Trouble with a blueberry variant, sloooooow ferment

[cdevrard]

Hey All,

I have read (after I started this batch!) that blueberry can be a tough ferment. In addition I am trying a "dragon blood" blueberry variant so it is pretty acidic to begin with. Anyhow, the ferment was petering out pretty quick in the beginning so I made a yeast starter (only for about 9 hours) and got it going again. Now it is petering out again and I still have about 20-30 points to go on the hydrometer. I'm not sure what to do here. These are the particulars:

1-27-15 – 48oz. of Real lemon, 26 cups sugar, 6 lbs. Blueberries, 35 drops of pectic enzyme, water to just over 6 gallons.

1-28-15 – SG @ 1.088, PH 2.66. Added 6 grams Fermaid K, ½ tsp. yeast energizer, and two bananas. Set in front of vent to get some heat in it (was at 63*) Got it to 75*. Rehydrated EC 1118 yeast and pitched it.

1-29-15 – Temp. 68*, SG @ 1.086. Very slow start.
1-30-15 – Temp 67*, SG @ 1.085. Heating pad to get temp up.
1-31-15 – Temp 68.5, SG @ 1.080.
2-1-15 – Temp 79.5, SG @ 1.070. Temp a bit high. Lowering heat
2-2-15 – Temp 71.5, SG @ 1.066. very slow ferment.
2-4-15 – Temp 69, SG@ 1.059. SG has almost stopped moving. Decided to try a yeast starter . Re-hydrated another packet of EC-1118, after 15 min added a few TBS. of must. After one hour added ¼ cup must. Kept warm next to vent. After 4 hours (good action) added another ¼ cup of must. After another 4 hours I pitched the starter.
2-5-15 – Temp 71, SG @ 1.052. Not much foam but a lot of bubbling. Looking much better.
2-6-15 – 70*, SG @ 1.048
2-7-15 – 70*, SG @ 1.043
2-8-15 – 69*, SG @ 1.038
2-9-15 – 71*, SG @ 1.032
2-10-15 – 70.5* [email protected]


As you can see, things are slowing down again. I have never had a ferment go on this long. By using an abv calc it looks like I am at 7.5% or so right now. Can this wine spoil at this point? It is still way too sweet for my taste. I wouldn't care if the ferment petered out in the 1.010 range (actually still a bit sweet for my taste) but I don't think it'll make it that far. What do I do!? And thoughts?

Thanks much,

Chris E.

 

[Deezil]

You're metaphorically shooting yourself in the foot, having the pH so low. Bring that pH up, and I bet it finishes dry.

I'll have to revisit this if someone doesn't beat me to it, as I'm on my way out the door at the moment

 

[cdevrard]

Deezil, no takers so far! I've never lowered PH before. Is there where you add calcium carbonate or some such? I just measured the PH again for giggles and came up with a 2.76.

Thanks,

CE

 

[Deezil]

Were you shooting for 5 gallons of finished wine, or 6?

With six gallons of must pre-fermentation, you're likely to end up with 5 gallons of wine worth bulk aging. But if you have a 6-gallon carboy you plan on using, you could add up to 1 gallon of water - it's going to bring the pH up closer to where you want it to be (3.3-3.4 pH), but it will also drop the sugar level and reduce your ABV some. You could add sugar to fix that though.

If your not using a 6-gallon carboy, then it gets a little trickier

 

[cdevrard]

Were you shooting for 5 gallons of finished wine, or 6?

With six gallons of must pre-fermentation, you're likely to end up with 5 gallons of wine worth bulk aging. But if you have a 6-gallon carboy you plan on using, you could add up to 1 gallon of water - it's going to bring the pH up closer to where you want it to be (3.3-3.4 pH), but it will also drop the sugar level and reduce your ABV some. You could add sugar to fix that though.

If your not using a 6-gallon carboy, then it gets a little trickier

Interesting thought. I am shooting for 5 gallons finished, the extra gallon seems to get used up topping up, etc. I only have the 6.5 gal primary fermenter so I'd have to drain a gallon off and replace it with water. Hmmmm. I'd really hate to do that without knowing what I'd get. maybe I could do it with one quart (in ratio) and test the PH on that? Anyhow, thanks for the thoughts!

 

[Deezil]

Well If you're shooting for 5 gallons finished, and already have 6 gallons, I wouldn't thin it any more.

I'm not sure what kind of reaction you'd have by adding calcium carbonate to an almost finished fermentation, but maybe someone else can chime in on that.. but you'll need to do something like that..

 

[Greydog]

I had the same problem with 9 gallons of Blueberry I started on Jan 29 using Concentrate. I started mine too hot with OG at 1.110 and it was super sluggish. Took about 10 days to get down to 1.030. I racked off the lees it to secondary carboys and really let it splash hoping the aeration would help. Within an hour it was practically boiling and continues to do so now 4 days later.

 

[Deezil]

The way to avoid this in the future, is to mix the batch up first, without the lemon juice. Then measure the pH, and slowly add the lemon juice in small increments, watching the pH fall until its in the proper range (~3.4 for blueberry). The lemon juice is highly acidic and that's what threw the pH out of whack..

On top of blueberries naturally containing benzoate, which prohibits fermentation itself

 

[cdevrard]

The way to avoid this in the future, is to mix the batch up first, without the lemon juice. Then measure the pH, and slowly add the lemon juice in small increments, watching the pH fall until its in the proper range (~3.4 for blueberry). The lemon juice is highly acidic and that's what threw the pH out of whack..

On top of blueberries naturally containing benzoate, which prohibits fermentation itself

Lol, literally just added this note to the batch notes:

**NOTE 2-13-15 Acid was way too high on this batch adding to already hard to ferment blueberry, only add portions of lemon juice next time after checking PH of blueberries alone first.

 

[cdevrard]

Well we'll see what happens. I'm going to let it ride out. This morning I am at 1.020 SG. It is still bubbling albeit slowly. I'm going to transfer to a carboy today b/c I am starting to worry about O2 exposure. Hopefully it'll keep perkin' down.

 

[cdevrard]

So I'm encouraged. After transferring to secondary a few days back, this batch continues to slowly percolate. And it isn't showing any signs of a slow down from the initial rate.

SG is down to 1.012 this morning. Maybe it'll get there yet. I'm hoping it at least burns down to 1.005 or so, but who knows.

Yay,

CE