blackberry wine, slow ferment.

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Never used blackberries, but my post will at least bring it to the top for ya. Hopefully you can get yooper, solstice or another top dog in here to help.
 
I see you used acid blend. Do you know your pH? Yeast will stall if must too acidic. I may be having the same problem right now with my Blackberry Mead using the same yeast! Got a pH tester on order!
 
I'm in the same boat, no test kit as of yet.

the must tastes fine, negligible tartness, the last sample I tasted was at 1.060 so still pretty sweet. it leaves me wondering if it's low in acid but if I'm wrong and add acid, there goes the show. :drunk:
 
Boy, I don't know. I've never had a slow ferment with blackberry wine. I've never used corn syrup, though- maybe there is some preservative in it, or something else the yeast are struggling with? A liter of corn syrup and only a pound of blackberries sounds kind of weird to me. I'd use 3-4 pounds of blackberries, and no corn syrup. Too late now, though.

Keep it warm, and just allow it to keep going. You can add some yeast nutrient if you have it. Stir the heck out of it several times a day, to keep some oxygen in there and keep the yeast from getting sluggish and falling out.
 
that's the strange thing, I topped the cider off with corn syrup and it took off fine. the corn syrup bit was me hunting the local grocer's for glucose/fructose and corn syrup was it. the only thing listed on it that could explain it is salt which was listed at 30mg/30ml so a litre would be 1g/l which is pretty weak in a 3 1/2 litre, works out to 0.29g/l. maybe that's saline enough to cause problems? I'm pretty doubtful, considering salt is pretty common in bread.

I'm wondering if the fruit was treated, the little pad in the bottom of the container might have something to inhibit spoilage?
 
You can use table sugar in wine, with no problem. I'm at a loss to explain why it's so sluggish. If you stir several times a day, and give it some nutrients, it should be going gangbusters.
 
Too late to make another starter with diluted must?

I have a black/blue/elderberry port that is about 2 months old now, and made a dilute starter from the black/blueberry must a couple days ahead of pitching. It was going nuts. I also used some bananas to assist the yeast since they seem to love the stuff.

Some warmth, stirring are probably best at first. But, fishing some must out and diluting it w/more sugars, letting it reproduce a bit, then re-pitching might also help...?
 
Salt can slow your ferment. I'm betting on that, as every blackberry batch I've done has been explosive.
 
it's still percolating away, last OG was 1.050 middle of last week. I tasted it sunday, nice, light blackberry flavour and still pretty sweet. I was planning a secondary feeding to boost ABV further but adding more of the same won't do. this is my thinking, since I have about a cup of extra room in the fermenter.

wait for gravity to drop into the 1.030-1.040 range,
juice another package of berries,
mix juice, water and table sugar,
rack into a new fermenter,
kick everything together and repitch.

hopefully a little dilution will get things going again. :tank:
 
If your OG was 1.090, I wouldn't add more fementables. Unless you want a rocket fuel flavor with a hint of berry (due to the low amount of berries and the high amount of simple sugars). You've pretty much stressed the yeast already- I'd suggest not adding anything to hit to further stress it and let it finish up. It's on track to finish at 13% ABV. It's going to be a bit "hot" as it is. Boosting the ABV will make it even "hotter" tasting without much else going for it. I'd leave it alone and let it finish.
 
I just came back from measuring it's gravity, it's stalled again and is starting to clear. it's looking like my options are fight with it or go to the store for the berries and water I'll need to dilute it to a 3 gal batch.

since it's still at 1.050, should I mix the extra 2 gallons at 1.075 to start or at 1.050 and add sugar later. shooting for 10% ABV and good fermentation?
 
I just came back from measuring it's gravity, it's stalled again and is starting to clear. it's looking like my options are fight with it or go to the store for the berries and water I'll need to dilute it to a 3 gal batch.

since it's still at 1.050, should I mix the extra 2 gallons at 1.075 to start or at 1.050 and add sugar later. shooting for 10% ABV and good fermentation?

How long has it been at 1.050? If it's only been a few days, I'd keep it somewhere warmer and let it go.
 
it was at 1.050 for five days, I turned it into a 3 gallon batch last night and repitched it, I had just enough table sugar to reach 1.050 on the additional must and upped the berry factor too. I'll check it's gravity this weekend unless it significantly takes off.

hopefully the solution to my problem was to make more whine! :p
 
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