Stuck fermentation?

I am a newbie to making wine and started 2 batches of wine. I purchased a 6 gallon bucket of Pinot Grigio and a 6 gallon bucket of Merlot. Let them sit for 2 days at room temp and racked into glass carboys 2 weeks ago. Had a 6 gallon carboy for the Pinot Grigio which is still chugging along, but only had a 6.5 gallon carboy for the merlot. I ended up topping off that with Welch's 100% grape juice. It appears that it has stopped fermenting. Should I add anything to try and restart the fermentation (yeast nutrient or energizer)?

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Didn't add any additional yeast as the bucket says it was in there already.

Hydrometer readings? What is room temp for you?

Sorry it took so long. Was waiting for my wine thief to come in. Just checked it and it's currently 1.01. And it's approximately 75*

Cagekiker298 said:

Sorry it took so long. Was waiting for my wine thief to come in. Just checked it and it's currently 1.01. And it's approximately 75*

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It might keep dropping. Check it in 5 days or so, and see where you're out. It may finish. Did they give you any indication of what the beginning SG was supposed to be?

I believe it was about 1.09-1.10 in the bucket before I racked into carboy. I forgot to write it down. But kinda remember thinking it had potential for 13% alcohol.

Just seems that it dropped quick as my Pinot Grigio I started at the same time is at SG-1.04

Cagekiker298 said:

Just seems that it dropped quick as my Pinot Grigio I started at the same time is at SG-1.04

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No, that's actually slow. In most healthy fermentations, a wine will go dry in 5-7 days. From something like 1.100 to .990, it happens quick usually.

Really? As I mentioned, I'm a noob. So does that mean that there is something going wrong with my Pinot Grigio?

Cagekiker298 said:

Really? As I mentioned, I'm a noob. So does that mean that there is something going wrong with my Pinot Grigio?

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Maybe not- I'm not familiar with those kits or the yeast in them, or how they are. I generally add my own yeast, and stir daily for the first 3-5 days or so before moving to the carboy and I never move the wine to the carboy until the SG is 1.010 or below, so your instructions are obviously so much different than anything I've ever done that I just can't say.

First time, so maybe I'm doing it wrong.
It wasn't a kit, I just picked up 2-6gallon pails of Chilean juice. 1 was Malbec, the other was Pinot Grigio. I believe it's just the natural yeast in the must, but I might be mistaken.

Checked the Malbec today. Very slow to no activity in airlock. SG=1.010 still. Hasn't come down any in 2 weeks. It's actually closer to 65* if that makes a difference. The Pinot Grigio I started at the same time is still bubbling away and SG=1.027. I plan on racking both of these off the lees soon as I'm starting to get concerned that they will get yeasty. First time making wine, so any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

Add nutriants. Stirr very well. Watch for volcano effect. Hurry up and wait. My two batches of grape wine are also painfully slow to ferment. I have made lots if fruit wines, they ferment fast. These grape wine are slow!!!


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Stir very well?? Worried about oxidation. Is this a concern? I know fruit wines need to be degassed.

Yup. Stirr very well. With a long something. No need to splash or whip the crap out of it. Just stirr normely. Very little air will be introduced. And quite truefully a little dose of air would probely help. It is still fermenting, it needs air to ferment fully, and the bubbles drive off the oxigen in very little time.
As you stirr a lot of bubble will come up. This is good. Those are gassy bubbles you want out sooner rather then later.


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Ok, so I added 3 tsp of yeast nutrient and stirred lightly and got no reaction in my Malbec. It had no bubbles and definitely was in no risk of the volcano effect. I tasted it and it was still sweet. Should I pitch yeast into the carboy?

Hmmm.... Guess your only option is to bring the temp up to 70-75 and hope that restarts fermentaion. And or add wine yeast. This is why most people use domestic wine yeast and not wild yeast. Unpredictable results.
Because this wine has a reasonable amount of alcahol in it you will have to baby along some domestic yeast before adding it to the whole jug. It needs to get used to the abv before it will take off. Make a yeast starter, a little 100% juice and the yeast. Once it gets bubbleling good add a 1/4 cup or so of your stalled wine. It will slow down a bit. Once it gets bubbeling along good again add more stalled wine. Keep doing this untill either you have a quart or a galleon of starter. ( Adding up to 1/4 of the volum of your bubbeling starter each time) Then you can add it to the big jug of stalled wine. It will sit in shock for a few hours, but should pick up within 24h to normel fermentaion.
I think there is a sticky or something on making a yeast starter. A search may bring up good results too. I'm not an exact type of person, I just kinda wing it.
Lavin 1116 and 1118 are good yeast for restarting stuck fermentaions.


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I have Lavin 1118 yeast. I will try and get a starter going and try adding it and attempt to bring temp up into the low 70's. Should I rack it off the sediment or just add the starter to my current carboy? I will search for the sticky about the starter to make sure it's correct. Thank you.

Get the temp up first. If you didn't already. Every wine I made this winter took forever and almost half had a stalled ferment. Anything I started from March onward has fermented dry cleanly with no issues. You might still have active yeast that heat + aeration will get going again. If not, the heat will make sure the new yeast have a hospitable environment.

No need to rack it. For that matter if there is a lot of settled seddament you may get it going again simply by warming it up and stirring all that settled stuff back up. The live yeast may just be stuck under it all. The done stuff will settle right back down again with no harm done.


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Brought temp up to 72*-74* for a few days now and still very little activity in airlock. I will make a yeast starter and pitch in the next few days. Thank you for the suggestions and I will keep you posted.