'm in the suburbs of Chicago and the weather is getting warmer so I am confident that the temperature is not any lower than when I started. My wine room is in the basement and it is a fairly consistent temperature in the low 70's. Thanks for your input.

 

[ibglowin]

Some kits are slow fermenters but not usually the CC with grape pack kits, they are usually pretty active. Tonight check the temps and SG and report back. The grape pack floating at the top is actually a good sign as the rising and escaping CO2 usually floats it right to the top which is why you need to punch it down once or twice a day.

Let us know what you find out tonight and welcome to the forums!

 

[robie]

If the SG has fallen, you have fermentation. If not, well...

SG is the only sure way to tell if you have fermentation.

So, has the SG fallen? What is the SG now?

 

[AlFulchino]

and temp matters...is it sitting on a cool floor?

 

[forsch]

Hi thanks for all the input. Tonight I got home from work and measured SG at 1.094 (down from original of 1.096 original reading). temperature is 70 degrees (2 degrees lower than original). The fermenter is on a counter and not on the floor. I pushed the skin pack down again as it was floating at the top, screwed the cover back on with bung. I remained in the wine area cleaning bottles and after about ten minutes the bung was going wild with activity and wine actually overflowing from the bung. I cleaned the bung out and replaced it and this happened again. Now I don't know if that is the yeast working or the air escaping from the skin pack. I read early on that somepeople in the fermentation stage used cheese cloth to cover the wine. Thinking that way I unscrewed the cover and it is only laying on top offering a perimeter vent. This seemed to stop the overflow activity. Is this going tohurt the process? Does anyone think this is fermentation or just the air escaping. This has never happened to me before. If it is fermentation then I was premature in my concerns and it was just a slow starter. I will be checking SG again tomorrow nightwhich will probably answer my question if I see movement. Thanks for the input.

 

[AlFulchino]

yeast needs O2...keep that bung away

keep the temp at 70


sounds like you have your activity going good now

ps....fermentation produces co2, not o2

 

[Wade E]

I have made these Winery Series many of times and they usually have a higher sg so Im betting you either didnt stir it well enough at first to get a really accurate reading or maybe didnt adjust for the temp difference. Also adding all those grape skins usually boosts up the sg also so maybe after adding those the sg went higher and has just dropped back down to this. I usually get a starting sg of around 1.110 or there abouts so Im betting this was about where it was after adding the skins for a bit. I think you are fermenting now so you can leave the lid loose for awhile or cover with some kind of cloth like you said but try to keep the fabric out of the must using an elastic or string just so that no fruit flies or anything can get in contact with the wine.

 

[forsch]

Thanks fot the input. I think I did read the SG prior to putting the skin pack in. So that may be the case. I did however stir it well. I wanted to get a tornado going down the middle to get the oak mixed in well prior to adding the yeast. Then I added the skin pack. I have the cover on loose and a piece of cheese cloth over the bung hole. Smelling good now. I think I was just a bit anxious not seeing activity. Should have gone back to rule one of wine making, time is your friend, sit back and have a glass!


Thanks for the education!

 

[AlFulchino]

most of my wines take 3-6 days to really get going, then they steam along for 1-2 weeks after that.....