The technology for making homemade wine has many subtleties and features, failure to comply with which leads to various difficulties. Only exact fulfillment of all requirements and strict adherence to the recipe makes it possible to obtain a high-quality drink. One of the possible problems associated with a violation of technology is a condition in which the wine does not ferment well. This situation can adversely affect the final organoleptic properties of alcohol.

Violation of the fermentation process

The situation when wine stops fermenting is by no means uncommon. In most cases, it occurs due to improper adherence to the recipe or violation of the sequence of actions described in it. Lack of fermentation, violation of its intensity and premature stop entail serious consequences and can lead to the loss of the entire batch of wine.

Fermentation is caused by the action of yeast fungi or yeast, which convert sugar into alcohol, and also provide the familiar taste and aroma. Its violation is fraught with a wide variety of consequences, ranging from changes in the taste characteristics of the wine to spoilage of the wort.

In this situation, a completely reasonable question arises: what to do next and how to save the wort. It can only be answered by understanding the reasons that served as the impetus for the disruption of the fermentation process. Today, several factors are known that influence the fact that wine stops fermenting ahead of time. These include:

  • insufficient sealing of the fermentation tank;
  • inaccurate adherence to temperature conditions;
  • too high or low sugar content in the wort;
  • low-quality yeast;
  • mold that has appeared.

The factors listed above affect the characteristics of the must and may cause the wine to stop fermenting a week after the start of the process. At the same time, some of the situations considered can be neutralized and the drink can be saved. Others are irreversible and lead to damage to the wine.

How to fix the situation

Fermentation cannot occur instantly. The yeast fungus that covers the skin of berries or fruits needs time to multiply and increase in number. At the same time, the use of special wine yeast speeds up this process. However, depending on actual conditions, it can begin within a few hours or after 2–3 days. In most cases, this situation does not pose a danger to the wine. The winemaker just needs to be patient and wait 3-4 days, during which fermentation will most often begin.

Violation of the tightness of the fermentation tank is another reason why wine finishes fermenting early. Air entering the container can cause the wine to sour and turn into vinegar, which cannot be corrected. To avoid such problems, it is necessary to carefully check the tightness of all connections, and if cracks are detected, correct them in a timely manner.

Violation of the temperature regime is one of the most common problems that can cause wine to ferment poorly. Wine yeast activity is at its peak at temperatures between 10 and 30 degrees Celsius. Lower temperatures lead to the preservation of the fungus, and exceeding them is fraught with its death. The optimal conditions for fermentation in winemaking are recognized to be a temperature of 15–25 degrees Celsius, at which the process of processing sugar into ethyl alcohol reaches the best parameters. In this case, the temperature should be constant and not fluctuate throughout the entire fermentation period.

The optimal sugar content of the wort should be in the range of 10–20%. Deviation from such indicators also leads to fermentation problems. Reduced sugar content can lead to its stoppage, which occurs as a result of the lack of food for the yeast. The increased sweetness of the wort leads to the fact that sugar becomes a kind of preservative that neutralizes the effect of yeast.

Poor quality yeast can also cause homemade wine to stop fermenting properly. Homemade starter cultures or special wine yeast, which can be purchased ready-made, will help to avoid such a development of events and resume fermentation. In this case, the starter can be prepared at home yourself from unwashed raisins, which contain a large amount of wild yeast.

The appearance of mold is one of those cases when homemade wine can no longer be saved. Determining its presence is quite simple, since it has a characteristic appearance and emits a specific odor. The development of mold occurs due to the use of unwashed containers, equipment or the hands of the winemaker. It is impossible to get rid of it. The only thing left to do is pour out the entire batch of wine. In order to avoid such an outcome, immediately before creating an alcoholic drink, all containers and related devices must be thoroughly washed and doused with boiling water.

Conclusion

It’s quite simple to answer the question of why the wine stopped fermenting, but normalizing the situation sometimes turns out to be quite difficult. Therefore, it is better to try to prevent such developments and fully comply with the technology for preparing the drink, as well as control the fermentation process of the wort. This is the only way to guarantee the preparation of high-quality and tasty homemade wine.

Even if the recipe is strictly followed, situations are possible when the wine does not ferment at all, begins to ferment ahead of time, or the fermentation process stops after a few days. Let's consider the reasons why homemade wine made from jam, grapes, berries does not play and what can be done in each of these situations.

What does the process depend on?

Fermentation is the process of decomposition of sugar contained in grape or berry must into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The main actors are yeast fungi. It is their activity that determines how long the wine ferments, how fast the fermentation process of the wine material will be, and to what extent the quality of the finished drink will be.

