What was your longest ferment?

[PandemoniumWines]

Just curious. I have a skittles on Day 16, slowly, slowly dropping... at 1.034 from 1.100. From reading a multitude of posts, it seems mine's just odd. Siiiiiiiiigh

So as I twiddle my thumbs and do my best to be patient, I wondered who else had batches that took their good old time to run dry. Who's got the slowest fermenting wine?

 

[sour_grapes]

Just curious. I have a skittles on Day 16, slowly, slowly dropping... at 1.034 from 1.100. From reading a multitude of posts, it seems mine's just odd. Siiiiiiiiigh

Reading a multitude of posts about skittles wine? Or wine in general? Because my memory is that every damned post about skittles wine says that it takes a looooooooooooong time to ferment. (I have never tried myself.)

 

[dralarms]

I've got a cranberry that's pushing 6 months and still at 1.040. About to give up on it. It was only 1.100 to start with

 

[Julie]

I had an apple wine once that took a month to ferment from 1.080 to .994.

 

[PandemoniumWines]

Reading a multitude of posts about skittles wine? Or wine in general? Because my memory is that every damned post about skittles wine says that it takes a looooooooooooong time to ferment. (I have never tried myself.)

skittles in particular. Although I wonder if there was just something weird about that particular packet of yeast, or the stars weren't aligned correctly, or something, because I pitched skeeter pee that same day and it took 14 days to ferment dry, even with multiple daily stirrings, 77 degree temp, the utmost loving, care, and attention... And then I just had a pumpkin go dry in 3 days.

I plan to try skittles again when i've got a free carboy available, with a few tweaks. Wine making is a good lesson in patience. A hard, hard lesson, but good.

 

[Julie]

what yeast did you use? Also, doing a skittles or any type of off the wall wine, you really shouldn't start with a high sg. High sg's are harder to ferment to dry and those types of wine are hard just on their own without adding more issues to it. Starting with an sg around 1.080 would probably work better.

 

[PandemoniumWines]

I used Ec-1118. In not sure why I shot it up so high. All my others have been 1.080-1.090. I blame the sugar high from snacking on the extras.

 

[NorCal]

I had a Zin that took over a month, but it probably doesn't count since it was a stuck ferment and it took me a month to figure out how to un-stick it.

 

[Julie]

Make sure the container is open,don't seal it t up and give a stir daily

 

[ceeaton]

Try taking an SG reading for a few days. If it isn't going down, it might be a stuck ferment. If it is still going down, agitate it a bit every day and see if it still is going down. If you need to add any nutrients, I'd stay away from DAP and try and organic type like Fermaid O that can be used up better as the yeast approaches final gravity, without leaving too many nutrients for the other types of nasties that can grow in your wine given enough time. At 16 days I wouldn't worry too much. I've waited 3 months + to add Kmeta waiting for MLF to finish in a red batch (last summer I believe).

I had an AMH batch that took over two weeks to finish at 70*F + temps, but that is a really slow fermenter in my experience.

 

[Ron0126]

I have a plain old orange blossom honey mead that started at 1.082 on June 2 and is s-l-o-w-l-y coming down. Today was 1.026 ... yes, added nutrient (couple of times) and stirred everyday. Doesn't appear stuck just very, very slow.

 

[drainsurgeon]

Skittles...hmmm....aren't skittles candy? Made of sugar? I wonder how long it takes for them to totally dissolve....and release MORE sugar as they do so. Is it possible that your SG is actually dropping at the same rate (or close) as the sugar addition of the dissolving skittles? It's like you are step feeding sugar while the ferment is going on....just a thought.

 

[PandemoniumWines]

the skittles were thoroughly dissolved into boiling water beforehand. Gravity is decreasing every day, it's just a patience-testing slow ferment.

 

[drainsurgeon]

the skittles were thoroughly dissolved into boiling water beforehand. Gravity is decreasing every day, it's just a patience-testing slow ferment.

Gotcha. I tried looking up Skittles wine in the recipes and there isn't one. Where did you get your recipe?

 

[PandemoniumWines]

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11640

 

[terroirdejeroir]

Since I moved my fermentations to the basement they are all taking much longer. Just finished a Rosso Grande Eccelente that took nearly three months. My average used to be 5-7 days for primary and 2-3 weeks for secondary. Will probably start using my brew belt. Average basement temp is about 68 degrees

 

[Redbird1]

Since I moved my fermentations to the basement they are all taking much longer. Just finished a Rosso Grande Eccelente that took nearly three months. My average used to be 5-7 days for primary and 2-3 weeks for secondary. Will probably start using my brew belt. Average basement temp is about 68 degrees

Wow. My basement sits a couple degrees cooler and I've never had one take more than 14 days and that includes the one that sat in a water bath to try to slow things down. Which yeast did you use? Did you follow any nutrient schedule?