Two weeks into fermenting and at 1.05 still

[Jim311]

Two weeks ago we pitched two packs of d47 yeast into a mixture of 15lbs blueberries and 10lbs sugar and 4.5 gallons of water. If I remember correctly it came out to an OG of 1.12. Today I went to rack it and checked the gravity, it was at 1.05. I racked it anyway hoping that being swished around a bit livens up that yeast a bit but I figured this wine should have fermented out already. This is my first blueberry wine with fresh fruit so I don't know if it's normal for fermentation to take this long. Should I just wait a bit longer and take a few more gravity readings? There hasn't been any airlock activity for days now but to be honest the bung on this bucket doesn't seal that great. It is being kept at 75-78 degrees currently and has never been below 64 degrees the entire duration of fermenting.

 

[meatcleaver]

are you measuring this with a hydrometer or refractometer?

 

[Pruttelen]

Did you taste it ? Perhaps the yeast stopped fermenting due to high alcohol levels.

 

[porterpounder]

Did you use any sort of nutrient schedule? The yeast may have pooped out due to lack of nutrients. 8.4% by volume is well within the tolerance of healthy yeast and it should go quite a bit lower with all the sugar. Try adding some yeast energizer to see if it kicks off again. A temp flux of 64-78F is a huge amount for any fermentation and 75-78 is really much too hot with that yeast for a tasty fermentation without fusel alcohols. Try to keep it steady at around 65F next time.

 

[Jim311]

I measured it with a hydrometer I use for beer brewing, and I checked the hydrometer in water to make sure it was zeroed out. I know that 75-78 is too hot to be fermenting, but I thought this wine was done days ago. I had been keeping it at 66-68 in a water bath during fermentation. This morning after racking I checked the airlock and there was a small amount of activity so perhaps it's going to take off again. Still, this seems like a really slow fermentation considering how vigorously it was fermenting a week ago! I haven't used any sort of yeast nutrients, but I could pick some up at the brew shop today if necessary, or even pitch some more yeast if you guys think I should.

 

[Yooper]

I measured it with a hydrometer I use for beer brewing, and I checked the hydrometer in water to make sure it was zeroed out. I know that 75-78 is too hot to be fermenting, but I thought this wine was done days ago. I had been keeping it at 66-68 in a water bath during fermentation. This morning after racking I checked the airlock and there was a small amount of activity so perhaps it's going to take off again. Still, this seems like a really slow fermentation considering how vigorously it was fermenting a week ago! I haven't used any sort of yeast nutrients, but I could pick some up at the brew shop today if necessary, or even pitch some more yeast if you guys think I should.

You've got enough yeast. I think the thing to do now is to stir to get the c02 out of it, and add some nutrients. Dissolve the nutrients in some water, to avoid a volcano (trust me on this!) and add to the wine and stir. You can stir until you get to 1.030 or lower- c02 is poisonous to yeast and degassing it helps.

Blueberries can be very acidic and that could be the problem here.

 

[Jim311]

I also read that blueberries can naturally produce sorbate which makes life hard for the yeast as well. These are fresh blueberries which I picked from a relatives farm. I'm going to try and swing by the brew shop today and acquire nutients.

 

[Yooper]

I also read that blueberries can naturally produce sorbate which makes life hard for the yeast as well. These are fresh blueberries which I picked from a relatives farm. I'm going to try and swing by the brew shop today and acquire nutients.

True, maybe. How's that for a non-committal answer?

I read this recently on Jack Keller's site: The oft-cited caution that they contain sorbic acid and will not ferment is completely untrue. It is their richness in chemistry, but especially their benzoic acid, that sometimes makes them difficult to actively inoculate with yeast, but this same richness makes for complex and varied wines once fermentation has run its course. Indeed, in a recent survey of favorite non-grape wines, blueberry was second only to blackberry in popularity.


I think that if sorbic acid was an issue, you wouldn't even have got to 1.050- it would have stopped long before, or not even started. Since it did go a bit, it seems that correcting the environment by degassing, adding nutrients, and maybe even lowering the acidity via potassium carbonate if necessary, could be the way to go.