Stages

In the history of home winemaking, there are examples when the winemaker placed the container in a more or less suitable place, then happily forgot about it, and after 2-3 months received a passable drink. However, this is either experience or luck. In most cases, it is necessary to intervene in the fermentation process and control its quality.

For any homemade wine, there are two, sometimes three stages (the last two do not have clear boundaries) of fermentation:

  • initial stage - it is at this stage that the fungi “sit quietly”, getting used to the new environment and often causing anxiety in the novice winemaker;
  • active - the yeast multiplies rapidly, the beginning of this period is marked by the active production of carbon dioxide, the mass hisses, bubbles, and a sediment forms;
  • quiet - fermentation continues, but in deep layers. There are few bubbles.

The second stage can be of varying duration, it depends on what strength of the future drink is desired. Active fermentation can be greatly delayed to end up with a stronger homemade wine. Bubbles are very actively visible for the first 2–3 days.

The next phase - quiet fermentation - lasts as long as the fungi have enough food, they will multiply until they have absorbed all the sugar, breaking it down into alcohol and carbon dioxide. In the recipe, the fermentation process is as follows

  • Prepared raw materials for wine (wort, pulp) are poured into containers, covered with gauze, and placed in a warm, dark place;
  • As soon as the first gas bubbles appear (fermentation has entered the active phase), a water seal is put on the container (most often, covered with a glove). This stage has different durations, for example, fermentation of homemade wine from apple juice and rowan (temperature 18–28 °C) will take 25–40 days. The end of the stage is determined by the fall of the glove. The new wine is ready;
  • Maturation. This is a quiet period. You can add sugar to wine. Or alcohol, which will stop the fermentation process. The deadlines are also different. For the same apple-rowan wine, this means 2–3 months in a darkened room at a cooler temperature of 10–16 °C.

Interesting: winemakers have different opinions about the youth of wine. Some believe that it is young only a few days after the end of the stage of rapid fermentation, some give it several months of youth before the start of a new stage of life - the ripening phase.

Deadlines

There is no clear answer to the question of how long homemade wine should ferment. The process can take from 1 to 3 months, depending on the temperature, the amount of sugar in the wort and the quality of the yeast.

Let's look at the general points that a novice winemaker should know about these three pillars of successful fermentation. Knowing them, you can independently find answers to questions about what to do and how to make the wine play a second time if it does not ferment.

Kit one: temperature regime

The optimal temperature for wine fermentation is considered to be in the range of 15–25°C, for white wines the best temperature is 14–18°C, for red wines – 18–22°C. At what specific temperature the wine should ferment is decided by the winemaker, focusing on the behavior of the wort and adhering to the ranges specified by the recipe.

When selecting the temperature, it is important to take other factors into account. The wort is rich in sugar, cold, the bottles are small, therefore the temperature should be high - 20 °C. The wort is sour, warm (above 12 °C), slightly sweetened - 15 °C is enough.

At a low temperature of 9–10 °C, fermentation is also possible, but it will take longer.

High temperature (above 25 °C) may only be useful at first. For a mixture that already contains some alcohol, this temperature is harmful.

When making at home, it is difficult to regulate the temperature. But there are examples when wine was successfully produced from not very sweet raspberry jam, first left at room temperature and then placed on a cool winter balcony.

Keith two: yeast

Their quantity and activity determine how correct and fast the fermentation process will be. In turn, the amount of yeast is determined by many factors: the already mentioned temperature, the duration of access of air to the wort and, finally, the quality of the wort.

When it comes to grapes, winemakers know that fermentation of must from grapes grown on fertile, rich soils will be more vigorous and at the same time smoother. On average, the richer and more nutritious the composition of the starting material, the more active and rapid the fermentation process will be.

The quality of yeast also varies. PWD (pure cultures of wine yeast) behave more actively and smoothly, wild yeast is more unpredictable.

During the fermentation process, yeast cells settle to the bottom, blocking the access of air by being at the very bottom - inert zones are formed that slow down the process. Stirring them periodically with a spatula will help speed up the process, so as to destroy the layers. To destroy them, it is enough to also throw in a few fresh berries. Sometimes, to speed up fermentation, it is recommended to ventilate the wort, providing the fungi with oxygen at the initial stage.

