PEAR JUICE TO THE RESCUE!

[Ivywoods]

I screwed up big time. I started two batches at the same time. I am totally a beginner, and maybe a little scatterbrained as well. I ordered a winexpert 6 gallon kit of gewurztraminer wine. After making a thick mud of the bentonite I managed to get it stirred and stirred enough that the juice cleared nicely the first day. So far so good. Time to add the yeast. Did that. Hmmm... why is this package of yeast still sitting here waiting to go in? Horrors! I added the potassium metabisulfate/potassium sorbate packet! Dumb negligent move. Next mistake. I went ahead and added the yeast the next day. Of course nothing happened. Through asking folks here and on another forum what I could do to salvage it I decided to try making a rip roaring must of new juice, sugar and yeast nutrient for the juice. The only trouble was, we are snowed in. Temp was -17 last night, diesel truck won't start and my little car won't make it up our steep, curving incline of our 1/2 mile driveway. After multiple attempts at starting the truck, shoveling snow, slipping backwards in the car I finally remembered I had some leftover pear juice that I canned last fall.

I'M SO EXCITED! I made the magic rescue juice and it is going great! I measured the SG at 1.010. The first picture was 30 minutes after adding the yeast and the second picture was 30 minutes after that. I sure hope this works when I add it to the big batch. Pictures to follow.

 

[Ivywoods]

This was shortly after adding the yeast to the home canned vanilla pear juice.

 

[Ivywoods]

This picture was 20 or so minutes after the first picture

 

[Ivywoods]

I sure hope this works. It won't taste like the kit should have. I'm not sure what vanilla pear will add but it might be interesting.

How many days should I let this yeast grow before adding it back to the batch I am trying to rescue?

 

[hounddawg]

some swift thinking, i hope you come out good,,,,
Dawg

 

[Arne]

I would give it another day. Give your gewurtz a couple of good stirs in the meantime. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[Ivywoods]

Thank you. I will do that.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Your original post said the pear was at 1.010 which is low for the purpose of growing a yeast population.
IF the gravity was correct I would add sugar to bring it up to a starting sugar of 1.085 (25 to 30%). For a normal fermentation the first day is acclimate the yeast, the next phase is rapid cell reproduction down to 1.020 or 1.010, below 1.020 the cell reproduction slows down.
The theory behind K sorbate is that it doesn’t kill cells that are present but it stops them from reproducing, therefore you are trying to grow a large healthy cell culture which has enough population to finish the fermentation.

 

[Ivywoods]

Oh, I thought 1.010 was ok. I'm going to add more sugar now! I don't know if I can get an accurate SG at this point with all that yeast in there. How much more sugar would you recommend?

 

[Rice_Guy]

? if the pear was a formulated drink 1.010 could be correct, I first asked if this was correct,

Math
1.010 is 1.57% sugar
1.085 is 26% and a high sugar grape could be 30%,,, don’t have to be exact
assuming a quart (947ml) adding 300 gm is on the low range and 400 gm is the high end, therefore each quart gets between 1.25 to 1.75 cup of sugar, and the volume increases roughly 25%. . . . Wine is not an exact science, it is forgiving. . . .

 

[Ivywoods]

I added 3 cups to this 1/2 gallon and stirred it up with another teaspoon of yeast nutrient. It appears to be going crazy. I think I'll be able to add it to the other tomorrow.

 

[Ivywoods]

When I added the 3 cups sugar it all smelled like yeast. A few minutes ago it smelled more like alcohol . It must be working. I think I will plan to add it back to the batch I need to rescue. Also, the 6 gallon I accidently added the potassium sorbate to is getting a pretty good layer of yeast. There is hope!

 

[Ivywoods]

What a fiasco! I added my rescue juice to 6 gallon batch in a fresh carboy. It's working. It was a mess. I didn't have all the parts to siphon it and tried several attempts, spilling on the floor and myself. The hose slipped up and lost suction about half wsy through. I ended up lifting the remainder and pouring in through a funnel. It shook up a lot of the sediment. It was very heavy and I've decided I'm going to order a pump/filter before I have to rack again!

 

[Arne]

Lol, laughing with you, not at you. Welcome to the wonderful world of winemaking. Get a vac. pump setup and don't look back. Vacuumpump man on here sells everything you need and will give you tech. support. I don't have his setup, but made my own back about the time he was starting out. I probably didn't write his users name right but do a bit of looking and you will find it. Arne

 

[sour_grapes]

What a fiasco! I added my rescue juice to 6 gallon batch in a fresh carboy. It's working. It was a mess. I didn't have all the parts to siphon it and tried several attempts, spilling on the floor and myself. The hose slipped up and lost suction about half wsy through. I ended up lifting the remainder and pouring in through a funnel. It shook up a lot of the sediment. It was very heavy and I've decided I'm going to order a pump/filter before I have to rack again!

Like Arne, I am commiserating with you. And you will be delighted about your post, in this context, if you look up the etymology of the word "fiasco" that you used to describe the situation!

 

[Ivywoods]

sour_grapes LOL! I guess I did that would be a big bottle and big transfer failure (fiasco). I'm just really happy it's all working and that carboy is cooking away. I filled the 6 gallon carboy plus a 1/2 gallon jar which I closed using a fermentation lid for a large mouth canning jar. The carboy is bubbling away and the 1/2 gallon jar has a constant "FIZZ" noise. Love it!

 

[Ivywoods]

This batch is cooking along. The bubbler is clicking at just under 80 times per minute. It had been really clear before I added the pear juice and got it all stirred up.

I am wondering what all I should have on hand as fining agents to clear this up. What would be best for a mix of gewurztraminer and pear juice? Bentonite? Pectinase? Something else?

 

[Ivywoods]

I'm excited! This is my first batch of wine. I almost ruined it when I added the K metabisulfite and then the yeast. I was snowed in and couldn't get to town to buy juice to try to fix the problem but remembered I had some pear juice I had canned this past fall. I added my yeast, some sugar and let it develop a healthy culture. After adding the pear juice the SG was 1.090. It really took off. Today when I checked the SG I thought my whole hygrometer was going to disappear! The SG is 0.992! It's still bubbling slowly. Is this just CO2 coming off? what would my alcohol % be? I'm thinking it's about 13%.

 

[sour_grapes]

I'm excited! This is my first batch of wine. I almost ruined it when I added the K metabisulfite and then the yeast. I was snowed in and couldn't get to town to buy juice to try to fix the problem but remembered I had some pear juice I had canned this past fall. I added my yeast, some sugar and let it develop a healthy culture. After adding the pear juice the SG was 1.090. It really took off. Today when I checked the SG I thought my whole hygrometer was going to disappear! The SG is 0.992! It's still bubbling slowly. Is this just CO2 coming off? what would my alcohol % be? I'm thinking it's about 13%.

Sounds good!

As for your ABV, I don't believe you ever posted your starting gravity of the kit itself, did you? But I suppose your guess of ~13% will be pretty close.