 

[Jim311]

I stopped by the brew shop today and picked up a couple more packets of D47, some energizer and nutrient, and supplies to brew a Kolsch-ish recipe while I was at it. I say "Kolsch-ish" because they gave me WLP011 instead of a true Kolsch yeast because they were out of stock. We'll see how it tastes, I'm skeptical it will taste anything like a Kolsch based upon all the posts I read around here about it. If it makes fizzy yellow beer that's low in hops and gravity then I'll be happy.

 

[BendOrnewbie]

I am a big Jack Keller fan, but the chemical analysis of blueberries points to methylparaben as being the natural preservative in blueberries. As Yooper essentially notes, methylparaben is an ester of hydrobenzoic acid.

I have gotten tired of my battles with blueberries and say just screw it as 1118 doesn't care as much if acid levels or natural preservatives are the problem. Now, even EC 1118 has a problem with Oregon's native huckleberries. Lol.

 

[Jim311]

I think the shop gave me some EC1118 as well and said that yeast will finish it out for sure. I'll probably just skip straight to the point and pitch that tonight since I'm tired of looking at the fermenter bucket sitting in my kitchen and am ready to move on to the next project (two batches of beer)

 

[Jim311]

Last night I rehydrated a packet of my champagne yeast with water and something the shop gave me called "GoFerm" as well as another yeast nutrient the shop gave me and pitched it into the wine. Hopefully I'll get some stronger fermentation started. I should have taken a gravity sample to see what was going on but frankly I was lazy and didn't feel like sanitizing stuff. Got my fingers crossed that this will finish this thing up.

 

[Yooper]

I am a big Jack Keller fan, but the chemical analysis of blueberries points to methylparaben as being the natural preservative in blueberries. As Yooper essentially notes, methylparaben is an ester of hydrobenzoic acid.

I have gotten tired of my battles with blueberries and say just screw it as 1118 doesn't care as much if acid levels or natural preservatives are the problem. Now, even EC 1118 has a problem with Oregon's native huckleberries. Lol.

I don't love blueberry wine, so don't make it often (plus those suckers are a pain to pick!) but I never really had an issue with fermenting it. I don't recall which yeast strain I used on the last batch as it's been a couple of years, but I didn't have any fermentation problems at all. I doubt it was D47, as I generally only use that on meads or certain whites, though.

 

[BendOrnewbie]

I did a check of Keller's later notes, and he points out the sorbate aspect of blueberries is completely untrue.

Those Michigan blueberries must be different than Oregon blueberries as blueberries are one of the easiest fruits to pick. Sorry, Yooper, had to poke on that one. Lol. Finally, the wine forums are full of posts on blueberry fermentation problems. The Keller recipes usually result in good fermentation rates, but deviating from those, particularly in fruit amount can cause problems. Jmho. Also, I love blueberry wine.

 

[Jim311]

I'd say we were pretty close to recommended recipe on this one in terms of the amount of berries and sugar we used. Came home today and airlock activity is still very slow, hoping it takes off again soon with the addition of nutrients and champagne yeast. I'd really hate to have wasted 15 pounds of blueberries.

 

[BendOrnewbie]

One final note is that a can of white grape juice concentrate at this point can work wonders. I don't know if that is acceptable in the overall wine making circles, but that alone can get it moving.

 

[Jim311]

I took a gravity today and it's sitting at 1.027. I pitched one more pack of champagne yeast and an energizer the brew shop gave me. I'm swinging at the fences at this point I guess.

 

[BendOrnewbie]

So on 6/22, it was at 1.05. On 6/24 , you pitched more yeast. On 6/29, sg was 1.027. I take it that at a couple of points you had 3 consecutive days without an sg drop? Might be just a typical slow fermentation that some of us have with blueberry.

 

[Jim311]

I honestly have been very lazy about taking gravity measurements and have only taken two total. I'll take another soon but I think you're right, this may just be a damn slow fermentation.

 

[Jim311]

Do you guys think I should rack this thing? It seems like I should probably just chill and let it finish fermenting first, right? It's just in a 5 gallon bucket with a tight lid and an airlock at the moment. I racked it once when I removed the berries so it's pretty clear of any chunky stuff.

 

[Jim311]

I racked today and gravity is down to 1.012. There's still a fair bit of airlock activity so I guess it's just taking forever to finish fermenting! It's tasting really good too. Right now it's still a tiny bit sweet but very nice. Stoked to see if this one dries out or retains a little sweetness. I think if it dries out it will be excellent.