Ok 5 days ago I tried to make my first wine. I used a 96oz can of strawberry fruit wine base produce and then another three pounds of frozen strawberrys. With that I mixed 3 galons of water, 7lb of table sugar, 3.5 tsp acid blend, 2.5 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 ssp pectic enze .5 tsp wine tanned and 3 tsp bisulfite. At that point the SG was 1.100. I covered with a cloth for 24 hours then pitched the yeast. Three days later I still had no activity and the SG was still 1.100. So I created anohter yeast solution and pitched more yeast (thought I may have gotten an old yeast) Two more days have gone by and still no activity. Anything I can do?
Is my wine dead
- Thread starter btencate
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Hmmm- that's a tough one. I cant' see any reason why the wine isn't going. What temperature is the must at?
The Can of strawberries was actually a wine making kit. It is running at about 76 degrees right now. The kit said pitch the yeast inbetween 70 and 80. That is what is so strange. I followed the ingredients to the tee. The water is bottled water from the local filtering place here in town. I have used it to brew about 10 batches of beer and hard lemonade and two batches of cider. I am very confused right now.
How long do I have before these strawberries go bad?
How long do I have before these strawberries go bad?
What about the frozen strawberries?
Were they commercially produced, or did you pick and prepare them yourself?
I don't know how long they can sit like that and still be safe to use.
Because of your predicament here, I've just come to realize that every home brewer should have a homemade ice cream freezer close at hand, and in good working order!
Good luck!
Pogo
Were they commercially produced, or did you pick and prepare them yourself?
I don't know how long they can sit like that and still be safe to use.
Because of your predicament here, I've just come to realize that every home brewer should have a homemade ice cream freezer close at hand, and in good working order!
Good luck!
Pogo
First post. Been making wine for about two years now. I started in my dorm room then when i finally got a house i expanded a little bit. anyhow I tried sodium metabisulfite for the first time in a batch of wine about two days ago. However I added it after fermentation was done, right before bottling (bottled 192 wine bottles btw)
anyway, on the package for the sodium metabisulfite (which is what i assume you mean by bisulfate) it says add to kill wild yeast. Now I am assuming that brewing yeast would have the same problem as the wild yeast, as in it would be killed due to the bisulfite. perhaps you killed your yeast with the bisulfite and in turn ruined your whole batch.
Hope this helps.
BTW a really easy way to make decent wine (im still in college my definition of decent may vary from yours when it comes to booze) is just use about 10-12 cans of 100% juice concentrate for 5 gallons, add sugar and water to get to your targeted S.G., add your chemicals (not bisulfite) and bam. You get a very easy drinking wine that is pretty cheap.
anyway, on the package for the sodium metabisulfite (which is what i assume you mean by bisulfate) it says add to kill wild yeast. Now I am assuming that brewing yeast would have the same problem as the wild yeast, as in it would be killed due to the bisulfite. perhaps you killed your yeast with the bisulfite and in turn ruined your whole batch.
Hope this helps.
BTW a really easy way to make decent wine (im still in college my definition of decent may vary from yours when it comes to booze) is just use about 10-12 cans of 100% juice concentrate for 5 gallons, add sugar and water to get to your targeted S.G., add your chemicals (not bisulfite) and bam. You get a very easy drinking wine that is pretty cheap.
2nd post lol. anyway i have a *minor* fix to my previous reply. Upon my comment I did some research.
to quote http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-sodium-bisulfite.html:
"By adding a light dose of Sodium Bisulfite in the very beginning
--1/16 teaspoon per gallon--you are then essentially destroying
all of the organisms in the fresh juice, including the natural
yeast."
as you can tell you used way too much bisulfite and that must be killing your yeast even though you waited the twenty four hours.
Also says on that webpage use the bisulfite only if you have fresh juice (as in you squeezed it).
i suggest next time dont use any bisulfite at all.
to quote http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-sodium-bisulfite.html:
"By adding a light dose of Sodium Bisulfite in the very beginning
--1/16 teaspoon per gallon--you are then essentially destroying
all of the organisms in the fresh juice, including the natural
yeast."
as you can tell you used way too much bisulfite and that must be killing your yeast even though you waited the twenty four hours.
Also says on that webpage use the bisulfite only if you have fresh juice (as in you squeezed it).
i suggest next time dont use any bisulfite at all.
Nah, most wine yeasts are not particularly susceptible to sodium or potassium metabisulfites. Besides, it's starts to disapate right away and within 12 hours or so you are far under the 50 ppm that the yeast can easily tolerate.
Edit, though- 3 tsp of sulfite? The powder? That's about 2.75 tsp too much. You may have darn well killed the yeast. Stir, stir, stir, stir, to get that so2 to disapate, and then move on to my next paragraph. Next time a recipe calls for sulfite, either use one campden tablet (crushed and dissolved) per gallon, or a scant 1/8 tsp for a whole batch of 5 gallons, depending on what strength you have.
