Unfermentable

[Country]

I still smell the sulfite. Lost cause I fear, but waiting to see.

 

[sour_grapes]

Now you have this stuck in my head (with appropriate substitutions, of course):

 

[Country]

Ha,
I have a shot glass of hydrogen peroxide that I’m about to drop in. Some one talk me down... or not.

 

[Scooter68]

Keep in mind that normal dosage of K-Meta are considered to protect an aging wine for 3 months. Despite your whipping and vacuum degassing there is probably a better than even chance that even fresh yeast will produce fermentation yet. Remember under normal circumstances patience is the key word in wine making - given the issue you are dealing with you could be looking at 3 months or more before the K-Meta dissipates enough to permit fermentation. You can certainly try a small amount now but I wouldn't let everything hang on the results this early on.

These comments are from someone who for over 60 years has had a problem being patient even with fast dry spray paint, and "Instant Hold" superglue. The rewards of being patient are, however; outstanding a 5 month wine can be barely drinkable but at 15-18 months that same wine can be something to brag about.

 

[stickman]

Hydrogen peroxide has to be used with great care, with the exact dosage and proper procedure, otherwise the entire batch will be oxidized. The peroxide has to added drop-wise slowly with good mixing. I personally wouldn't go the peroxide route.

 

[Country]

An update to this saga. The elderberry juice is starting to ferment. We have foam in the bucket. I stopped keeping a log of everything as desperation gave way to wild experimentation. I will say that I added hydrogen peroxide 1/2 ounce at a time for a total of 1.5 ounces over three days. That cleaned up the smell completely. What is fermenting now is a weird mix of whatever I had on hand but it is fermenting. I should probably dump it and run but I’ve grown attached to it.

I learn from my mistakes and am thankful that this series of mistakes didn’t cost me much. I’ll be watching it with great interest over the next year. Thanks to everyone who offered help/suggestions!!

 

[Country]

Well when this thing finally decided to go, it went crazy! 1.090 to .995 in three days. Racked to secondary today and still bubbling. It has a very tart berry taste but really no smell.

 

[danr]

Congrat's-patience is a must here!

 

[sour_grapes]

I'm glad you stuck with it!

 

[Noontime]

Late to the game, but I just binged this very exciting and informative thread (and entertaining). Glad everything turned out, and like sour grapes said, good for you for not just dumping it. It's wonderful how you took the opportunity to make it a learning experience. And who knows, you might still have a very drinkable wine. We've had a few wines go sideways in the beginning, but turned into something enjoyable after a few years. I have a butternut squash wine that took almost 2 weeks to start fermenting, and I manipulated the S#!t out of it trying to get it going. Sadly it's 4 years old now and still not that great a wine, but it was a hugely educational experience.

 

[Country]

Bottling day marks the end of this chapter. The plan is to try it in a year.

 

[mainshipfred]

Bottling day marks the end of this chapter. The plan is to try it in a year.

Is there a next chapter in the works?

 

[Country]

Hope the next chapter is not called “Undrinkable”! Only time will tell

 

[mainshipfred]

OK, forget about the next chapter, is there a new book in the works?

 

[Country]

Yes, I started another, more traditional, batch soon after this one went south. It is progressing with far less drama.

 

[MarcMaserati]

I was winemaking while consuming product... never a good idea. I ended up adding too much K-meta as well, about 8X!. I mixed the primary well until the sulfur smell was significantly reduced (or my nose was burnt, not sure which really). I have a Rangpur wine in primary with high acid and added EC-1118 3x with a small started without success. The Rangpur fruit is a cross between Mandarin and lemon so I want the keep the acid high. To fix this I began a starter and added 50X more volume from the juice every 5 hours until I got to 1/2 gallon. Then I added 50% volume every 24 hours or until rapid fermentation was clearly visible. Today everything has been added together and should be fermenting well. I'll check later tonight. My starter ended up being 2 gallons and I just added that to 2 gallons of juice. I reserved 2 cups of the starter in case it didn't take. I probably had 3 cups of wine mud in the starter.

 

[Country]

Good plan. I’m my case, the sulfite smell would go away after intense aeriation, but would return a few hours later. Stick with it, good luck!