Whale three: sugar levels

Wine made from a sweet source, such as wine made from jam, does not need additional sweetening. Only natural sugars contained in fruits and berries can be used. In ready-made recipes, it is difficult to indicate exactly all the parameters on which the sweetness of berries and fruits for wine depends: their degree of ripeness, variety, harvest time, time from harvest to the moment of use. Therefore, the expected sweetness of the wort does not always correspond to the real one, and yeast fungi, which require sugars to reproduce, may simply not have enough nutrition.

These are general points that should be understood before using any recipe. What to do if either berry wine does not ferment or has stopped fermenting - you need to look for the answer to this question yourself, including your own instincts. It’s not for nothing that many winemakers call making wine a creative endeavor, and even claim that they enjoy the process more than the result.

All possible difficult issues and ways to solve them are discussed below. But this does not mean that there is only one reason why your wine does not ferment; there may be several of them.

The process has not yet started

You should not think that installing a water seal automatically means the start of fermentation. The wine will begin to ferment in a few days. Three days before the start of the process is normal. The period depends not only on the type of yeast, but also on the amount of sugar, temperature and raw materials.
For example, jam wine, which is popular at home, often tests the patience of novice winemakers. To begin processing sugar, yeast needs to become accustomed to a new environment.
If bubbles indicating the start of fermentation have not appeared after 72 hours, then problems have indeed arisen in the wine preparation procedure. Sometimes, if the room is cool, it makes sense to wait longer - 5 days.

Wine does not ferment: reasons

Here we will look at all the possible reasons why wine does not ferment, and we will provide ways to solve each problem. Here you can also find answers to the question of why the wine stopped playing ahead of time and what to do to stimulate the process.

Temperature

The room is not warm enough (less than 18–25 ºC), perhaps the container is in a draft. In walk-through rooms there are often low drafts that are invisible to humans. At temperatures below +16 ºC, yeast fungi “fall asleep”; in heat (above 25 ºC) they die. Is it possible to save wine that has been left at the wrong temperature and has not started to play? Yes. Move the jar to a suitable place, add live yeast or starter.

Particular attention is paid to low temperatures, they can greatly slow down the process. Wine under a glove can ferment in a warm place for only a few weeks, in a cool place - up to several months. If you have come to the conclusion that the problem is the coolness, is it possible to move bottles of wine to a warmer place to speed up its preparation? Yes. Just make sure that the temperature in the new room is not too high.
There is a caveat when using a pure yeast culture. Such yeast is not added to the main container, but a starter is prepared for faster activation: 1 tbsp per glass of wort. l. sugar, add yeast to this nutrient medium, wait 40 minutes. The finished starter is introduced into the main wort. It is necessary to ensure that the temperature of the starter and wort in the main container is close. Even a slight difference of 5–7 °C is traumatic for fungi, and they die.

Sugar

There is little sugar in the wort. In this case, the yeast simply has nothing to feed on, they do not reproduce, alcohol is not produced, and the process does not proceed. Sugar should make up from 10 to 20% of the wort volume. To check whether the level of sugar content is sufficient, it is best to purchase a special device - a hydrometer (or saccharometer). It is inexpensive - about 300–400 rubles. However, if it is not there, all that remains is to use a very inconvenient subjective method - taste. If homemade wine does not ferment for this reason, you need to add sugar.
After adding sugar, the liquid is thoroughly mixed until dissolved. Even better: drain 1 liter of wort, dissolve the required amount of sugar in it, and pour the resulting syrup back into the main wort.

It would be optimal to initially calculate the amount of sugar per kg of raw materials as accurately as possible, and not blindly trust the recipe. There are special formulas.

If the wine stops fermenting after sweetening, then perhaps there is too much sugar, in which case it acts as a preservative. The wort should be diluted with warm filtered water.

It is advisable to adhere to the rule of gradually adding sugar. The total amount, calculated based on the type of raw material and the degree of sweetness of the finished drink (sweet, semi-sweet, dry), is divided into four doses. 2/3 - before fermentation begins. Divide 1/3 into three equal parts and add it to the wort after 4 days, a week and 10 days from the start of fermentation.

What to do with fermented homemade wine? Usually, by fermentation of the finished product, they mean a completely different fermentation - bite. Acetic acid bacteria break down wine alcohol into water and acetic acid. Within 3–5 days, the wine acquires an unpleasant sour taste. A sour drink can no longer be saved. This trouble can only be prevented. In industrial production, sulfidization (sulfur treatment) is used.

