Stuck fermentation or ???

[yotetrapper]

Ok, this was my first attempt at making wine, blackberry.

I added the yeast about 30 hours after the campden tablet went in with the original ingredients. By the next morning it was bubbling furiously, and did so for about 5 days. On day 6, I racked it into the secondary. When I tasted it, it did NOT taste sweet... but had hardly no "bite"...or alcohol taste. I attached the airlock.... and NO bubbles. I'm confused because I thought when a fermentation was stuck, it would taste sweet.

I know someone is going to mention taking a hydrometer reading...but I do not have one. I will order one with my next order but I can't justify spending the shipping for just that at this time. Anyone have any ideas on whats going on here without knowing the specific gravity?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Hi yotetrapper: Only 5 days in primary seems a bit short to me, I take it you racked off of what lees there were in your primary vessel? I've had the same thing happen with a mead once, I learned to get some of the lees on purpose at 1st rack. Most wine yeast are sort of bottom fermenters & when you rack too soon & there's not enough yeast left in suspension, you can get a stuck fermentation. Not knowing your OG, nor your strain of yeast, I'd say you might have luck repitching your yeast & waiting a bit longer than 5 days; you could also try adding some yeast nutrient and/or energizer & give it a swirl or 2 to see if this gets it going again. Without a hydrometer you're just not going to know if it's actually fermented out or not, especially if it's a lower ABV wine. It could be that it's just mostly done, can't tell without knowing your OG, or at least how much sugar you added & what yeast strain you're using. Hope you find some of this info useful. Regards, GF.

 

[yotetrapper]

4 lbs berries
7 pints water
2 1/4 lb sugar
1/2 t acid blend
1/2 t pectic enzyme
1 t nutrient
1 campden tablet
1 pkg Red Star Montrachet

As far as what I could see/hear the wine stopped bubbling before I racked it. The recipe said to rack at day 5.. but I didnt get till it to day 6.

Thanks for your reply. I'll wait to see if you answer back or anyone else does then guess I will try repitching the yeast.

 

[KiRbY29869]

I'd say you probably had a fast ferment. A lot of my berry wines ferment really fast and are usually done or very close to done by secondary especially if you get busy doing something for a day or two. You can never know what ya got without a hydrometer though.

 

[Revvy]

Not knowing your OG, nor your strain of yeast, I'd say you might have luck repitching your yeast & waiting a bit longer than 5 days; you could also try adding some yeast nutrient and/or energizer & give it a swirl or 2 to see if this gets it going again. Without a hydrometer you're just not going to know if it's actually fermented out or not, especially if it's a lower ABV wine. It could be that it's just mostly done, can't tell without knowing your OG, or at least how much sugar you added & what yeast strain you're using. Hope you find some of this info useful. Regards, GF.

+1 to everything Gratus said EXCEPT the re-pitching....Don't take action without evaluation...assume everything is fine, and get a hydrometer asap. The wine can sit for the week it would take to order one online and have it delivered to you if there's no place nearby to get one...

Take a read of this...it's about beer, but it applies just as well to wine making.. http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/

When you're inexperienced it seems human nature to assume something's wrong becasue it doesn't match our expectaion or what we read in a book...BUT since we are dealing with living micro-organisms, they often don't behave the way we think they should...just like teenagers

As we say on the beer side, RDWHAHB.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

4 lbs berries
7 pints water
2 1/4 lb sugar
1/2 t acid blend
1/2 t pectic enzyme
1 t nutrient
1 campden tablet
1 pkg Red Star Montrachet

As far as what I could see/hear the wine stopped bubbling before I racked it. The recipe said to rack at day 5.. but I didnt get till it to day 6.

Thanks for your reply. I'll wait to see if you answer back or anyone else does then guess I will try repitching the yeast.

Kirby & revvy both have good points, especially revvy. It's either pretty much done, or it's not; either way, without the hydrometer, you won't know for sure. I'll have to play CPT Redundancy & say + 1 on what revvy said; next time I'll save the repitching idea for last. <LOL> Regards, GF.

 

[Yooper]

I always put my wines in secondary about day 5, or when the SG reaches 1.020 and the wine needs an airlock. Sometimes, when I check it, it already fermented out! I've had some wines be at .990 in only five days, so I'm pretty certain that your wine is just finished. It won't be sweet at all when it's finished, as the yeast eat the sugar to make alcohol.

As the others said (and you already know), without a hydrometer, though, you're just guessing about your alcohol content, the amount of sugar, and whether or not it's finished. My guess is that it's done!

 

[yotetrapper]

I was leaning towards thinking it was just done too, but didnt know if it could be done that soon. I think I'll consider it done, and order more supplies (including a hydromter) when I get my next paycheck. Thanks everyone!

 

[david_42]

Wines almost never get stuck, unless you try to boost the ABV too high and kill the yeast. It's probably done, but it can sit until you get a hydrometer.