Slow start, to shake or not to shake?
 

I am trying to get a fairly high OG lemonaid to start, it been about 20 hours now since I pitched (9 grams rehydrated dry yeast, then 14 more grams a few hours later) and its starting, but very slowly.

Should I shake it up some more or just let it be?


Thanks

No shaking after pitching. O2 can give off flavors. You can stir it slowly if you want, but I would let it be. Yeast doesn't wear a watch. It will be fine. RDWHAHB

Lemonade is a bugger to start, if you didn't make a starter. Add some yeast nutrient if you have it. You can stir it a bit, to get some oxygen to it. You can't oxygenate beer that way, but wine (and hard lemonade is more of a wine) is ok during primary.

I sort of made a starter, it was dried yeast so i was under the impression that you werent supossed to make a starter, i re hydrated it and added some of my 'wort' and it started foaming like crazy within a few minutes so i pitched it, and i did use some nutrients in my 'starters'

I've posted in the past about the trouble I've had getting lemonade to ferment. It has to do with the acidity.

You can try again with new yeast- the best thing to do is use the same type of yeast (I used wine yeast) and rehydrate it in a little warm water. Add a tiny watered down bit of your lemonade must and a little sugar. Keep doing that over the course of 2 days or so, gradually making it more and more lemonade mixture and less sugar and water. When you are adding 100% lemonade must, and it's still fermenting, go ahead and pitch it.

No need to cover/airlock it. It really needs oxygen during this time. You can cover it with a muslin cloth, or dishtowel to keep out the fruitflies, etc.

If you do a search on this board for "lemonade", you'll find the threads that talk about all this. I think its on the wine making area, but not sure.