Yeast

Not enough yeast. This problem often arises when they try to make wine with “wild” yeast, that is, those that were on the surface of the berries. There might not have been enough of them initially, or they might have died (for example, in the heat). If the wine does not ferment well for this reason, then it is enough to buy wine yeast in specialized stores. It is also possible to add dark, unwashed raisins. It is possible to prepare sourdough, but it will take quite a lot of time. Or you should put the starter in advance: 200 g of raisins, 50 g of sugar, pour 2 glasses of warm water, cover with a gauze stopper, and keep in a warm, dark place for 3-4 days. The finished starter can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

A nuance for those who work with pure cultures of wine yeast. Before adding them, the wort is often sterilized with sulfites. And this is where patience is needed: you cannot add yeast immediately after processing; you need to wait a day for the sulfur to evaporate from the liquid. During this day, the container with the wort is covered only with gauze.

Oxygen and sealing

Little oxygen. Quite a common mistake for beginners. The fermentation process consists of two periods: the first is short and the second is long. At the first stage, air (oxygen) access is important; tightness is needed at the second stage. If there is too little oxygen during primary fermentation, the yeast becomes nutrient deficient and stops multiplying. That is, at first it is not needed, just cover the neck of the container with gauze folded in several layers. If the water seal is already on, simply remove it and replace it with gauze.

Lots of oxygen. This problem occurs during the second stage of fermentation. Here, on the contrary, tightness and only small access for the release of carbon dioxide are important. If the size of the holes is too large, too much oxygen will enter the wort, and this leads to oxidation of the product - it will be impossible to save the sour drink. It is best to use a medical glove as a water seal, which is placed on the neck of the vessel. To release carbon dioxide, it is enough to make a small puncture on one finger with a thin needle. This type of water seal is easy to control. The glove has deflated, which means the fermentation process has stopped. Either the puncture is too large and the glove needs to be replaced, or the joints should be checked, perhaps carbon dioxide is escaping in other ways.

A convenient way to control air access are single plastic or glass blockers with two flasks and a hose. A sulfite solution is poured into each blocker flask a little less than halfway, and the end of the hose is dipped into the wine. Carbon dioxide sequentially passes through the hose through the first flask (or chamber), then through the second. If the gas pressure has decreased and a vacuum has formed, the sulfide solution moves into the first chamber; it is urgent to add wine to the container.

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What to do with fermented jam? This is how winemakers are often born: by chance a suitable source turned up, and now the beginner is working magic with gloves and studying the technology of preparing alcoholic beverages. And then he wonders why the wine from the jam does not ferment at a normal pace, ferments for a long time, or the process has stopped. Possible error in this case: the raw material may be too thick. In a jelly-like environment, it is difficult for fungi to reproduce. Those who make wine from pulp, that is, from skins and seeds, may face the same problem.

Solution: if the wine does not ferment for this reason, you should add clean, filtered, warm water. If the pulp was pressed (the juice was used for primary wine), then the amount of water should correspond to the amount of juice removed. Be sure to pay attention to whether there is enough yeast for the new quantity.

Mold

This is a common occurrence among those using wild yeast. The surface of the must becomes covered with a film, an odor appears, and the wine does not play. Mold is also mushrooms, but not the ones you need. They begin to multiply due to the entry of pathogens into the wort (there were rot particles on the berries) and favorable conditions for them (high temperature, 22–28 ºC, high humidity, above 85%, low alcohol, low acidity of the starting material). Alas, if it is severely infected, it is better to throw away the wort. Not only will the finished product in this case have an unpleasant taste, but such wine can cause poisoning.

If the solution is not yet heavily contaminated, it can still be allowed to ferment. Remove all moldy areas and then pour the concentrate into a fresh container. Make sure that the top layer does not get into the new dishes, so it is better to pour through a rubber tube. The wort is boiled at a temperature of 70–75 °C for several minutes, left to cool at room temperature, and then stabilized by adding fresh juice and sugar. If there is a lot of mold, removing its visible parts will not help; the drink is already contaminated.

To prevent mold from appearing, use prevention methods: thoroughly sterilize all elements in contact with the material, wash your hands, carefully select raw materials - remove berries even just with barely noticeable dark spots. The berries are not washed, but it is not difficult to ensure the cleanliness of all objects in contact with them.

It is very risky, from the point of view of mold, to make wine from pulp. When floating, the pulp comes into contact with oxygen, which can lead to the development of unwanted fungi. Stir the wort so that the pulp sinks back. It was already said above that the wort should not be too thick. But it should not be too liquid either, this provokes frequent floating of “solid particles”. Too low acidity also contributes to the appearance of mold; you can add a little citric acid. And, of course, carefully monitor the level of oxygen access to the future drink.

