Slow plum wine

[Sadu]

Hi everyone, sorry in advance for posting this noob question.

I have a plum wine brewing (fresh plums, everything else from a kit), it's been 3 weeks and gravity has dropped from 1.115 to 1.060 - I was expecting it to be done but the airlock and gravity reading says otherwise.

I'm not having a panic or anything, just wanted to see if this is in the realms of normal or if something needs to be done. I'm used to beers hitting FG within a week. This has been fermenting in a temp controlled chamber at 67f. The kit said to ferment at room temperature but don't say what that actually means (gotta love vague instructions).

Do I check back in another couple of weeks or should I be repitching some more champagne yeast?

I have no idea about the quality of the original yeast.

 

[Yooper]

That is super slow. I generally hit FG within about 5-7 days when I make wine, sometimes a week if it's cool in the room.

I've never heard of a kit with plums. Plums can be very acidic, and that could be an issue. You can try checking the acidity if you have a titration kit, but if not some yeast nutrient would be helpful either way.

 

[Sadu]

Thanks Yooper. So not a normal fermentation then.

You may be correct about the plums - they are dark plums and definitely tasted on the tart end of the spectrum. The kit specifically listed plums as one of the fruits that it can be used with and the recipe is 2kg of plums + 1.2kg sugar for 5 liters into the fermentor.

It's possible that I underpitched - I bought a 25 liter kit and divided everything by 5 to make 5 liters. Last time I bought yeast the HBS lady said to use one pack of yeast for either a small 5 liter batch like this or a full 25 liter batch. Seemed like weird advice at the time but maybe there was something important I missed there.

I think I'll rehydrate some champagne yeast and repitch with some yeast nutrient, I have both of those on-hand.

 

[bernardsmith]

But beers are not normally around 15 % ABV, are they? What was the kit? What was the yeast you pitched? The temperature? Is the only fruit the plums? Did the kit call for any nutrients?

 

[Sadu]

But beers are not normally around 15 % ABV, are they?

True, which is why I'm asking around here. I'm new to winemaking and don't have much reference on what "normal" looks like.

What was the kit? What was the yeast you pitched? The temperature? Is the only fruit the plums? Did the kit call for any nutrients?

The kit is called "Better Brew Hedgerow wine kit".
It comes with yeast and nutrient in a sachet but doesn't say what yeast it is.
Fermented at 19c/67f in temp controlled environment.
Plums from the tree (2kg) plus table sugar (1.2kg) for the fermentables (5 liter batch) as per the kit instructions.
Followed the kit instructions to the letter, aside from the fermentation temperature where they just say "room temperature". Kit says fermentation should take 2 weeks or slightly longer.

Thanks for reading.

 

[buMbLeB]

On the one hand that seems really slow. On the other hand, I almost never achieve FG as fast as Yooper suggests - ie apple cider typically gets pulled around 1.003 and this can take ~7-10 days, and that's not fully done at that point. On the third hand (on the internet, no one knows you have three hands) I've had apricot fruit wine continue bubbling for maybe 2 months or more.

But I definitely agree with throwing in some more nutrient/ energizer. I've also never gone as high for a starting gravity, so maybe the sugar concentration threw the yeast a curveball? I've read suggestions to the effect of starting a new yeast starter and then throwing that in, but I can't recommend it because I've never done it. Maybe something to think about?

 

[bernardsmith]

Right, but if Sadu does not know what yeast was in the kit then adding a new yeast may itself be a problem as some yeasts are killer strains - that is to say they will in fact destroy the yeasts that are present by creating an environment in which they cannot thrive while creating an environment for themselves that favors them. Champagne yeasts are noted for that BUT champagne yeasts typically strip almost all flavor from the fruit.
One possible option that Sadu might take is to whip some air into the wine. It is possible that the yeast were shortchanged O2 from the water and so they failed to develop healthy cell walls (and failed to bud- reproduce in the early hours after pitching). Many wine makers (not brewers) aerate during active fermentation... in part to ensure that the yeast have enough O2 and in part to remove CO2 which inhibits fermentation (again, you are not brewing a beer at 4-6% ABV) and which increases the acidity of the liquor (at a pH of close to 3 yeast typically can not uptake any sugar).
So, the next thing to try might be more nutrients (to provide more organic nitrogen, for example) and more oxygen...

 

[jonereb]

I'm getting ready to bottle plum wine that I started last summer. Looking back over my notes, the wine reached 1.000 gravity within 5 days. I used 71B yeast.

 

[Sadu]

I pitched more yeast and more nutrient and its down to 1.053 now. Definitely a slow ride. The wine tastes very tart and sour - moreso than the Berliner weisse that I brewed recently. I guess the fruit was tart and that is reflected here. It doesn't actually taste bad, has a sweet'n'sour thing going on. I guess if yeast don't like the low pH then this would explain the slow ferment. I know for next time. Airlock is still going strong so maybe it finishes out in a few more weeks and not a dumper