Stalled lemonade

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Derrick123

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Hi,

I have a lemonade that has stalled. Here are the particulars

October 23, 2011: added slurry of two yeast packs. Reading was 1.080

November 12, 2011: racked to Carboy. Reading was 1.036. Racked a bit early as I was going to be away from home for a while.

December 2, 1011: reading is still 1.036. Lots of bubbles in the wine thief when I took a sample.

I have not stirred since it's in the Carboy but I have shaken the Carboy a couple of times.

I tasted it on December 2, 2011 and it has a bit if yeast taste and it is starting to taste dry a bit.

Should I stir to try to get it going again? As is, I would say it's at about 5% alcohol which is ok for us. Maybe I should rack it off the lees and let it clear??

What do you think?
 
1) slurry from two yeast packs, e.g. you made a starter and let it rehydrate and be all happy before you tossed it in?

2) if you read the lit on skeeter pee, evidently lemonade is hard to ferment because of the acidity. can we get more info re: the particulars of the recipe?
 
Hi,

Thanks for your message. I made a slurry adding a cup or so at a time until I had about 16 cups. It sat for about 24 hours before I pitched it.

In the first 16 days it went from 1.080 to 1.036, so it was doing well. It stalled when I transferred to the Carboy.

The recipe is:
10 cans of lemonade
Sugar (enough to bring gravity to 1.080)
4 tsp nutrient
4 tsp energizer
4 campden tablets
2 packs of yeast.

Campden tablets were added to the must 24 hours before I added slurry.

Thanks for any direction on what to do from here.
 
Hi,

Given the information above, would you say it would be a good idea to gently stir it to have the yeast suspended again?

I did try to shake the Carboy a bit but that did not seem to help.

Thanks
 
Hi, on December 4, 2011 I gave it a gentle stir in the Carboy in the hopes it would suspend the yeast and get the fermentation going again. There is A LOT of gas in it. Just small gentle stirs created a lot of foam and small bubbles... More than you would get in champagne.

Should I stir daily to get ride of them?
 
Hi, on December 4, 2011 I gave it a gentle stir in the Carboy in the hopes it would suspend the yeast and get the fermentation going again. There is A LOT of gas in it. Just small gentle stirs created a lot of foam and small bubbles... More than you would get in champagne.

Should I stir daily to get ride of them?

I realize that you need answers- but I have none to give. I have no idea what to do. If you want to call it done and drink as is, that would be ok but I'd be concerned about bottle bombs. If you want to make a yeast starter and see if it'll restart, that might work (but probably not).
 
Hi Yooper,

I certainly don't see often that you are unsure what to do. Ha, Ha. I have learned a lot from you!

I think I racked from the primary to Carboy too early; it seemed to have stalled the fermentation.

I hope the stirring will suspend the yeast and kick start it again. Do you think it would be helpful to stir to release the gas?

If this was yourwhat would you do.
 
Hi Yooper,

I certainly don't see often that you are unsure what to do. Ha, Ha. I have learned a lot from you!

I think I racked from the primary to Carboy too early; it seemed to have stalled the fermentation.

I hope the stirring will suspend the yeast and kick start it again. Do you think it would be helpful to stir to release the gas?

If this was yourwhat would you do.

Well, I would have waited to rack until it was ready to be stopped. But as it's too late for that now, I'd be inclined to let it sit and clear and drink it when clear.
 
Hi,

Thanks for replying.

Lesson learned for me!

That's what I will do.

Thanks again.
 
I added another yeast slurry to this last night (December 9). Crossing my fingers it works

Anyone have any luck with adding yeast to a stalled wine?
 
i think i woud get the gas out if for no other reason than so it can clear. the high acid level stressed the yeast to start with and having the gas level as high as you described probable finished it off. stirr it up good and keep stiring for a couple of days. and get some O2 in the must

jim
 
Hi jdrum,

I think you are right. The yeast slurry did nothing.

I will stir the crap out it to see if it helps.
 
You said there had been lots of co2 bubbles on the wine thief when you checked the SG at 1.036. I'm wondering if the reading was inaccurate due to the bubbles. Maybe a bit of degassing of the sample and a good spin of the hydrometer float to get the bubbles off.
 
Hi Jacob,

Thanks for your post.

I never thought of that, maybe it would make a difference. I took numerous readings and it was consistently 1.036.

I plan to stir it a couple of times a day to release the bubbles.

I hope it works, I would hate to lose the whole batch.
 
Just from reading over this, did you by chance add any nutrient and energizer mid way through the primary stage? Check you SG periodically and whip each time, when your SG reached about 1.050 or 1.040 add more nutrient and energizer, and give it a good whip. Plus I would add 2 tsp of nutrient for 1 tsp of energizer. From my understanding it will keep the sulpher smell down and keep your yeast from stalling in something acidic like Lemonade. If you didn't do that, I'm going to guess that could be the reason it stalled. However when I make Skeeter pee I use only slurry, and have had great luck. Never tried making a slurry with packets of yeast. Probably opposed to adding more yeast, you could try adding a bit more nutrient and energizer and giving it a good whip, and whipping it every 24hrs to see if you get some ferment action. If it doesn't get it going I would put it to clear with some sparkolloid, and consume that tasty beverage. :D
 
You said there had been lots of co2 bubbles on the wine thief when you checked the SG at 1.036. I'm wondering if the reading was inaccurate due to the bubbles. Maybe a bit of degassing of the sample and a good spin of the hydrometer float to get the bubbles off.

+1 to this. I have a vat of Skeeter Pee that I could simply not get a hydrometer reading on due to carbonation. There were so many bubbles that it foamed when I dropped the hydro into the thief.
Degass the batch and measure again.
 
I truly appreciate your help and input. I had some nutrient so fed it about 5 tsp.
(5 gallon batch). I have no energizer, maybe I should pick some up.

It has been so consistent at the same reading for so long that I'm pretty convinced it is stalled.

I will be stirring a couple of times a day to get ride of the gas in the hopes it ferments more. If not I will use some clarifier so we can have this ready by Christmas. ...what do you think?
 
I truly appreciate your help and input. I had some nutrient so fed it about 5 tsp.
(5 gallon batch). I have no energizer, maybe I should pick some up.

It has been so consistent at the same reading for so long that I'm pretty convinced it is stalled.

I will be stirring a couple of times a day to get ride of the gas in the hopes it ferments more. If not I will use some clarifier so we can have this ready by Christmas. ...what do you think?

If you are going to add any more, I'd treat just a gallon of it. Make sure you are keeping it at a decent room temp (say, 70* to 75'ish) and that it's fully warmed up ... add a bit more sugar and use the nutrients etc to try and get it going again, once it gets going feed it a couple times 5 or so hours apart with additional juice or sugar water, then if you are successful once it is rocking, add this "starter" back to the main batch. This way you aren't adding so much nutrient to a batch that has not proved itself to be active yet, and a batch that is also already a good part of the way to its finish (having used a good portion of the sugar in the must).
 
It's a miracle! I just checked it and it's 1.026. That is down from 1.036 on December 9th.

Looks like we may have some lemonade to add to our cranberry juice at Christmas.

Thanks for your help
 
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