Wild Fermentation started even with sulfites

[Hannabrew]

I received 3 6G buckets of juice Saturday evening and due to unrelated reasons, had to wait until Sunday evening to dose each with 2g of meta. I was planning on pitching yeast Monday evening but unfortunately the delivery was delayed.

I went to go check the buckets this morning and one of the 3 is already fermenting. WTF!

The other two seem to be fine.

Should I add some more sulfites in hopes that it can check whatever is in there and then pitch a large batch of my preferred yeast when it arrives tomorrow?

 

[Coffee49]

I believe your juice hit 30 C for a specific time period. I ordered juices from a local brew store and I believe they were not refrigerated. Once past a point, the juice has been oxidized and it will have a brown tint after primary fermenting, I had to dump a white Zinfandel, my chianti has a fiz ring at the top after going through primary and second rack,I hit it with so2 am going to let it go for 6 months and cross my fingers, that is what we experience when wining.

 

[dvi]

Had this happen to me as well, almost exactly as you described! Picked up 6 gallons of juice on Sunday, split them into two 3-gallon batches so I have an easier time fermenting, and dosed each with metabisulfites to kill any wild yeast. Checked on the buckets this afternoon and both were very actively fermenting, even though only 26 hours had passed. I'm convinced the wine must was already in active fermentation when I picked it up, but had paused due to cold storage, and re-awoke the moment I let it return to room temp.

I still pitched my wine yeast, which has an active competitive factor and should hopefully overtake the wild yeast, but am mildly upset over it. Out of curiosity, what was the company that your wine juice originated from? It wasn't Bello Chilean wine juice, was it?

 

[Hannabrew]

Yes sir it was...perfect brewing?

 

[dvi]

Keystone Homebrew for me. Looks like we had the same issue with Gallo though. I actually contacted the supplier today to inquire if they pre-inoculate the must before shipment. That's the only explanation I can think of as to why a spontaneous ferment happened so quickly after using sulfites.

 

[Hannabrew]

According to the LHBS I bought from, they used to but didn't inoculate this year as they had an issue recently with a broke-down truck and fully fermented buckets.

I did the same as you and pitched my preferred yeast and it took over. I tasted the wine before I pitched and didn't detect anything too off so hoping all is well. Unfortunately due to shipping delays with the yeast I purchased, I wasn't able to pitch until last Thursday (noticed fermentation on Sunday am)!

What buckets did you get? I got the Sav Blanc, Carmenere, and Cab Franc. The first two were fermenting more than the Franc

 

[dvi]

I went with Cabernet Sauvignon since I have a fondness for big reds. I actually spoke with the supplier this morning. They said that they didn't inoculate but that they use EC-1118 around their winery and it is possible that some of the yeast ended up in the grape juice by accident. That lines up perfectly with the aggressive ferment I'm seeing, and I'm guessing that's probably what happened with your batches too.

EC isn't ideal for reds, but hopefully it will pair well with your whites! I'll be interested in seeing how our Cabs turn out.