Wine kit shows no fermentation after 48 hours

[brianpablo]

Hi everyone - I stuck an Australian Cabernet RJS kit into a fermentation on Saturday night and it's still not showing any signs of life. I followed the instructions pretty much to the T, though may have slightly botched something at the end. I started with 4 liters of sanitized water, added bentonite, then added the juice and the oak shavings and a case of Genuwine skins. I then added a packet of EC-1118 and closed the bucket, but then realized there was a second package of Genuwine skins. So I opened it back up again, added the skins and closed it. I was concerned perhaps I had stirred up the yeast, in contradiction to the instructions that say "Do not stir." Right now all I see is a thin layer of white bubbles, which look more like the result of me having rocked the bucket and forth than of actual fermentation.

So should I
1) Leave it alone? This is often good advice, but in my last experience with EC-1118 it took off immediately
2) Break open a second kit I have by the same company and use that packet of EC-1118? I'm wondering if perhaps this kit sat around too long- I bought it in October, shipped it here by boat, and only got around to it now.
3) Add a package of 71B-1122, of which I have two in the fridge so they are in good condition. I see that yeast is usually used for white wine or mead.
4) Add a clean fermenting ale yeast like Safale-05, which I think can handle the gravity. I'm a bit hesitant on this option as I've never heard of this being used for wine.

Appreciate any thoughts. I'm not sure how much longer I can go before some kind of microbe finds its way in there. Thanks, Brian

 

[buMbLeB]

No experience with wine kits, but I use the same yeast and I don't think stirring hurts it. If the bubbles persist or regenerate that sounds more like yeast than rocking the bucket. Lastly, yeast can certainly live longer than three months, unless you suspect it sat on the shelf a while beforehand.

One question though: what is "sanitized water"?

My totally unqualified opinion is to go with #2 or #3, yeast is cheap and it shouldn't hurt. But you might be fine anyway.

 

[brianpablo]

Sure, that's fairly clumsy phrasing. I meant to say that it was water that had been boiled and then cooled.

I had this shipped by boat in relatively hot weather, so I'd wonder if the yeast were damaged in the process. I could add the yeast from the other kit, but it went through more or less the same conditions and could have the same problems. I'll probably have to decide more or less by tomorrow because I don't think it will last much longer.

 

[buMbLeB]

Ah got it, I do the same thing all the time so it can't be the boiling. The hot weather though, that's something else - the yeasts are meant to be kept refrigerated and it's not hard to imagine them getting overheated in transit on a boat going to South America. I'm now strongly leaning towards #3, but if you're giving it until tomorrow it might just kick in by itself.

 

[Yooper]

Can you grab a long handled spoon or something and sanitize it and stir up the must? If you have bubbles coming to the surface when you do that, it's fermenting.

 

[brianpablo]

I checked it again just now and there was a small amount of white bubbles on top, but nothing like the massive head of foam I remember from my last wine kit (which also came to me on a boat). The foam pretty much dissipated, but I think I'll leave it until tonight when I get back from work. At that point if there's not significant activity I'd consider adding the 71B-1122. My only questions on that would be if there's any concern about adding a white wine yeast to a cabernet. With all that oak and wine skin I'd guess the yeast wouldn't change the flavor a huge amount, but I thought it was worth at least asking.

 

[Yooper]

I checked it again just now and there was a small amount of white bubbles on top, but nothing like the massive head of foam I remember from my last wine kit (which also came to me on a boat). The foam pretty much dissipated, but I think I'll leave it until tonight when I get back from work. At that point if there's not significant activity I'd consider adding the 71B-1122. My only questions on that would be if there's any concern about adding a white wine yeast to a cabernet. With all that oak and wine skin I'd guess the yeast wouldn't change the flavor a huge amount, but I thought it was worth at least asking.

It''s more rare that you'd get a massive krausen on a wine then not having one. Some wines don't show any foam at all, just bubbling when stirred. If you stir it, and it releases little bubbles, it's perfectly fine.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Boiling the water is kind of a waste of time. The high sugar concentrations in wine must render it quite sterile.

 

[Chef-Ryan]

Listen to the wine, you will hear the bubbles. (I am serious). Yeast can be stirred and actually need oxygen to do its thing (this is the simplest way to describe the process). I don't mean to hijack but I wonder this on seeing so many people just adding the dry yeast to their must or juice. Why don't people build a small starter first? It always shows the activity of the yeast and only takes an hour ( and 50+ minutes of that is just waiting)