Ribena wine in the blue

[robin]

:whistle: Hi, we have a problem with our ribena wine. Unfortunately didn't take reading when we started which was 5th July 2011, so today decided to take reading and our hydrometer stopped in the blue at around 70. It fermented lovely, plenty of bubbles, followed recipe exactly.
Not sure what to do next, some forums we have read suggest adding water is this correct?
Would appreciate a bit of advice thanks, first timers

 

[fran]

i had the same problem with mine i went to the home brew shop and bought a yeast wich is good for restarting stuck ferments but unfortunately it didnt work then i realised that my yeasties had died because i calculated the sugar wrong and they died of alcohol poisoning so i followed advice given on here wich was to make a yeast starter wich consists of water and sugar and yeast and let it start fermenting then slowly add the stuck ribena wine a little each day until it ferments out
that worked

if i remember right the sugar content was based on a diluted serving not on the undiluted volume so i loaded way too much sugar in so i had to dilute it a lot 2 litres i think but it still came out good

 

[Moley]

Which recipe did you follow? 1.070 doesn't sound like it has done much at all.

 

[robin]

Here is the recipe we followed:
12oz Ribena
1.5kg sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
one third teaspoon citric acid
Pinch yeast nutrient
Added water up to neck.
We dissolved sugar in ribena and when boiling turned down to simmer for 10 mins. Cooled it down and when cool enough added yeast and other ingredients. Gave it a good shake and put airlock in. Started to ferment within a day and bubbled away nicely. Week later topped up with water to neck and then left to ferment still bubbling weeks later until last week when it slowed right down. Thought we should be doing something but trouble is recipes you find just say leave it at that and say ferment as usual, as newbies are then at a loss. Read up other forums and they said to rack it adding ct but we thought we would take a reading and now we are stuck, surely after all this time the wine isn't stuck. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Moley]

Ok, well you've got a pretty serious amount of sugar in there, about 1,685g in total, so if that's in 1 gallon it would have given you an OG around 1.135

What yeast did you use?


Sorry, I don't make many cordial wines, I find them far more trouble than they are worth (although I will use cordials for back-sweetening dry wines, where appropriate).

 

[screamlead]

That sounds like the CJJ Berry recipe? just done that one earlier today with Britvic Blackcurrant juice, boiled for 20 mins though then added sugar to dissolve.
Smidge of citric acid, nutrient and youngs super wine yeast compound and i chucked in a tspoon of pectolase just in case.

 

[robin]

We used Young's yeast. Hasn't anyone any good suggestions as to what to do with it - no rude remarks please :grin:

 

[Moley]

Here you go, I've found an old topic on stuck wines and slow starters and I've moved it to the winemaking “how to” guides.

 

[robin]

Thanks but we are a bit confused as this has been fermenting for nearly two months, (5/7/11) are you saying that this is now stuck and needs to be started again. :wha:

 

[Moley]

It might not have stopped, but it certainly isn't going very fast if you're sure about that gravity reading, a 65 point drop in 7 weeks is rather pathetic.

Get some fresh yeasties on the job :thumb:

 

[robin]

So we have put into a new dj and put yeast in and we will wait and see what happens. Thanks for all the advice. :pray:

 

[Moley]

I give up, that is NOT what I advised :nono:

Yeasties make alcohol, but they don't actually like alcohol, in fact they are swimming in their own waste products and eventually it kills them.

Throw fresh yeasties into 9% alcohol and they are are likely to say “Whoa! WTF is this?” and turn up their tootsies straight away. You've got to get them used to the idea gradually by doubling and doubling and doubling.

Chuck it down the sink now, make a Basic White to the Wurzel's Orange method but using apple juice in place of orange juice, and then sweeten with Ribena if you want a blackcurrenty vino pinko.

 

[Anbhás]

I've just finished bottling a ribena wine. It smells like ribena and there is no taste. I wouldn't recommend ever making ribena wine. It's also brown ( I used dark muscova sugar :whistle: ). I will let it age but I have my doubts on wheter it will improve or not.

 

[Moley]

If you want a Ribena wine which actually tastes much of Ribena, whether blackcurrent or strawberry, make a Basic White to the Wurzel's Orange method but using apple juice in place of the orange, and then back-sweeten with the Ribena.