Help identifying my mistake, please!

[Athelstane]

Hello, am new and posting in distress...

I've started a 23L bucket of wine off - 4kg of elderberries and another 2kg of mixed blackberry, blackcurrant, plum, sloe and haw. Added pectolase, nutrient, half a lemon and a banana at the appropriate times (don't ask; I read too many recommendations online and got a bit confused...).

Left it on the mush a bit longer than I should have - about ten days - but have racked it now and the fermentation seems to have ground to a halt. The SG started off about 1080 I think (it was jammed in through the fruit which may have buggered up the reading) and was at 1010 three days ago when I racked it. I THINK it's still alive - although there's only a lacklustre bubble through the airlock about once every couple of hours - but the SG is STILL 1010 three days later so it's not doing much.

I tasted it and it's pretty stringent (left the fruit in too long) but with a vaguely sweet undertaste - but it can't be done at 1010, surely? So the question is - do I exercise some patience and sit on my hands for another week or so and remeasure then, or should I try and gee the fermentation up a bit now - and if so, how?

Grateful for any advice!

 

[oldbloke]

Deffo not done at 1010. You may have left most of the yeast colony behind when you racked and it needs building up again. Maybe add a little more nutrient?
Is it warm enough? Going a bit warmer than standard just for a few hours may help it kick off again.
And give it a bit of a shake.

 

[graysalchemy]

The astringency will be from the elderberries. Elderberry wine is best after a couple of years in the bottle it is not a quick wine, but when it is ready it is a wonderful wine which keeps getting better.

 

[Athelstane]

Thank you!

Grays - I'm not too worried at the tartness, as it will probably fade, as you say.

Bloke - I thought the yeast just sort of bobbed about evenly throughout the bucket? I didn't realise it lurked at the bottom. I have shaken it a few times; I've also added another teaspoon of nutrient (is that a little, or a lot?) - it did go crazy for two minutes, but then just about stopped again, so I think all the rummaging about was probably just degassing the liquid rather than starting it up again.

I have a brew belt round it as I'm in a permanently chilly stone house. What to do, what to do? Wait and hope? Or try and introduce another yeast starter?

 

[KevinH]

The astringency will be from the elderberries. Elderberry wine is best after a couple of years in the bottle it is not a quick wine, but when it is ready it is a wonderful wine which keeps getting better.

You are responsible for me now deciding to strip another four elderberry trees in the next day or two....my wife will be mad; I still haven't decorated the bedroom since I started making wine.....

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

My OH is getting similarly distressed at the amount of time I spend on brewing. I keep telling her it's just 'that time of year' as everythign is coming into season.

Little does she know that I'll kick off with the WOWs as soon as winter kicks in...

 

[oldbloke]

The astringency will be from the elderberries. Elderberry wine is best after a couple of years in the bottle it is not a quick wine, but when it is ready it is a wonderful wine which keeps getting better.

You are responsible for me now deciding to strip another four elderberry trees in the next day or two....my wife will be mad; I still haven't decorated the bedroom since I started making wine.....

I've been painting a stairwell all week... And I really could do with bottling that nettle...
The elders are only just coming in here. Luckily, as I'm down to 1 free demi and lock.

 

[oldbloke]

Bloke - I thought the yeast just sort of bobbed about evenly throughout the bucket? I didn't realise it lurked at the bottom.

There's always some throughout the brew, but some yeasts do lurk a bit, I think. That idea was a longshot 'maybe'.
The activity you note was almost certainly just gassing out, tempted to say try another gravity reading now that gas has gone but you said it was a bit sweet to the taste so clearly not done.
Now you've given it some nutrient, give it a couple of days and see if it picks up.

 

[Boatbrewer]

You dont mention sugar in your mix, did you put any in?

 

[Athelstane]

Yes! Sorry. 6.5kg. In two stages - 2kg to begin, and another 4.5 a few days later. It was having a hilarious old time of it for about 8 days, slowed a little so I racked on the 10th day (lazy, I know), and now is down to about a bubble per hour.

The reason I seem quite agitated over probably-not-a-big-deal is that the last one I tried (last Autumn) did exactly the same - went happily enough for about 2 weeks and then died entirely in sight of the finishing line (around 1010 for that one too).

 

[oldbloke]

Ah, well, I make that at least half a kilo too much sugar, maybe more, for a dry wine. So the FG is going to be high and the wine's going to be sweet.
Mind you I worked this out on the back of an old envelope, quickly, without checking anything, and it's late and I'm tired.

 

[Athelstane]

Doh. Thank you, though.

It was the recommended amount from the instructions I had in the very first kit I used the other year - you think less for a 23 litre bucket brew?

As a last resort I've started a higher tolerance yeast off and am gradually adding the wine to that - it might crawl through another few lines on the hydrometer at least. I've doubled and doubled to nearly a gallon and that's burping away quite happily at present in a demi-john. I've give it until tomorrow and then put it back in with the rest.

 

[oldbloke]

Aiming for about 13% I do about 1.2 or 1.25kg per gallon, which in 5gallons (22.5l) is 6 to 6.3kg
Which looks like you're only 200g over, but you also have 6kg of fruit at at least 5% sugar for another 300g
Which implies about 18% dry, which most yeasts will struggle to reach, or a bit lower at medium or sweet.
I think I'd have accepted I'd made a sweet(ish) wine rather than make something overly strong, but hey.

 

[Athelstane]

Blimey, I don't want 18%! I want wine.

I tried that formula thing for SG readings, and it came out at just over 8% alcohol, so just too high to bung a restart yeast in (as some of them claim you can, I've not tried it). I'm hoping the higher tolerance yeast will give me a few more days and get up to about 10%, which I'd be perfectly happy with. Not so keen on sweeter wine, but I'm bound to make something tooth-puckeringly sour from all the raspberries I have frozen, so some sort of Frankensteinmix might be the way forward.

 

[godfrey]

Vintners Harvest SN9 has a good tolerance to alcohol and is a great restarter yeast

if there is enough sugar to bring it to 18% it will take you there and ferment out dry

you could always dilute if the alcohol is to high after fermentation.
waitrose have a deal on the merlot 100% grape juice :thumb:

 

[Athelstane]

Not dared tip the demi-john back in the bucket yet... it's full today and struggling a little so I'll have to be brave.