WineXpert Stuck Fermentation? ~ Please Help...

[tcb54]

I have 2 WE kits that appear to be experiencing stuck fermentation.


Selection White Zinfandel -


Started 10/13 - SG 1.080


Secondary 10/21 - SG 1.010


Island Mist Strawberry White Merlot -


Started 10/21 - SG 1.050


Secondary 10/26 - SG 1.004


For the last week, both of these are hovering at 1.000.


Here's the scenario: the temperature in the room got to around 63 degrees and stayed at that temperature for a couple of days. I then moved them to an area of around 70 degrees.


Do you think that being at this low temperature killed off the yeast?


Am I stuck at 1.000 and can anything be done about it?


Thanks for all of your help.

 

[summersolstice]

I wonder if your hydrometer is properly calibrated. It's possible (and common) that it's reading very slightly high and the fermentation is complete. If you're worried, you could give them a little stir to get the yeast back into suspension and wait a few more days.

 

[masta]

If you have moved the carboys to a warmer area recently it will take some time for the batch to warm up. Cooling the wine to 63 degrees will not kill the yeast but will slow it down.
Give both carboys a gentle stir and this might help wake the yeast back up. Do you have a thermometer to test the temperature of the batch itself?

 

[tcb54]

Both batches were 69 - 70 degrees.

 

[scubaman2151]

Just throwing this out there. Since the wine was 69-70 degrees that is still a good temp for yeast. Could it be that acutally it really is done fermenting and that these kits just finish a little high? If the SG stays the same for more then a couple days I would think it is done but Im not 100% sure on that.

 

[PolishWineP]

I'd give it a stir and then check it in a day or so. It may very well be done.

 

[Dean]

The yeast would have been slowly dying off towards the end of fermentation. Since the temperature dropped, a lot of the viable yeast, most likely fell out of solution and are laying there on the bottom. Now that the temps are back up there, it could take a long while for the colony to continue.

Give both a good stir to get the contents of the lees up and around the wine. The Island Mist at 1.000 is very close to done, but the other one may require a large starter to be built to continue it on. If you could get the wine to about 75, it would aid the struggling fermenation even more.

 

[grapeman]

Did you compensate for the temperature on the hydrometer? Also check it with distilled water at the temp of the must. If they both read the same, then you are indeed at 1.000. If not, you can interpolate the difference to get it accurate. And , oh yes, " Give the lees a good stir"

 

[tcb54]

This is my first fall/winter as a <STRIKE>wino</STRIKE>,<STRIKE>wineophobe</STRIKE>, er, winemaker. I just started this summer. I really appreciate everyone's help. You guys are awesome. I have really learned a lot from you guys here on the forum and from George. He has a wealth of information and, like all of you, is very willing to share.
<STRIKE></STRIKE>
I did as everyone suggested and stirred both of them really well. I'll check themagain in a few days and see what it reads then. I bumped the temperature up to 73 - 75 degrees as well.


I did notcompensate for the difference in temperature.Would there be any difference inusing regular tap water vs distilled or spring water? I normally used bottled spring water when making kits.

 

[texasermd]

You could always get a clinitest kit and test the wine to see if there is any residual sugar as a secondary means to determine if fermentation is complete.

 

[tcb54]

I did what everyone said and stirred both of the kits up really well. I turned up the heat in the room and got the temperature to 73 - 75 degrees.


This evening I checked the SG on both kits and they were both at 0.996 so I went ahead and stabilized them.


Thanks for the great suggestions!

 

[Wade E]

Glad we got it down there.

 

[grapeman]

I think you rushed it a little. If you had left them for another couple days the SG probably would have gone to about .990-.994. You only waited for one day. Normally when it drops as low as it can go below .995 for two or three days in a row is it done. Otherwise you will have a little residual sweetness, which in these style won't be bad. In the future just check it for a few days to make sure it has gone as low as it will.

 

[Wade E]

I do agree with appleman inthe fact that it must be checked a few days in a row. If this was a Merlot this would not render a good dry wine even though it is very close and could very well be done. The reasoning behind this is that stopping a fermentation in progress is very hard and sometimes not possible with the sorbate/k-meta method. This method is for stopping a wine from RE-FERMENTATION. By adding any suagr at this point could start a refermentation and bottling would not be advisable yet. Please check SG now and then again in say 3 days and again in 5 just to make sure it is not going down again. I believe you are fine as it was pretty low but we dont want any corks popping or bottles exploding.</font></font>