Hi all,
just making the switch from beer to wine. I started out with hard cider.
I sanitized everything.
added 5 gallons of cider and 5 crushed campden tabs.
covered and airlocked and left for 24 hrs.
rehydrated yeast and added it.
stirred covered and airlocked aroun 60 degrees F.
12 hrs later I had no bubbles.
I remembered that I forgot to add the yeast nutrient. When I get home from work, I expect it will be bubbling. should I break the airlock to add the yeast nutrient?
any other tips?
thanks very much for you time.
-b


Tags: when to use yeast nutrient beer brewing, wine making nutrient, wine started to ferment again after adding finings

One thing that is different between making beer and wine is the necessity for not breaking the airlock in beer but that being OK when making wine. Check out this post which talks about different peoples methods of stirring wine while its fermenting.

stirring-fermenting-wine-stirring-while-transfering-wine-t864.html

I think you would be very safe adding some yeast nutrient to your wine at this point as you'll probably want to break the airlock anyway to stir the wine. Take it easy, it's good to have you at Brewer's Roundtable.

60 degrees may be a little cool. I would like to be up about 68 to 70 degrees to start my fermentation. I like to use yeast nutrient but your wine should be fine without it. Montrachet yeast tends to build hydrogen sulphide without yeast nutrient. When I start my wine fermentation I never use an airlock. I just throw a muslin cloth over the primary. I stir twice a day starting 24 hours after the yeast has started and transfer to secondary at about 1.030 to 1.020 SG. If you transfer too quickly you can overflow the air lock. If you transfer too late your wine can have other problems.

Thanks for your replies! I really appreciate your taking time.
I moved it into a room that is 65F and added yeast nutrient.
we are now at 36 hrs and no bubbles through the airlock. Is that normal? should I repitch the yeast. (I activated the yeast in a bowl I had sanitized and am now worried that I killed the yeast.)
should me must be ok if the campdens were added 2 days ago and fermentation does not seem to have started?
are there any problems associated with repitching yeast?
I know that I might be being neurotic. I am a little jumpy because I lost my last batch of beer to mold after 4 successful brews

65 degrees may still be a little cool. OK on the yeast nutrient. When you stir make sure you use clean utensils. I have a 10 gallon food grade trash can I use for a primary. I leave my stirring utensil inside the primary and keep it all covered with muslin and use a shock cord to hold the muslin in place. If you use the Farmtech wine thief you can also leave that inside the primary. The hydrometer goes inside the Farmtech wine thief. Makes it easy to take samples twice a day to measure SG when you stir. You may have to pitch more yeast. Leaving it too long with fermentation can allow it to spoil.

Buy some Premier Cuv'ee yeast sprinkle on top. Stir it in after 24 hours. At this point you may also want to use some yeast energizer.

When I start out my wine I set the SG by adding sugar, set the acid, add yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, crushed campden, allow to set for 24 hours. Stir in yeast energizer, sprinkle yeast on top, let set for 24 hours, then start stirring twice a day until you get down to 1.020 to 1.030 SG, then transfer to your secondary.

What's hard cider...?? Are you taking something already at an alcohol level and trying to make wine from it?

My worst case senario was really bad... You could try this.. Take a fresh batch of yeast, and get it fermenting in a glass of water with a bit of sugar, until the SG goes about half way down. Add a bit of your mix, only 50 % or so, then when that ferments down to 1.040, add a bit more, and when that ferments....etc... After a day or two, you should be able to be putting in a gallon of your mix at once, then when that ferments down to 1.040 again, dump it into what you have left in the primary. It should start then, and you should be fine.

oysterr51 wrote:What's hard cider...?? Are you taking something already at an alcohol level and trying to make wine from it?

My worst case senario was really bad... You could try this.. Take a fresh batch of yeast, and get it fermenting in a glass of water with a bit of sugar, until the SG goes about half way down. Add a bit of your mix, only 50 % or so, then when that ferments down to 1.040, add a bit more, and when that ferments....etc... After a day or two, you should be able to be putting in a gallon of your mix at once, then when that ferments down to 1.040 again, dump it into what you have left in the primary. It should start then, and you should be fine.

When they are referring to hard cider they ferment apple juice but limit the alcohol to 10% or so and sometimes bottle it with some sparkle. They don't ferment it out to 13% like a dry apple wine.