Hey,
Two days ago i started brewing a saskatoon berry honey wine:
-15lbs wild saskatoons
-2kg honey
-2gal spring water (as in strait from the spring, not from a store)
-3gal batch total
i washed, froze, crushed, and partially juiced the berries. poured the juice into primary along with the honey and water- all well mixed- added 24 crushed campden tablets (this is alot compared to some recommendations i read, however i was very concerned about any wild yeast on the berries taking over the brew).
after mixing in the camp tabs, i put the skins/pulp of the berries into a cheese cloth bag and dropped it into the primary. i waited 24hrs then pitched my yeast. a note here about the yeast: the yeast i used was a live culture of lalvin 1118 that i reserved from my previous brew and had been keeping active for about a month with honey and yeast nutrient.
at this time, when i first opened the primary after 24hrs i noticed a very sour smell. was a little concerned but i figured after all the camp tabs i added, theres no way i got an infection. figured it was just a smell created by the camp tabs- i dont use them very often in my brews unless i feel the risk of infection is above average, so im lacking experience with them.
after pitching the yeast i kept an eye on the air lock. after 4hrs no progress, after sleeping for 8 hours no progress, after 24hrs from the time i pitched the yeast no progress. i opened up the primary to see if i could see any bubbles inside- very few, but sour smell still present. i had a second live culture that i was keeping as a backup in case the first failed. so i pitched the second culture, as well as added some nutrient and energizer and gave it a good mix.
now, about 12hrs later, the airlock is very very slowly bubbling and theres clear signs of progress when i open the primary and have a look in, as well as that sour smell, though now reduced significantly. so it has begun, however my experience with lalvin 1118 is that it is a very aggressive fermenter. in my other brews (though admittedly with dry yeast) it seemed take right off by this point, like 200% stronger then what it currently is. now im wondering about that sour smell. it cant be possible that i got some sort of infection while the camp tabs where in, is it? is it possible that i added too many tablets? is it possible that im just being anxious over nothing and i should just let it be? lol. im just not sure if something is wrong and i've never encountered that sour smell before, and im well aware that if something has gone wrong- right now is when i need to act to correct it.
here is all the gravity readings i took throughout the process. additionally there seems to be no information on the web about the sg of pure Saskatoon juice, so here it is at the top of the list:
pure sask juice sg: 1.066-1.07 (took several readings as i juiced the berries, they all fell in this range, and the final reading of all the collected juice together was 1.07)
honey water sg: 1.06
juice + honey water sg: 1.065
sg at time of first pitch, after skins and pulp where added: 1.073
Two days ago i started brewing a saskatoon berry honey wine:
-15lbs wild saskatoons
-2kg honey
-2gal spring water (as in strait from the spring, not from a store)
-3gal batch total
i washed, froze, crushed, and partially juiced the berries. poured the juice into primary along with the honey and water- all well mixed- added 24 crushed campden tablets (this is alot compared to some recommendations i read, however i was very concerned about any wild yeast on the berries taking over the brew).
after mixing in the camp tabs, i put the skins/pulp of the berries into a cheese cloth bag and dropped it into the primary. i waited 24hrs then pitched my yeast. a note here about the yeast: the yeast i used was a live culture of lalvin 1118 that i reserved from my previous brew and had been keeping active for about a month with honey and yeast nutrient.
at this time, when i first opened the primary after 24hrs i noticed a very sour smell. was a little concerned but i figured after all the camp tabs i added, theres no way i got an infection. figured it was just a smell created by the camp tabs- i dont use them very often in my brews unless i feel the risk of infection is above average, so im lacking experience with them.
after pitching the yeast i kept an eye on the air lock. after 4hrs no progress, after sleeping for 8 hours no progress, after 24hrs from the time i pitched the yeast no progress. i opened up the primary to see if i could see any bubbles inside- very few, but sour smell still present. i had a second live culture that i was keeping as a backup in case the first failed. so i pitched the second culture, as well as added some nutrient and energizer and gave it a good mix.
now, about 12hrs later, the airlock is very very slowly bubbling and theres clear signs of progress when i open the primary and have a look in, as well as that sour smell, though now reduced significantly. so it has begun, however my experience with lalvin 1118 is that it is a very aggressive fermenter. in my other brews (though admittedly with dry yeast) it seemed take right off by this point, like 200% stronger then what it currently is. now im wondering about that sour smell. it cant be possible that i got some sort of infection while the camp tabs where in, is it? is it possible that i added too many tablets? is it possible that im just being anxious over nothing and i should just let it be? lol. im just not sure if something is wrong and i've never encountered that sour smell before, and im well aware that if something has gone wrong- right now is when i need to act to correct it.
here is all the gravity readings i took throughout the process. additionally there seems to be no information on the web about the sg of pure Saskatoon juice, so here it is at the top of the list:
pure sask juice sg: 1.066-1.07 (took several readings as i juiced the berries, they all fell in this range, and the final reading of all the collected juice together was 1.07)
honey water sg: 1.06
juice + honey water sg: 1.065
sg at time of first pitch, after skins and pulp where added: 1.073
