Dried fruit

Hi,

I added three pounds of dried cherries and cranberries (and some T-58 dry yeast) to 12 liters of oud bruin/Flemish red three days ago and there is no sign of fermentation picking up. The base beer had fermented with Roeselare and WLP655 for 180 days.
Does anyone know if this is normal or should I be worried?

commercial dried fruits can contain sulphites, but that's about all I know.

Its hard for yeast to get going in a low ph, alcoholic environment. What temp are you fermenting at?

It could also be the sulfites in the fruit. I just made an apricot berliner weisse and apricot-ginger saison. Both with dried apricots. Both have a crazy high fg. Like 10 points higher than they should be. I pitched some brett c and it hasn't done anything. I blame the sulfites.

I'm going to try some wine yeast. They handle sulfites no problem.

I'm fermenting at around 70 F room temperature. I have used apricots and raisins before without problems and hope it just will take some more time to get going...
What kind of wine yeast would be suitable as a last resort option?

Not sure. I don't make wine. Champagne yeast is pretty neutral and does a good job of eating simple sugars. It doesn't really do more complex sugars. Its the reason why many breweries use it to carb bottles. Not sure about its sulfite tolerance but, it will hopefully be ok. I'm going to let the brett ride a little bit longer and see first.

You should be fine. Just give the yeast a little longer. I have used t-58 before. I have gotten long lag time with it.