200 Litre barrel of Elderflower stopped fermenting

[rob brewer]

I have been making Elderflower wine in a 200 litre drum. It was going crazy for the first 7 days with the first stage fermentation due to the hot weather. I have now transferred it to an airlocked container. I think I know what has happenned, fermentation has finished. What my question is, is it ok that it will not ferment during the second stage? Or do I need to restart fermentation in the airlocked container?

 

[Smod]

200 litre barrel !! :shock: :shock:

 

[ano]

Was this your first go? Did you take any hydrometer readings to judge the fermentation by? It's fine if it's finished fermenting although I would be surprised, did you pitch any extra yeast or leave it to the wild stuff?

 

[leondz]

It may be stuck a little. Have a taste, and give it a while - there's bound to be at least some gas being produced by it, though the first week is usually vastly busier than any subsequent time. Take hydrometer readings (corrected for temperature) daily and if it's the same three days on the trot, it's stopped for some reason. It may have finished, or it may have ended prematurely. You'd be looking for an FG of around 0990-0996.

If you'd like to restart it, something like Gervin Champagne Yeast (GV3) would be perfect. You could mix up a starter in a big bucket; dissolve some sugar (not sure how much - maybe enough to bring your SG to around 1020), and yeast nutrient (20 teaspoons) in warmed dechlorinated water, and when it's cooled to 20-25°C, add the champagne yeast, then cover. After a few hours you should be bubbling away like there's no tomorrow; give it a final stir and mix in with your elderflower. As you could need a fair bit of sugar, you might like to add most of the sugar to the stuck wine, and only use a kilo or two in the starter.

That's my opinion anyway :) Hope this helps!

 

[rob brewer]

I have taken a hydrometer reading and it has stopped fermenting. A guy in local brew shop said the secondary fermentation period is not needed to produce a good wine. He said just to clear in now. In reply to the question about the yeast I used a general purpose yeast rather than leaving it to nature.