Stuck or completed?

[NorCal]

A much modified SP recipe. 6 gallon, 10 pounds sugar, 48 oz of reallemon, SG 1.085, Champagne yeast. Fermented to 1.055 in 4 days, added more nutrient covered, put airlock on and had to go out if town for 4 more days. Came back and no sign of fermentation, SG at 1.032. I decided to rack, degas, Sorbate, kmeta, Sparkolloid and put in a carboy with an airlock. I'll be measuring any changes in the SG, but I was quite happy with the semi sweet taste. I plan on letting it sit for 4-8 weeks. Any idea if this yeast could have died off? Should I have tried to restart fermentation?

Comments?

 

[calvin]

If you added sorbate it won't ferment any more

 

[bkisel]

Did you measure that same SG for 2-3 days in a row? If not I would guess fermentation was not complete. Even if so, with my admitted limited experience, I would not consider a fermentation complete unless SG were something like 0.998 or less.

Anyway, if you like the results that's what matters most.

 

[sour_grapes]

Should I have tried to restart fermentation?

Personally, I would have tried to have restarted it. OTOH, as bkisel says, if you like it, that is all that matters.

Note that you only have about 7% ABV. This may not keep all that well, so I think I would use plenty of k-meta and drink up soon!

 

[4score]

If you added sorbate it won't ferment any more

I thought sorbate just keeps existing yeast from multiplying. If you have existing yeast, I think they could still ferment.

 

[calvin]

I thought sorbate just keeps existing yeast from multiplying. If you have existing yeast, I think they could still ferment.

That's what "they" say. If that was the case you couldn't back sweeten any wine without fermentation continuing.

 

[seth8530]

That's what "they" say. If that was the case you couldn't back sweeten any wine without fermentation continuing.

Actually, 4score is right.

Sorbate will not stop an active ferment nor does it do all that good job on a wine that is not yet clear. To guarantee the effectiveness of sorbate one should wait until the wine is both clear and done fermenting( by verifying SG on multiple days) before adding sorbate. Only then should you add sugars back to the wine.

 

[calvin]

I always add k meta, sorbate, and degass simultaneously before adding clearing agents. I do however wait a week or so before sweetening. I'm not going to try it but it would be very interesting to throw a dose of sorbate in an active fermentation and see if it stops? My guess would be yes. I'm a noob though so I could very well be wrong. How long will a yeast cell live?

 

[seth8530]

If you want to see for yourself give it a go. I do not imagine it would be very effective on an active ferment.

 

[vernsgal]

I too have found that adding sorbate has not stopped active fermentation. It will stop any added sugar from fermenting. Not sure of the science of why this is, just a personal experience.

 

[Julie]

As others said sorbate will not stop an active ferment but sure does cause some issues, you just shocked the crap out of your yeasties adn it is going to take awhile for them to recover. At 1.032 you should have never added kmeta and sorbate, while you may think you have completed fermentation I can pretty much guarantee you six months or even a year down the road, when those yeasites get over the shock of the sorbate and kmeta that are going to become active again and you will have bottle bombs.

 

[NorCal]

Thank you for the replies and this has definitely been a learning experience. If I measure the SG for a week and the SG doesn't change, am it still at risk of having the yeast become active in the future? For wine made from grapes, that has residual sugar, how do you make sure all the yeast are dead before bottling?

 

[Julie]

you need to ferment to dry, 1.000 or below. if your reading is higher than 1.000 and stays there for a couble of weeks, then you need to treat it as a stuck fermentation

 

[NorCal]

Thanks Julie, assuming I'm happy with the clearing and taste, what would happen if I were to freeze the SP to kill off any active yeast?


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[NorCal]

Ok, just read a few articles about freezing to stop fermentation. It works, until the wine thaws again.

Since I added sorbate, is it possible to restart fermentation? Thanks for the help, really interested in learning, more so than saving the $9 worth of materials I have in the carboy.


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[vernsgal]

As Julie said, if you wait a few weeks and there's no change in SG you have to treat as a stuck fermentation. I would try a yeast starter to see if you can get it going again. Here's one I picked up somewhere and have used successfully in past.
Yeast starter for 5-6 gallon
In a mason jar, measuring cup or container
add- 1 cups warm water 80-90 F
2 pinch citric acid
1/2 tsp nutrient
2 Tbls sugar dissolved in the water
Wine Yeast
Let the starter sit and work for 24 hours in a sanitized mason type jar (I use a 2 or 4 cup measuring cup) cover loosely with a paper towel. in 12-24 hours it will really be rolling (if it isn't you might have a problem with that pack of yeast)
When you are ready to add the starter, stir up your must a bit to introduce oxygen, then pour the starter on top of the must. Do not stir in at this point. Wait about 8 hours then gently stir the must
Remember in future to always wait til SG is below 1.000

 

[NorCal]

Thanks for the advice. I checked the SG and in the past two days it has dropped from 1.032 to 1.030. I will try to restart it.

 

[vernsgal]

If it's dropping on it's own just try giving it a good stir several times a day.

 

[NorCal]

Good idea. Perhaps some nutrient, take off the airlock and a good stir? I'll give that a shot before attempting to restart.


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[vernsgal]

if you don't want to transfer back to primary pail, stir well daily and just drop a small towel over it instead of using airlock