Wild/natural yeast fermentation - no more commercial yeast! ??

[pete1325]

The guys I make wine with never add commercial yeast, they let the native yeast do all the work. I've been adding yeast and turns okay fine. this year I won't, only fifteen gallons. I ferment in bucket and transfer to glass after two weeks. My lids are snap tight with grommets so I can use airlocks/bubblers to see if they are still fermenting. all's fine thus far. SG after two week is slowly going dry. Seems like it's taking longer to reach a SG of 1.000 or less with native yeast though.

 

[winemaker81]

Seems like it's taking longer to reach a SG of 1.000 or less with native yeast though.

The commercial yeast are bred/selected for their fermentation qualities. The natural yeast are the ones that got there first and grew the best. No other qualities are guaranteed.

 

[balatonwine]

While what’s popular may lean one way or another, in the end wine is subjective and eventually comes down to quality fruit, right?

Right.

There is certainly a very different microbiological community on quality fruit than on, say, over ripe fruit. And that community might make or break a spontaneous fermentation.

 

[sjjan]

removed. Wrong place

 

[Brandon Thomas]

There are a few of us who do/have done it here. I did it for the first time last year and documented it here: Adventures in Wild Fermentation. I’m in the middle of my second season of spontaneous ferment and everything is going well. I also follow a YouTube channel that features interviews with French winemakers that exclusively make ‘vin nature’ and have learned a lot from those folks. Do you have any specific questions? Most of the processes are the same: make sure everything is super clean, press or crush your grapes, and you should see some fermentation activity after two days or so. One decision will be whether to add SO2 and if so how much. Some people add none to encourage the greatest amount of biological diversity, others small amounts at crush and/or in emergencies; it can depend on your juice chemistry and the condition of your grapes.

What is said YouTube channel?

 

[Cynewulf]

What is said YouTube channel?

https://youtube.com/c/JusdelaVigneVinsNaturels
They haven’t posted anything new in a while but all of the interviews are great.

 

[zappoid]

What I've read, thiamine is good to add for native yeast successful development. Will try next season.