Hi everyone
I am making gooseberry wine and have just added the sugar, yeast and nutrient to the must, and transferred it to a demijohn. I started the yeast in a starter bottle, as recommended on the packet, but now it has been added to the rest of the ingredients, there is nothing happening! Is this normal? does it just take a while to get going? If the yeast has died, can I add more yeast or will this batch be ruined?
Any help or advice gratefully received
Thanks
Annette
Annette -
It may take a day or two to see much visible activity, as the yeast will reproduce up to some saturation level, before they direct most of their energies to fermentation. During this reproduction phase, you won't see a lot of activity.
Yeast also can take some time to adjust from one environment to another. If your starter was appreciably different from the must in terms of temperature or sugar levels, it might take the yeast an extra day or two to adjust.
Was the starter actively fermenting ? If so, and the must was not particularly hot or cold when the yeast was added (somewhere near "room temperature"), you should be fine. I wouldn't worry much about it until about day #3 or so. If you still don't see any indication of activity at that point (no yeast in evidence floating on top, no evidence of any bubbling), you may have a problem, but it's not fatal.
If you still don't see any visible signs by day #3 or #4, read the suggestions on the following web sites on "Stuck Fermentation" and "Fermentation Won't Start" :
It's very unlikely that your batch is ruined. Most likely your first yeast starter will work fine, just a little slower than you expected. If not, a little more patience and effort may be required, but that's about all. The resulting wine should be just fine in either case.
Happy fermenting --
Doug
i'm only on my 6th batch or so myself, but i've had some wines that start slow, sometimes a day or two before they start bubbling. how much sugar have you added? if it's too much, it might've overwhelmed the yeast. maybe try a good vigorous whisking? starting yeast needs lots of oxygen...
Saul Sabia saul_sabia@yaho[o].com
That could be normal, sometimes it takes a few days to get started. If your temperature is between 15 C and 30 C you should be ok. Yeast goes dormant if too cold and dies off if too hot. You can add more yeast with no issues, normally you wait for the starter to get fermenting vigorously before adding it in to the rest of the batch.
Regards, Joe
Was the yeast sufficient for the amount of must in the demijohn? Most yeasts are good for up to 6 gallons, but IIRC, demijohns can be more than that. If so, it could be taking a while to get going unless you do add a second package.
Also, I've found that some yeasts are slower starters than others. I always put in 2 packages of yeast if I plan on using Lalvin D-47, because it starts slowly (takes up to 3 days to get going, rather than the 24 hours I've experienced with other types).
Woods
Be patient. It takes awhile to get going. Give it a day or two.
Tom S
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