slow fermentation question

I'm a real newbie at this stuff, but I have had a similar experience with a grapefruit wine recipe. I think it is because i bought jarred grapefruit that had sodium benzoate preservitive vs a can that had been pasteurized. I'm doing a parrallel with a fresh fruit recipe and it is merrily bubbling away. Just a hypothesis from someone who is learning. Check your concentrate can and see what's in it.

Rick

Aye Rick, no preservatives, I was clued to that caveat before I got started. Also, the primary fermentation was vigorous. I assume (but only an assumption of a learner) that if any preservative was going to inhibit fermentation it would be likely to inhibit it in the primary as much if not more so than in the secondary?

Sean

En> I'm a real newbie at this stuff, but I have had a similar experience

My apple cider wine bubbled for almost 2 months before it slowed down. I don't know why, but I kept going by SG and recipe and in the end, it was great. I would like to know what Terry Garey's rich apple recipe is, is it somewhere online or in a book?

Dave, Terry Garey is the author of "Joy of home winemaking", one of the few books on country winemaking that seems widely acknowledged as a "You could get this book and no other" offering.

Thanks for the input!

Sean

Dave Allis> My apple cider wine bubbled for almost 2 months before it slowed down. I

Ah. I've never bought a wine making book, so this is new to me. Sounds like a good one, I'll get it. thanks for sharing.

That may be no big deal. What is the SG?

If you don't use sulfites it could be malolactic fermentation and that might be and issue in apple wine. The bubbles of ML are tiny usually.

Joe

Joe, how muxh sulphite would you advise adding to rule out this possibility?

Joe Sallustio wrote:

Thanks Joe,

The SG is 994 currently.

What kind of issue might the mf represent, and if you were me how would you proceed? Thanks as always

Sean

Joe Sallustio wrote:

Some batchs ferment quickly (3 days) and others go slowly (3 months). It can usually be attributed to poor nutrients or something like that. It can also be attributed to too carefuly racking form primary to secondary. This is more likely when making wine from juice than fruit. You leave too much of the yeast behind and it slows the ferment down. Yeast will not reproduce much in secondary as therre is not O2.

ML is especially bad for apple wine as ML eats the malic acid in the wine. Acid in apple wine is almost completely malic so you can end up with a very insipid wine. I would suspect a yeast problem before ML.

I assume you have not measured the SG as you have not mensioned it. If not, get a hydrometer and check it. It will give you an indication of where you are on finishing.

Ray

Apples are malic acid, ML turns that to lactic and that may taste 'funny'. 0.994 sounds dry, you can prevent ml with sulfite. A better test of dryness is to use clinitest tables, is there a wine shop near you that will test it or can you get some? They are made by Bayer and are available in some pharmacies by special order.

If you think the wine is dry maybe add 25 PPM (1/8 teaspoon/ 5 gallons wine) potassium metabisulfite and see if it stops. I would not go higher than 50 PPM. It could just be slow in finishing too; 995 is not necessarily dry. Hydrometers really measure dissolved solids and each wine is different.

snpm wrote:

Thank you, sir

Joe Sallustio wrote:

There is an 'opps' in my post, apologies. They are Clinitest tablets, not tables.

Joe

snpm wrote:

I am too thoroughly ignorant and newbie to have noticed :)

I added the sulphite as you suggested Joe and 12 hrs later the bubles have nearly but not quite completely stopped.

Sean

Joe Sallustio wrote:

It may take some time for the bubbles to stop completely as the disolved CO2 works its way out of solution.

Not only will MLF make the wine flabby but a lot of the apple "taste" comes from the malic acid. If a lot of it is converted to lactic acid you may not have the apple taste you were hoping for.

Andy