Stuck again

[oogaboogachief]

What is the best yeast for a restart? I got a six gallon run with fairly high alcohol content but still 1035 on the hydrometer. Tried 1118 no luck. Mike

 

[PD]

Have you tried stirring it first ? how long has it been stuck ?

 

[alanywiseman.]

Need a bit more info. What are you brewing? What was your method? What was the OG and when did you start?

 

[Moley]

As Alan said, insufficient data, cannot compute.

What was the OG or how much sugar went into it?

 

[cnelsonplumber]

Are you re-hydrating your yeast before pitching?

 

[oogaboogachief]

18 lbs cherries
12 lb sugar
3 tsp enerziger
3 tsp nutrient.
water to fill six gallon


No hydrometer when I put it together so no og. It has been stuck there for a couple weeks now. Tried 1118 in a little warm water and spme sugar. Got it going good and slowly topped it up in a gallon jug with the stuck wine. After about six hrs it was going good so I added a half gallon of starter to carboy and stirred it in. Re topped the starter jug with wine from carboy and it killed starter and the stuck wine is still stuck. Mike

 

[Moley]

18lbs cherries would yield a maximum of 2lbs sugar.

14lbs sugar in 6 gallons would only give an OG of 1.085

I don't get it :wha:

 

[Casey76]

Just a daft suggestion... you did add 12lbs (5 and a half bags) and not 12kg (12 bags) of sugar, right? :wha:

 

[oogaboogachief]

12 pounds is correct. It never fermented good in the primary and was rather slow in the secondary as well. I talked with the HBS and he is sending me some 1116. My original question was What is the best yeast for a restart? Mike

 

[Casey76]

Well according to the blurb Lalvin 1118 or 1116 are good for restarting stuck fermentation, but have you also thought about Alcotec restart, which is supposedly good for stuck fermentations already up to 7% ABV

 

[oogaboogachief]

I had not thought or heard about that strain. If the 1116 dosen't do the trick I will be wanting to try something else. That is a lot of wine to use for blending. Today I drew off half gallon of the wine and set it aside. I took half gallon of apple juice and added a pack of 1116 let it sit for four hrs and then added to stuck batch. I am hoping this will get it jumped. Mike

 

[GREBO75]

do you have litmus strips or any other way to check the acidity? If the cherries were really ripe then maybe it's just not acidic enough for the yeasties to party properly.

 

[oogaboogachief]

No test strips. I do have acid blend i could add. I don't want to keep tossing stuff into the jug. I may end up with more crud in the bottom than wine up top. Mike

 

[GREBO75]

you could take off half a litre of so into a plastic bottle, add some lemon juice and see if it wakes up.

Or alternatively get some packs of litmus strips from ebay. They're about £3 inc postage for 2 packs of 80 strips, so cheap as chips :thumb:

 

[alanywiseman.]

Just to check are you using US or UK gallons?

I think that Gervins G3 yeast strain is a restart yeast. If I were you I would add more nutrient to it as well. I thought you should add 1 tsp per gallon and at the moment you are only up to half tsp per gallon.

Did you add a campden tablet when you created the must? did you ferment on the pulp straight away or was ther a 24-48 hour period where there was no yeast added and while you extracted the juice from the cherries? I ask as it may be possible (but very slime chance) that you have an infection the is killing off the new yeast that you are adding.

 

[oogaboogachief]

I did the c tabs five of them when I made up the must with fruit in the mesh bag. Left it till the next day in the bucket covered with a fine cloth and banded to keep the critters out. Pitched yeast the next afternoon and stirred a couple times a day for six days. Racked to the secondary on the seventh day. I think I did everything right so I don't know what the problem is. I think the re pitch may be going to work. I can see a few very small bubbles starting to rise. Mike

 

[oogaboogachief]

Bubbling away now.Finally drew off a full gallon and set it aside. Then made up a gallon jug of apple juice with about a half cup of brown sugar and and 1116 packet of yeast. This is sort of like apfelwein and it really goes fast, like two bubble a second. Added it to stuck batch and it is working again. I will either blend the cherry with another drier wine or maybe start off a skeeter pee and add it to that. Mike