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Stuck?

I have a batch of Mint wine that I thought I'd try since I have half a rock garden full of the stuff.

I steeped the mint in boiling water and strained into primary. Used a pack of montrachet yeast and enough sugar to get me to 1.090 sg. Right now, it is 3 months later and still at about 1.040-1.045 SG.

It sends up a few small bubbles every few seconds, but not enough to see airlock activity. It was active in primary, but not vigorous. I racked to secondary when I saw it was slowing, and the only reason I racked was to prevent oxidation. It slowed down to the trickle since. Actually it was trickle for a while now.

Is it advisable to pitch some new yeast and add with nutrient or just add nutrient to the mix?

It is really my first stuck batch, and from what I've read, herb and flower wines do tend to stick. So far what I've found would be to just add nutrient, but I would like to hear from you experts first before I ruin it.

TIA,

Greg, Erie, PA

Reply to
Hoss
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You did not mention nutrient in the original recipe. Did you include it? Mint probably does not provide much.

I would add nutrient, make up a vigorous starter and then add the starter according to Jack Keller's suggestions. i.e., by adding your wine to the starter where you double the volume of the starter with each addition until the whole batch is going.

Ray

Reply to
Ray Calvert

Ray,

I thought of this, and printed out what Jack has on his site, this was my most likely choice if I hadn't heard from anybody.

How do you keep air from affecting the wine at this stage by propogating the fermenting must into the finally largest volume? At this point are we just banking on the yeast producing enough CO2?

And yes, I included general nutrient DAP, but next herb type wine will double the amount.

Greg

Reply to
Hoss

I would add some more nutrient when trying to get it going again.

Also, you do not keep the air out during this phase. Air is necessary for yeast to reproduce and you are trying to get them to reproduce quickly. Yes, it is kind of harsh, but you are trying to save a batch that is not working out right anyway. The whole procedure should not take more than 10 to 24 hours and the wine should survive that.

Ray

Reply to
Ray Calvert

Some people look at me with horror when I tell them I will start 5-6 gallon batches in my 10 gallon carboy. I have the large carboy under an airlock from the get go which gives the must 4 gallons of air headspace for yeast devlopement but after 24 hours it's already bubbling out the air lock once every 6 seconds. I have never had an oxidation problem from starting in the large vat and moving to a correct sized carboy after a week or more.

Last night I started a 3 gallon dry mead in a 3 gallon carboy but instead of putting it under an airlock right away I have it fermenting with only paper towel covering the top to keep dust and flies out. If the wine is fermenting well and bubbling a lot there is small blanket of CO2 over the surface. When the bubbling slows you have to add an O2 barrier.

Reply to
J F

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