Yeast not being very aggressive?

[Allie Geiger]

I have a batch of cranberry/cherry/orange that is on day 4. The yeast did not become very vigorous, and it is now just mildly fizzing. I took a gravity reading. the starting gravity was 1.1. On day 4 it is now at 1.06.
Is it doing okay, or is there something I need to add to it?
Is it okay that I transferred it to a carboy and airlock today?

 

[pillswoj]

What is the temperature of the room? And did use use yeast nutrients. Also what yeast and is this fresh fruit or juice.

 

[ceeaton]

I have a batch of cranberry/cherry/orange that is on day 4. The yeast did not become very vigorous, and it is now just mildly fizzing. I took a gravity reading. the starting gravity was 1.1. On day 4 it is now at 1.06.
Is it doing okay, or is there something I need to add to it?
Is it okay that I transferred it to a carboy and airlock today?

I think it's doing okay. That's an okay move for four days. Some questions:

What is the ambient temperature in the room that you are fermenting the wine?
What wine yeast did you use?
Do you have a way to measure the wines pH and did you take a reading before your yeast started fermenting?

Some yeasts just don't appear to be very vigorous, but your drop in specific gravity is showing that the yeast is starting to do it's job of consuming the sugars in the now young wine. Lower temperatures will slow down the process, and depending on the yeast you used could temporarily halt the process. Also cranberry and orange can be tough ingredients to ferment dry in my past experience (I'm guessing because of lower pHs).

Here's a website I use for information on the different wine yeasts I use (http://www.lallemandwine.com/en/north-america/products/catalogue/). If the information says it needs a lot of nutrients, you may have to add some type of product like Fermaid O or K to get it to finish fermenting. If you get a whiff of rotten egg smell, you should definitely look into adding some nutrients. When the yeast gets stressed it can produce hydrogen sulfide gas while it's fermenting.

Hope that helps.

Edit: in the future I'd do it in a container that you can add an airlock to until the primary fermentation is finished. Just one less step to introduce nasty organisms into your wine (I'm probably over protective since I come from a beer making background, where it's pretty easy to infect a batch (at least easier than a batch of wine in my opinion)).

 

[Allie Geiger]

I think it's doing okay. That's an okay move for four days. Some questions:

What is the ambient temperature in the room that you are fermenting the wine?
What wine yeast did you use?
Do you have a way to measure the wines pH and did you take a reading before your yeast started fermenting?

Some yeasts just don't appear to be very vigorous, but your drop in specific gravity is showing that the yeast is starting to do it's job of consuming the sugars in the now young wine. Lower temperatures will slow down the process, and depending on the yeast you used could temporarily halt the process. Also cranberry and orange can be tough ingredients to ferment dry in my past experience (I'm guessing because of lower pHs).

Here's a website I use for information on the different wine yeasts I use (http://www.lallemandwine.com/en/north-america/products/catalogue/). If the information says it needs a lot of nutrients, you may have to add some type of product like Fermaid O or K to get it to finish fermenting. If you get a whiff of rotten egg smell, you should definitely look into adding some nutrients. When the yeast gets stressed it can produce hydrogen sulfide gas while it's fermenting.

Hope that helps.

Thanks!
The room is around 20 degrees C (68 F).
I did not take a ph reading, I didn't have the equipment and decided to wing it.
I Used Lalvin ec-1118.

 

[Allie Geiger]

What is the temperature of the room? And did use use yeast nutrients. Also what yeast and is this fresh fruit or juice.

I did use yeast nutrient. This is from juice, not fresh fruit.

 

[pillswoj]

Based on that

 

[ceeaton]

Thanks!
The room is around 20 degrees C (68 F).
I did not take a ph reading, I didn't have the equipment and decided to wing it.
I Used Lalvin ec-1118.

I was going to suggest that you use EC-1118 if it stalled a little later on. With that yeast I doubt you will have any issues, it is a very forgiving yeast. If you can take the temperature up a few degrees it will finish faster, but at 20C it should finish, in it's own time just fine.

Have fun! WInging it can be fun, as they used to say with homebrew, relax, have a homebrew. So relax and have a glass of wine!

 

[Allie Geiger]

I was going to suggest that you use EC-1118 if it stalled a little later on. With that yeast I doubt you will have any issues, it is a very forgiving yeast. If you can take the temperature up a few degrees it will finish faster, but at 20C it should finish, in it's own time just fine.

Have fun!

Thankyou!!

 

[pillswoj]

It will be fine, a bit of a slow start because of temperature but it will continue and probably speed up.

 

[Allie Geiger]

Could I put a heat pad on it for a day or so?

 

[ceeaton]

Could I put a heat pad on it for a day or so?

Yes, just be real careful. I've heard of horror stories of people boiling their wine. I wouldn't go above 80*F (26.6*C). Would probably aim for just a few degrees higher than what you are at now (in the 72*F range). I don't think it's an absolute necessity, it should finish just fine at 20*C (68*F).

Edit: the minimum temperature for that yeast on the site I referenced above is 10*C, you are well above that.

 

[pillswoj]

Especially for a fruit wine I would not put heat on it - Fermentation is proceeding just fine. I often Ferment whites at 10C or lower they can take more than a month to complete but it helps preserve the fruit aromas.