Re: Follow up..Newbie wine making help..

Hi Nancy,

That seems an awful lot of sugar for 24 fluid ounces (.1875 gallon) of juice.

[Too much sugar will definitely cause your fermentation to stick. The more sugar, the more alcohol, and as soon as the alcohol reaches a certain level, it kills the yeast].

Or do you mean 2-12oz cans of grape-juice concentrate to which you subsequently added water? If so, and assuming a 3:1 reconstitution, you had 96 oz of juice = 3/4 gallon juice. Welches juice is generally about 15% sugar, so you would need to add a little over 8 ounces of sugar to reach an SG of 1.095, and a potential alcohol of 12-13%. [There are multiple forumulas for this, each yielding a different result, thus the wide range.]

In either case, if you added 3 cups of sugar, you added far to much (or I've made a mistake in my calculations). Did you use a recipe?

If the water was too hot, you would have killed the yeast, and fermentation would never have started. However, in future measure the water temperature with a thermometer BEFORE adding the yeast, and shoot for 95ºF (36ºC) [or whatever the yeast manufacturer recommends].

Did you add campden tablets or metabisulphite? Welch's already has a fairly high sulphite level (200ppm is what they told me), and it is unnecessary (and undesireable) to add more at the beginning of fermentation. This will stun (and possibly kill some of) the yeast.

This might delay (and possibly prevent) the onset of fermentation, but it shouldn't cause it to stick later. In future, if you add campden tablets, it's a good idea to wait at least 12 hours before pitching the yeast.

It's also a good idea to prepare a yeast starter so that you know the yeast is good, and so the yeast colony has a chance to grow before being exposed to the "harshness" of the must. To do so:

1) Put about 1/4 cup of warm (95ºF/36ºC) water in a glass container. 2) Sprinkle the dry yeast on top, and swish the water around. 3) After about five minutes (when the yeast should be sufficiently rehydrated), add 1/4 cup of juice, a dash of DAP (diammonium phosphate) or yeast energizer, and swish it around again. 4) Cover it with muslin or tissue paper with a rubber band to hold it in place 5) After about 5-10 minutes, you should have a foamy yeast mixture. If you do not, the yeast is probably bad

Another "mistake". In general, you should cover the primary LOOSELY (with muslin, or some other pourous material) --- just enough to keep insects and dust out --- during the initial fermentation. Yeast need oxygen for the colony to grow sufficently to start making alcohol. With a red wine, you needn't go to airlocks until the fermentation has almost completed and the SG has dropped below 1.000 (you can ascertain this visually when there is no longer foam at the surface, but only tiny bubbles).

That is a question for the philosophers. :)

blowing lightly on it. The airlocks are bubbling put not too vigorously.

You may be making things to warm. Red wines should be fermented at

70-85ºF (and fermentation creates its own heat). The heating pad is probably more than enough. You may wish to put a few layers of towels between the pad and the jugs to keep the temperature DOWN. If the temperature is too high, it will kill the yeast, and/or cause alcohol to evaporate.

You may not be "stuck". If the airlocks are bubbling but not too vigorously, fermentation may be almost complete. It only takes 3-5 days for a red wine to go from 1.095 to .990, if all the nutrients are present. Have you tested the specific gravity?

Obviously, (IMO) you should have a hydrometer (to test the specific gravity) and a thermometer (to monitor the must temperature). You can purchase a hydrometer with a built in thermometer, but for the extra cost, you can purchase a separate (and easier-to-read) thermometer. If you don't have a local home brew shop, order one from

or They cost $5-10 plus shipping.

Before fermentation, you use the hydrometer to test and adjust the initial sugar to ~1.095. During fermentation, you use the hydrometer to determine if your fermentation is stuck, or progressing slowly, or finished (< 1.000).

Even if this one is stuck, there is no need to throw it in the sink. If the gravity is 1.020 or 1.030, you still have a drinkable (albeit very sweet and low-alcohol) wine. Or one that can be mixed with a dry wine to obtain a medium-dry wine.

But you can probably fix it! Visit

for some suggestions.

If it's any consolation, you are already doing much better than I did with my first wine.

If the air locks are bubbling, then I believe you have fermentation happening. I don't know what it would look like if you were making vinegar 8-). If you have little or no activity, rather than giving up, I would just add some more yeast to the must, and it should start fermenting. If one batch starts and another doesn't, adding a small amount of must from the one that is fermentic to the one that is stuck should get the other going.