Stalled, been thru the usual suspects.

[Blacksmith1]

Got a store juice wine I have made before. This time it started fine, I moved it to a glass carboy and put it in the dark. Went to rack it and it's super sweet still. 1.050 from 1.105.
No sulfites or preservatives.

This is my brew log;

8/16/19
Welch's Simply Refreshing Peach mango.
Fjc. 1 gallon +about 1/3-1/4 bottle freeze concentrated to 1 half gallon.
1 half gallon plain.
2 3/4cups +/- cane sugar.
Allowed to come to room temp.
1 1/4 tsp superferment
8/17/19 pitched K1-V1116.
Og about 1.105 ish .
8/18/19 good fermentation.
9/9/19 racked. Believe this is the second racking.
10/12/19 racked sg stalled at approx 1.050. Topped with water, pitched a starter made with half a packet of 1116. Sprinked the rest on top.
10/14/19 no noticeable activity.


Any ideas?

 

[Seamonkey84]

Do you have a ph tester? That could be a cause for stalled ferments. Though I don’t have a way to check myself yet, it’s in my list of things to get next time I’m at the brew store. When you pitch again, Step feed some of your wine to the yeast after rehydrating, and degas the batch before pitching.
Also, if your racking before it’s done fermenting, your removing a lot of the yeast before they have a chance to finish the work. I degas and stir my batches right up to the last 10 points or so, and don’t rack off any lees until it’s clear.

 

[RPh_Guy]

While you can often get away with cutting corners, sometimes it will bite you in the ass.

Proper yeast rehydration is absolutely critical for maximizing yeast viability. This means: using Go-Ferm as directed, maintaining proper temperature during the rehydration process, not stirring too much, not letting it sit too long, and atemporating slowly.

Also, why rack during fermentation? Removing the yeast during active fermentation is unnecessary and will potentially lead to stalling or off-flavors.

Temperature control matters. You didn't mention anything about temp.

 

[Blacksmith1]

After a week I rack from my bucket to a carboy while there is still a ton of yeast in suspension. Then it sits till it clears.
According to the directions on my yeast you are supposed to use warm water stir it and wait.
I give it a pinch of my nute, and then do a step feeding across about an hour. ( usually) For the repitch I did this with half the package then tossed the rest of the pack in the must as an after thought. Way more than I ever used in a gallon before. The method I use (racking included) has consistently given me good results till now.
My house stays at 72°F all day and night as it has since I started making alcohol.
I might think it was PH except I did this exact recipe before and it worked perfectly. And no I have no way to test it.
I'm going to just let it sit as it does have some alcohol in it. If it won't finish, I will let it clear and get a bottle of vodka to go with it. Or maybe throw some 1118 at it, and see if it can do the job...
Oddly, last night it showed minor activity like it was trying to start but this morning nada. I have since moved it back to it's bucket where it was thoroughly degassed. A few hrs later still no joy.

The whole thing is clouded up like the biomass has built up, it's just not doing anything. Maybe I'm expecting it to be faster than it is?

The one thing I did learn is that I should take an SG at every rack. And then a few days later if something seems off.

 

[Blacksmith1]

9/9/19 racked. Believe this is the second racking

looking at this and the timeframe involved, I may have killed my ferment myself. But why won't it start up again?

 

[RPh_Guy]

According to the directions on my yeast you are supposed to use warm water stir it and wait.
I give it a pinch of my nute, and then do a step feeding across about an hour. ( usually) For the repitch I did this with half the package then tossed the rest of the pack in the must as an after thought.

https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/en/united-states/product-details/lalvin-icv-k1-v1116/

Rehydrate Lalvin ICV K1-V1116 in 5 times its weight of water at 40°C. Let stand for at least 20 minutes then gently stir occasionally to break up any clumps. Add to the must.

Notes:
– The total rehydration duration should never exceed 45 minutes.
– Avoid cold shocking the yeast. The temperature drop between the must to be inoculated and the rehydration medium should never be above 10°C (in case of doubt, please contact your supplier or Lallemand)
– It is essential to rehydrate the yeast in a clean container.
– Initial rehydration in must is not advisable.

Your nutrient contains DAP. It's not good to use DAP during rehydration because it is toxic to the yeast.

But why won't it start up again?

The nutrients were depleted by the yeast, which was subsequently removed by racking (way too soon).

At this point I would add a properly rehydrated yeast (with Go-Ferm) and add a bit of a non-DAP nutrient (e.g. Fermaid O). Any strain you have on have that can handle the ABV is fine.

Cheers

 

[Blacksmith1]

I couldn't remember what DAP was so I looked it up and found this.
https://morewinemaking.com/web_files/intranet.morebeer.com/files/wineyeastrehydration09.pdf
One of these days I'm going to learn to just do what you say without asking why.
I never knew that the whole temp thing was to avoid deformed yeasts at rehydration. And there's a ton of other info I don't remember seeing before. Of course being old I may have.......

 

[bmd2k1]

https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/en/united-states/product-details/lalvin-icv-k1-v1116/

Rehydrate Lalvin ICV K1-V1116 in 5 times its weight of water at 40°C. Let stand for at least 20 minutes then gently stir occasionally to break up any clumps. Add to the must.

Notes:
– The total rehydration duration should never exceed 45 minutes.
– Avoid cold shocking the yeast. The temperature drop between the must to be inoculated and the rehydration medium should never be above 10°C (in case of doubt, please contact your supplier or Lallemand)
– It is essential to rehydrate the yeast in a clean container.
– Initial rehydration in must is not advisable.

Your nutrient contains DAP. It's not good to use DAP during rehydration because it is toxic to the yeast.


The nutrients were depleted by the yeast, which was subsequently removed by racking (way too soon).

At this point I would add a properly rehydrated yeast (with Go-Ferm) and add a bit of a non-DAP nutrient (e.g. Fermaid O). Any strain you have on have that can handle the ABV is fine.

Cheers

Big rehydration fan....but Not nearly as scientific about it [emoji111] So far...so Great using D47.

Cheers [emoji12]