Prematurely stopped fermentation and must.

Hi All,

My question is: If I take samples of my wine during periods of primary fermentation and then put in an oven at ~50 C to drive off all the alcohol and water, does my must still ferment during that time?

To be more clear as to my process, I am taking samples of wine ~every 3 hours after the primary fermentation begins. These are then frozen. Then I am taking these samples and puting them in an oven at 50 C to drive off alcohol and water, to be able to examine the sugar content for an experiment I am doing at my University, does the must continue to ferment during the drying process?

Does the initial freezing possibly kill the yeast or prevent future fermentation? If not is there something that I could add that would stop the fermentation and allow my analysis of the sugars at that particular time of the fermentation process?

Thanks,
Jeanette

No, the yeast will start to die off at about 30C (depending on the yeast). So maybe just a little more (negligible in my book) fermentation will occur while it is heating up.

In case it matters, I am using Bourgovin RC 212,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Freezing will kill a lot of the yeast. Heating it to 122F will finish off the rest.

I hope you used real cheap juice/grapes for this. Otherwise, it's a real waste of what they could have been.

The atrocities performed in the name of science...

The horror... The horror...

Golddiggie said:

Freezing will kill a lot of the yeast. Heating it to 122F will finish off the rest.

I hope you used real cheap juice/grapes for this. Otherwise, it's a real waste of what they could have been.

The atrocities performed in the name of science...

The horror... The horror...

Click to expand...

I agree

Thank you for your input!

I also think that freezing, then heating will throw off your readings of sugars. IMO, better to simply use a hydrometer in the same temp sample and record the results. Having yeast cells, alive, in the sample isn't going to change the reading at that time. Assuming you're not trying to check the sample multiple times, or keep it static for later. IF that's what you need to do (keep the sample, which seems off to me) then look up stabilizing chemicals. Then make sure you seal the sample in a sanitized container for later.

Depending on the method used by the person, people making mead often take SG readings until they hit the 1/3 break. This is usually daily, since they're also adding nutrients to help the yeast along.