Help! My wine has stagnated during the primary fermentation! What to do?!
Answers: Specific Gravity has been at 1.025 for a week, and the ETOH % has been at 9.2% for a week as well. Temp has been about 70-75 degrees since the first day. I used an airlock…the first 5 days had extremely active fermentation and then it petered out. Winemaker’s instructions indicate I should wait until SG is 1.010 or less before racking into a carboy. What should I do?
Treatment of Stuck Fermentations
And here's what to do if you get stuck... and remember - always start with the simplest things first. Resist the urge to add yeast or additives until you've tried the easy things.
Adjust the temperature of your wine. In most cases we've seen, simply warming your wine to 70-75° F for a couple of days will get the ball rolling.
Rouse the yeast by swishing or stirring the lees (trub) - sometimes moving the yeast around in the wine will get fermentation going again.
WARNING: Although it may be tempting, don't add vitamins (yeast nutrient) during stuck fermentations. Leftover vitamins can stimulate spoilage microbes. Only add a yeast nutrient before or as you pitch your yeast. If you want to add a yeast energizer at this point (which is not the same thing as yeast nutrient), that's OK. Simply go to the local drug store and ask the pharmacist for some Thiamin HCL (thiamin hydrochloride). Add 25 mg. per gallon of wine and mix well.
Remove the old yeast by racking the wine, then re-inoculate with fresh yeast, preferably a killer strain like Lalvin EC-1118 or Red Star Premier Cuvee. In a pinch, you could even use a Red Star Champagne yeast. We want to get rid of the old yeast because yeast cells seem able to detect the presence of other dying cells, and are more likely to get "lazy" themselves.
If you detect there is a nitrogen deficiency (less than 200 mg/L fermentable nitrogen), addition of DAP (diammonium phosphate dibasic - commonly known in the winemaking industry as Fermaid*) is called for.
If none of the above seem to help restart your fermentation within a couple or three days, it's time to bring in the heavy hitters:
Make a yeast starter by pulling off approximately 1/2 gallon of must, and add 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer (thiamin HCL) and 1 packet of "killer" or champagne yeast. Mix well, cover loosely and place in a warm spot. Once you have a vigorous fermentation you can add it back to the original must. OR...
Make a different kind of starter: use about a 1/2 cup of warm water, dissolve 1 teaspoon of sugar in the water, add some orange juice to this mix, make sure the temperature is about 90° F, before adding a packet of Red Star Premier Cuvee or Lalvin EC-1118 yeast to this mixture. Wait until it really gets working. Take about a gallon of your must and warm it up to about 68° to 70° F. Now add the yeast starter to the gallon of must, as it starts to work and gets going, SLOWLY add small portions of the stuck fermentation to that which is working. You should not add more than a quart, make sure the temperature of that which you are adding is at least 70° F. As the volume of the working must gets larger, you can add larger portions to the fermentation. Make sure the temperature is at least 70° F before you add it.
Using one of these methods should help get your fermentation restarted.
I just recently got my chianti to 1.00 SG after a stuck fermentation at 1.04
Did you sterilize? NOT clean/wash well, but sterilize ALL your equipment?
What kind of yeast did you use? Where did you buy the yeast? How old is the yeast you used? Please don't tell me you used baker's yeast.
Wine normally goes into secondary at 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. I've never heard of a stuck ferment in primary for wine.
I know I don't know
I did hard cider...
So wait....
but you might check
http://www.thebeveragepeople.com
good luck..?
have patience you may be looking too close
remember the reason you rack (siphon off) is to get rid of the gunk... And you will siphon again to bottle your elixir