Screwed up my sanitation

A general outline for making wine would be this:

Clean/sanitize equipment make must (fruit+sugar+acidity+enzymes and chemicals if needed) Add sulfite wait 24 hours pitch yeast

the sulfite is toxic to microorganisms. It damages DNA polymerase enzymes so the microbes cannot reporduce (the first step in microbial reproduction is to make a copy of all its DNA using the polymerase).

So you have this must which is going to have some microbes in it. You treat it with the sulftite which will prevent existing microbes from reproducing (until they can make more polymerase). You then after waiting enough time so that a lot of the sulfite disperses (the 24 hours) you put the yeast that you want fermenting the must in.

So it seems you did all that right. Why you have whatever growing in it that you do I cannot say for sure. first, did you take a SG reading? One can of concentrate to 4 galons of water seems really thin. You should have an SG of 1.095-1.110 or so for most wines. Think about with brewing. If you take a can of LME and add it to 4 gallons of water you would get a OG of around 1.027 only. I do not know how big that can of concentrate was, but if it was as thick as honey like the LME (which I suspect it was not) it would have to weigh around 11 lbs. (I think the #10 cans weight around 6 lbs or so) I am thinking that you would have needed a sugar addition of around 1.5-2 lbs a gallon to go with the concentrate. You might not be seeing any activity becasue there just is not much sugar there to ferment.

I also did not see a mention of yeast nutrient. Yeast have a fairly high nitrogen requirement. In beer that all comes from the malt and you never have to worry about it (even in highly adjuncted lagers). Almost all fruit wines need a nutrient addition of some sort, usually around 1 tsp/gallon.

You should buy a acid titration kit and learn to titrate TA. Wine and wine musts need to have a pH below 4 to prevent spoilage. You usually get that pH by having a TA (titratable acidity)of 0.5-0.8% (although you can have a high TA and high pH, but these values are a good indication of sufficent acidity). Most fruit wine recipies call for adding aroudn 1 tsp of acid blend or its equilivant (lemon juice or grape concentrate) per gallon.

As far as your sulfite problem, I suggest you use potassium metabisulfite. It is a powder and easier to handle than campden tablets.

Scott L wrote:

You may have done nothing wrong at all. I've heard that elderberry leaves a nasty scum behind in fermenters and maybe that's what you're seeing.

How about an assist from one of you experienced country winemakers? I can't really speak authoratatively on this topic.

Tom S

Scott:

I can't comment on the rest, but I use iodophor all the time for wine making.

Steve

It was a very large can. The back of the can stated that it could be used for a 5 gallon wine or a 3 gallon wine, the 3 gallon obviously being of higher gravity. I didn't take a gravity reading, but I did use the can as was indicated on the label and, well, it was just a very large can :-)

The instructions said 5 tablets for the 5 gallon version, 3 for the 3 gallon. I decided to go for 4 gallons, so I used 4 tablets. I assume that was a proper thing to do...

Scott

Yep, campden tablets are 1 per gallon.

I do find it hard to beleive that a can of concentrate would make either 3 or 5 gallons with no other adjustment. I am assuming that it is vinters harvest or oregon fruit products?

Here is a link to a more or less typical recipe that uses a 6 lb can of vinters harvest elderberry concentrate:

as you can see they add sugar, acid blend, pectic enzyme (aids in extraction and helps prevent haze) and nutrient before fermentation.

If that is the case for you, there is good news. You can add the sugar, nutrient and acid and still end up with a good wine. Having a bit of other microbial activity in a wine must is not always a bad thing. Some winemakers actually like a bit of brett character in their wines for instance. Assuming that you were low on the SG, there was not a great deal of fermentables that they could have gotten to.

I would rack off of whatever is grow> Dro> > So it seems you did all that right. Why you have whatever growing in

I don't think anyone suggests that Idophor is an ineffective sanitizer for wine making equipment, only that the residue can cause some issues.

Andy

Thanks for the advice. At this point I can't even remember if I added the sugar or not. I bought it but probably forgot to add it. If I find the bag full when I get home, I'll know the truth. Ladies, gentlemen, this is what happens when you try to brew a batch of beer and make a wine on the same evening!

I'll hit the LHBS after work, pick up some more yeast, and try to salvage this.

Scott

I've not made more that 10 or 15 country wines so this is just a best guess. Others have said Idophor is probably not an issue with wine in general when used in correct ratio's and it makes sense so I doubt sanitation is an issue. I wouldn't be concerned about the sulfite level at this point either but would suggest you throw away those campden tablets and get some potassium metabisulfite powder, it's a whole lot easier to use. You needed a jackhammer to crush the campden I had when I started making wine.

As to sanitation, with grapes there is a term for everything else that gets fermented, MOG. Material Other than Grapes includes dirt, bees, spiders, webs, you name it. The pH of musts in general protects the must, a lot of really nasty stuff can go into the fermenter and it still comes out wine. With that said, I would agree that the wine is not lost. If the scum looks or smells like mold I would be concerned but other than that I would not consider it a big deal yet. If it scared me I would remove it by racking or overflow if that is possible.

You already have good comments on nutrient deficiency, that's pretty common in country wines. I always add nutrient, there are many brands so just use what your supply house handles. I like Yeastex and Fermaid and do use DAP when I think it's called for.

I haven't seen much said about fermentation temperature. That could be a big deal. At least when getting it started you may want to get the must up to 70F or so. Country wines in general take more care and feeding than grape wines, they emulate meads in that respect. If the must is cold, move it or get a cheap heating pad from the drug store that has a normal three stage switch, no timer. They are getting harder to find.

Joe