Fermenting seems stalled

Sounds good so far.

How did you determine the alchohol level?

I don't.

I think it's finished.

The difference between an initial gravity of 1.10 and a final gravity of 1.008 corresponds to an alcohol content of about 13%. The Montrachet yeast which you used has an alcohol tolerance of about 13%. I think your fermentation is finished, and the yeast died because the alcohol level is too high for them to survive.

There's an easy way to tell: drink a couple glasses of it, and see if you get a buzz.

I doubt you can, unless you use yeast with a higher alcohol tolerance.

Of course not. I told you a month ago that your fermentation is finished. The alcohol level is too high for even that yeast to survive.

That isn't going to change, no matter how much more champagne yeast you add.

That might help: EC-1118 tolerates up to 18% alcohol, so you'll probably get some fermentation. Very doubtful that you'll get it down to 1.000, though.

I still think you miscalculated your initial sugar levels, and added about twice as much as you should have.

Doug- So here is my initial ingredients and process:

7-13 Put 12.5 lbs rhubarb (cubed and frozen),12.5 lbs sugar, and 1 lb of raspberries in fermenter

7-14 Poured must into pulp bag (panty hose) in 2nd fermenter, Added 5 crushed capden tablets and 1.5 gal heated water. Stirred must. SG 1.12 -

16% Alcohol Potential (covered and put in pantry)

7-15 Add 1 pack of Montrachet yeast - sprinkled on top

7-16 Stirred must

7-17 Removed pulp bag and squeezed out juice - SG 1.12 before adding water, 1.10 after topping off. Covered with lid - loose.

I followed this recipe I found on the Rhubarb Consortium Website.

(I did not add the the yeast nutrient or grape tannin and substituted raspberries for the White Grape Concentrate)

12.50 lb Rhubarb (cubed)5.00 ga Water12.50 lb White granulated sugar5.00 ea Campden tablets50.00 oz White grape concentrate (optional)5.00 pk Montrachet wine yeast5.00 ts Yeast nutrient1.25 ts Grape tanninLet me know you thoughts, if I missed something or if something may have been flawed in my process.

I have enough rhubarb for 2 more batches, but I want to figure out the issue before starting another batch.

(I am guess>> Update:

... and that would be the problem right there. That's a LOT of sugar.

Fermenting one pound of sugar yields just over half a pound of alcohol.

If that 12.5 pounds of sugar had fermented completely, your five gallons of wine would contain almost a gallon of alcohol.

And that doesn't even account for the natural sugars present in the raspberries.

Bottom line is that the recipe you used is intended to produce either: a) a wine with very high residual sugar (which is what you have now), or b) rocket fuel (which is what you're going to have if you add EC-1118).

I think the best thing you can do at this point is to make another batch, using about 1/3 as much sugar, blend them, and adjust the sugar level to taste after blending.

I have started another batch with about half the sugar. Inital SG 1.054 to produce about 7% alcohol. It has fermented down to SG 0.992. I have just racked it into a glass carboy and will let it continue to ferment and settle.

So at what point should I blend it with my first batch? The first batch is now 3 months old and is just hanging out. I have not added stablizer yet but it has been done fermenting for a couple of months now. I have racked it a couple of times, last time being about 4 weeks ago.

Whenever you like, after it finishes fermentation.

Blend it in a wineglass first, not in a carboy -- that way, if you don't like the results, you've spoiled only one glass instead of ten gallons.

That also gives you the opportunity to blend in different proportions, to see what best suits your taste.