MAGNUM wine kit: Dead still at 1.014 – give up or EC1118?

[James Burton]

Dead still at 1.014 – give up or EC1118?

Grape concentrate 6th November: following the recipe ‘7 – 10 days’ ready to drink instructions, which I have used before several times. “Mix 3.5 kgs sugar...top up concentrate to 22.5 litres...add yeast and nutrient, keep at around 25 degrees C.” My cupboard had half a kilo sugar left over from the 3.5 kgs in the recipe, so I threw that in, ending up with an SG of 1.085 – not too frightening, I thought, so off we went. By 27 November, lackadaisical fermentation had come to a halt. E C Kraus stepped in with his emergency ‘stuck starter’, and EC1118 started off well with lots of energetic bubbling up until 8th December, at which point, no bubbles on surface or in airlock and still 1.015. Not moved since then – do I give up (had the original over-sugar addition killed all hope of this batch fermenting out – and why?) or should I rack off the lees into a new container and go for another EC1118 starter?

 

[Dazzelknight]

Surprised by that EC1118 is usually a beast. Your SG isn’t too high for 1118 so should have zero’d that out.. Worth checking your hydrometer in water, it maybe giving you a false reading , check the use by date on packet ,, check ur juice packet maybe some unfermentable sweetener in there ? .. if not id rack and throw in another packet. Or sod it and drink it sweet.

 

[James Burton]

I've checked the hydrometer - 1.004 in tap or bottled water - so nothing amiss there. Expiry of pack of EC1118 is 2026, I've kept it in the fridge and rehydrated it according to instructions before adding to wine: as for drinking it sweet - I tasted it and its not unpleasantly sweet - and around 9.5%, I calculate - know what? I'll give it one more packet and if that fails, blend it with some mega-dry apple batch I've just completed. It struck me that the seller (Amazon) may not keep their stock under refrigeration - I've got a different batch in my fridge - I'll give that a go, and if a noticeable different result occurs, I'll post back for all to know.

 

[marshbrewer]

I appreciate tap water isn't pure, but 1.004 seems high to me, given it should read 1.000 in pure water?

 

[James Burton]

Hmm, its certainly worth taking that error into account - although it won't make much of a dent in my 'stuck' SG of 1.015. Another thought came to me: reading the yeast pack I see that a single pack is good for up to 23L. My Magnum kit makes up to a total of 22.5L which I calculated by the exterior markings on the plastic fermentor - maybe EC1118 was overwhelmed by the quantity. I'll experiment with a smaller liquid mass, say 15L, and see where that goes - if good, I can blend the remaining 7.5L and put it down to experience.