Can we still add sugar?

[Intheswamp]

Buddy of mine started a 2.25 batch of pear wine a couple of weeks ago. This is the link to the recipe article: https://delishably.com/beverages/Easy-homemade-pear-wine-recipe

The ingredients are:

• 3/4 gallon pears
• 2 lbs. sugar
• 1 1/4 gallon boiling water
• 1 packet or 1 tsp. bread yeast

He stuck pretty close to recipe but did throw in a handful of crushed blueberries, one peach, and a couple of dozen raisins. In 7-8 hours the must developed a frothing fermentation that lasted roughly 5 days. On the 7th day it was a calm, serene lake. No action at all. Nada, no bluegill breaking the surface, nothing. Anyhow, we racked it over into a gallon jug and a 1.5L wine bottle and air-locked them. It definitely had the smell of wine to it but it seems too placid. He has an S-lock on the jug and a finger of a nitrile glove (with tiny hole in it) on the wine bottle. I figured with the agitation of racking that the fermentation would increase some. The "balloon" finger did inflate after a day or so and the S-lock releases a bubble very, very seldom. Watch the S-lock for a few minutes and you won't see a bubble, walk into the room again 15-20 minutes later and the vibration of your footsteps *might* cause a bubble to break free.

Looking at the recipe it seems that 2 lbs of sugar in a two gallon batch of pear wine isn't very much...about half(?) of what it should have been from what I'm ciphering from Jethro's Book of Wine Making and Gentleman Manners.

Anyhow, the fermentation seems to be stopped. I don't think the alcohol is high enough to stop the yeast but...could it need more sugar? Is it too late to add it? I don't think we've got a lot to lose by giving it a shot....

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Intheswamp]

I forgot to mention that he started out with a couple of dozen raisins, too.

(I added this info to the post above.)

 

[khannon]

I'm not a wine guy, but I can tell you that 1 lb of sugar in one gallon of water is 1.040 SG and if you had a yeast that fermented out to 1.000 (I think many wine yeast will do this) end at 5.5%ABV. 7 days might be enough to come close to finished especially if you were fermenting warm.

The raisins are for yeast nutrient, and gives them something other than just simple sugars.

Given that, I'm not sure the sugar content of pears, blueberries or peach(es).. or how completely bread yeast will ferment out, but based on the sugar and water you would be talking ~1.075 specific gravity at start which should ferment out to ~9+%ABV add the sugars from the fruit and you are talking higher probably 10-11%. Adding another 2 lbs sugar would bring it to 18-19ish% which is pretty high for many yeasts, I think bread yeast would stall out long before that, and I think most champagne yeasts top out at ~18%

Setting all of that aside, I'm not sure what you will get for a flavor.. please let us know.
*edit*
Take a look at https://blog.eckraus.com/wine-making-bread-baking-yeast ignore what you don't like but he seems to suggest bread yeast conking out at 9-10%

Also take a look at www.brewersfriend.com There is a recipe builder that might help you estimate abv and the like.

 

[Seamonkey84]

If you are making apple or pear cider/wine, most people use straight juice. If you want, you could add some juice concentrate to the batch, it will probably restart the fermentation.

 

[Intheswamp]

Thanks for the feedback.

khannon, I've found a place that said 17g of sugar per pear. Now, how big of a pear they were measuring I don't know. I would say there were 4-5 pounds of chopped up pears. Yeah, bread yeast isn't a heavy hitter by any means. I remember some Joe's Ancient Orange mead that I made with bread yeast....it turned out quiet tasty but I have no idea of the alcohol content. Matter of fact, I've got two small bottles of that JAOM that are just about seven years old. The last bottle was *very* good. But, I digress... I've looked at this article on eckraus.com before and wasn't expecting a high alcohol content with the bread yeast. But, it seems to be more watery(?) and I did expect more activity once it was racked into the secondary vessel...not fermentation like was in the primary to start with but at least a bubble every couple of minutes in the airlock.

Seamonkey84, adding some juice is definitely an idea. We may go this route rather than white sugar. I'll throw this idea at my buddy and see what he thinks.

One last thought... What about pitching some stronger wine yeast into the must after making a starter? I've got some *very* old packs of yeast that have been stored at room temperature for seven years...expiration date was in 2014. This yeast is never going to see a serious, more carefully made wine recipe so making a starter (if any of the yeast are still viable) for this bread yeast wine might be a good place to use it (again, if the yeast is viable). Would this be an option for upping the ABV and getting a bit more fermentation out of the must? The old yeast is Lalvin KIV-1116.

Thanks again for the help and feedback!
Ed

 

[Blacksmith1]

If it starts it may boost the ABV. I dropped a bit of viable K1-V into my stepsons bread yeast mead and it went to dry with a decent alcohol content. If you do the starter give it some time and O2 to get going.

 

[Intheswamp]

Someone mentioned checking the must with a hydrometer. I hadn't even thought to do that...feel kinda dim-witted at the moment 'cause I do have a hydrometer. Ah, well.

I will check the SG and if there's still sugar left we'll see if we can't raise that old K1V from the dead and finish fermenting the sugar. Thanks for the encouragement!!!