It's been over a month since feeding the elderberry with sugar ... SG finally dropped to 1.002. It's been like that a week or more, doesn't look like it's going down.
So I added another 3 cups of sugar, SG is up to 1.030. I'm going to ignore it for 3 weeks and then check SG. The yeast should easily ferment out to dryness, but this one is not doing anything like I expected. I suspect it has to do with this being a juice blend, and not just a fruit concentrate.
30+ years ago I did a few batches from Welch's frozen grape juice and one from Oceanspray Cranraspberry ... none of which fermented cleanly. I was fermenting commercial drinks, so normal reactions are not to be expected. This one seems to be in the same model.
The wine smells good and taste fine, and I expect both the regular and fortified wines will turn out acceptable. However, I don't believe I'll buy this product again.
So I added another 3 cups of sugar, SG is up to 1.030. I'm going to ignore it for 3 weeks and then check SG. The yeast should easily ferment out to dryness, but this one is not doing anything like I expected. I suspect it has to do with this being a juice blend, and not just a fruit concentrate.
30+ years ago I did a few batches from Welch's frozen grape juice and one from Oceanspray Cranraspberry ... none of which fermented cleanly. I was fermenting commercial drinks, so normal reactions are not to be expected. This one seems to be in the same model.
The wine smells good and taste fine, and I expect both the regular and fortified wines will turn out acceptable. However, I don't believe I'll buy this product again.