I'd suggest one more yeast try! This time, take out some must into a quart jar (all sanitized of course.). Add some water to dilute the must, and sprinkle the yeast in. When it looks foamy and "working", add another few tablespoons of must. Wait an hour, and add a little more. Keep doing that. When the jar is nice and full and still foamy (after maybe a day or two), pitch the whole jar into the must.
(keep the jar covered loosely with a towel or something like a paper towel to keep fruitflies out). That should do it.
Edit, though- 3 tsp of sulfite? The powder? That's about 2.75 tsp too much. You may have darn well killed the yeast. Stir, stir, stir, stir, to get that so2 to disapate, and then move on to my next paragraph. Next time a recipe calls for sulfite, either use one campden tablet (crushed and dissolved) per gallon, or a scant 1/8 tsp for a whole batch of 5 gallons, depending on what strength you have.
I'd suggest one more yeast try! This time, take out some must into a quart jar (all sanitized of course.). Add some water to dilute the must, and sprinkle the yeast in. When it looks foamy and "working", add another few tablespoons of must. Wait an hour, and add a little more. Keep doing that. When the jar is nice and full and still foamy (after maybe a day or two), pitch the whole jar into the must.
(keep the jar covered loosely with a towel or something like a paper towel to keep fruitflies out). That should do it.
KiRbY29869
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I made a 5 gal. batch of strawberry from the same concentrate I think. I used vintners harvest 96. ounce can. And for some reason mine had a really tough time to get going to. I dont know if there is high acid in those or something but I followed the directions to a tee.
Ok so I think we have it down to way way too much bisulphite. The directions called for 3 tsp but I just looked at the directions on the side of the bisulphite bottle and it says 1/4 tsp per 5 gallons. So now my question is how long is it going to take for all the SO2 to dissipate. I have 3 tsp in about 4 gallons. Its been 7 days and I have been stiring it a lot.
Stir hard for about 10 minutes now, and get the yeast starter going. What I'd do, though, is NOT use the must quite yet. maybe rehydrate the yeast in some warm (lukewarm) water, and add some sugar (a pinch) and maybe a little juice (if you have any apple juice in the house, without any sorbate). Then, when that's foamy, take some of the must out and mix it 1/2 and 1/2 with water and had a few teaspoons full. When that is still foamy, add a bit more. Keep adding the diluted must until it's still foamy and you've added about a cup. Then add a little bit (a tiny bit) of straight must and let that get foamy. If it's still going, about 3 hours later add a bit more. Gradually build this up until you've got alot of must in there, and it's still going. This might take two days or so. Then, pitch all of that into your must. While you're starter is going, keep stirring the must to make sure that you get out as much so2 as you can. This should work.
Your must is still fine- you added enough sulfite for about 50 gallons of wine so no bacteria or wild yeast will start in there. You should be fine, once you get this going.
Well I gave it another try. I followed YooperBrew's last post and everything was going good. The yeast was foamy and fizzing like crazy after about three days of adding must to it. I am guessing I had about 3 cups of pure must into the yeast then I added it last night. As of this morning I am still getting NO action out of the wine. I guess I will keep stiring and try it again in a week or so. I will let you all know how it goes.
friend of mine gave life back to his wine doin this.
i didnt see any measurements.
threw some sugar, and honey and like a cup of water in a sauce pan, boiled it, stirred with a sanitized wooden spoon.
after boiled for like 2 or 3 minutes, took off heat let it get like almost room temperature, added the yeast let it soak and not stir for 15 minutes, stirred it up, added it to the carboy, relocked it and in like 13 hours it was alive.
no clue why it worked, just got that touch lol.
i didnt see any measurements.
threw some sugar, and honey and like a cup of water in a sauce pan, boiled it, stirred with a sanitized wooden spoon.
after boiled for like 2 or 3 minutes, took off heat let it get like almost room temperature, added the yeast let it soak and not stir for 15 minutes, stirred it up, added it to the carboy, relocked it and in like 13 hours it was alive.
no clue why it worked, just got that touch lol.
Well here is in interesting update. It has been 9 days since I last tried to pitch yeast. I have been stiring it every day since then and nothing has been happening. Well I went to stir it today and its fermenting like crazy. I guess the yeast wasn't dead it was just dormant. Should I pitch another pack of yeast or just let it go with what is has. There is three packs in there since the beginning of this whole mess.
I'm not a big wine maker (only 3 batches) but if it's "fermenting like crazy" now, I think you're probably ok with the yeast you've got in there. I'm not sure the long term consequences of the large SO2 dosing, there may be other steps you need to take when you get ready to bottle. Yooper can probably give you more guidance on what to do down the road with this wine.
Sounds like a tasty wine, keep us updated!
Terje
Sounds like a tasty wine, keep us updated!
Terje
If it's going now, just leave it alone. Adding anything now isn't necessary. It's good that it's finally going!
