MTBREWDOG
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
I decided to make some huckleberry wine with this years crop of huckleberries. In doing so I found out a few important things that might help out others. The recipe I used was made with all huckleberries. I made up my must as per the recipe found at http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hucklebe.asp. I did everything mentioned there without any initial problems. I took my original gravity reading and found it to be at 1.080. I put my wine must into my temperature controlled fermentation fridge (set to 68 deg. F). After 11 days, I took my gravity reading to see where I was. I had only dropped to 1.061. I then discovered that huckleberries have a fatty enzyme in them that inhibit fermentation. I figured that my stuck ferment was going to be difficult to recover from. I talked to my LHBS (which is also a winery). They sold me a packet of yeast energizer. I don't know exactly what is in it but it designed to allow stuck ferments like this to continue. Now several weeks later I have finally hit my mark. According to my LHBS, some hucks don't have this enzyme in them and others do and it is very dependent on region and sub species. The energizer is also supposed to help increase the vigor of your yeast. All you do is mix it in some boiled water/wort/must and add it to your wort/must.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Joe
I decided to make some huckleberry wine with this years crop of huckleberries. In doing so I found out a few important things that might help out others. The recipe I used was made with all huckleberries. I made up my must as per the recipe found at http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hucklebe.asp. I did everything mentioned there without any initial problems. I took my original gravity reading and found it to be at 1.080. I put my wine must into my temperature controlled fermentation fridge (set to 68 deg. F). After 11 days, I took my gravity reading to see where I was. I had only dropped to 1.061. I then discovered that huckleberries have a fatty enzyme in them that inhibit fermentation. I figured that my stuck ferment was going to be difficult to recover from. I talked to my LHBS (which is also a winery). They sold me a packet of yeast energizer. I don't know exactly what is in it but it designed to allow stuck ferments like this to continue. Now several weeks later I have finally hit my mark. According to my LHBS, some hucks don't have this enzyme in them and others do and it is very dependent on region and sub species. The energizer is also supposed to help increase the vigor of your yeast. All you do is mix it in some boiled water/wort/must and add it to your wort/must.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Joe