The process started and then stopped abruptly

A situation where the wine has stopped fermenting can also occur. The process has started successfully, the wort is in the second stage of fermentation, and then the process suddenly stops. There are two reasons for this. The first is that homemade wine does not ferment because the liquid is contaminated with microorganisms that suppress the proliferation of yeast fungi. In addition to mold, there are a lot of other “creatures”: viruses, bacteria that cause diseases that are dangerous for homemade wine. In this case, there is little chance of saving the product.
The second reason why wine does not ferment is that there is already too much alcohol in the liquid. Fungi die if the alcohol content is more than 14%. If this is the case, the wine will begin to ferment after adding warm water, yeast and checking the temperature. If balance is reached, the process must continue.

Completion

If no hissing is heard, no bubbles are visible, the glove has fallen off, then the fermentation procedure may have already completed successfully and the wine is ready. Ready dates are as follows:

  • Wild yeast – 20–30 days. In ideal conditions (warm, plenty of nutrients) – 2 weeks.
  • Pure yeast cultures are able to process all the sugars from the wort - in 5 days or a week.

If berry wine stops fermenting after a week, what should you do? Taste it; perhaps the fermentation process was so successful that it has already been completed. The finished drink will not be sweet; it has a bitter-sour harmonious taste without pronounced sweetness. You can use a hydrometer. The specific gravity of the wine ready for the next stage is 998–1010 g/dm3. This drink is clarified and sent for quiet fermentation in cooler conditions.

If the wine at home stops fermenting after a week, but still remains syrupy and sweet, then the process has stopped ahead of schedule. Analyze the possible causes from the list above and take measures to stimulate fermentation. It is not recommended to drink unfermented wine.

Let's sum it up

A simple answer to the question of why wine does not ferment and what to do in general is impossible. It all depends on the stage at which the stop occurred and the specific conditions (temperature, recipe, type of yeast). To find the exact cause, analyze all the parameters that could affect the behavior of the yeast. In general, a winemaker's flair is not so much a natural talent as it is experience.

Attention, TODAY only!

It often happens that homemade wine does not ferment. Or the process started normally, and then for unknown reasons died down. If the situation is not corrected in time, the product may be damaged. Then all the costs of growing and harvesting grapes will be in vain.

What conditions are necessary for wine fermentation?

Homemade wine is made not only from grapes. The raw materials for the drink can be pears, apples, plums, and various berries. But the main process is always the same: fermentation or conversion of sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose) into ethyl alcohol under the action of microorganisms - yeast. This transformation is accompanied by the release of carbon dioxide.

In order for grape or fruit juice to begin to ferment, that is, to turn into homemade wine, it is necessary to create optimal conditions for such a process.

To do this you need:

  1. Good raw materials are grapes or berries, fruits with a sufficient degree of sugar content to start the yeast fermentation process. The optimal sugar content in juice is about 10-20%. Therefore, for homemade wine it is necessary to use only ripe grapes or other fruits. The taste of the wort should be more sweet than sour. It is also important that the berries are fresh, undamaged, without signs of rotting, and not contaminated with mold. Rot and mold are the main enemies of fermentation; they greatly interfere with fermentation and can ruin homemade wine at the initial stage of production.
  2. Active yeast in sufficient quantities. It is these microorganisms that are responsible for the process. If they do not work well or there are few of them, then the juice will turn out to be vinegar rather than homemade wine, or there will be no fermentation effect as such.
  3. Optimal temperature. For active fermentation, the wort (juice) must be kept at a temperature of 18-27°C all the time, and without sudden changes. At lower temperatures, microorganisms will work poorly, fermentation will occur very slowly, with constant uneven stops. If the temperatures are too high, they will simply die.
  4. Sealing the vessel. Another prerequisite for successful winemaking is the absence of oxygen (air). Yeast ferments only when its activity is not interfered with by oxygen. To do this, use a special water seal or put a rubber glove on the hole, which will create a semblance of a vacuum.
  5. Sufficient amount of time. Don't expect homemade wine to ferment for just a couple of days. The conversion of sugars into alcohol does not happen instantly. It takes several weeks (2 to 5) before the grape juice turns into wine.

If at least one of the listed factors is violated, homemade wine will at some point stop fermenting or the process itself will not begin at all.

Why homemade wine does not ferment: possible reasons

One or more reasons at the same time can nullify all the efforts of the winemaker. Of course, you shouldn’t open a container of fermenting juice every day to check, this will only harm the process. But it is also impossible to leave the future product unattended.

The list of possible reasons why homemade wine does not ferment is as follows:

  1. IN air enters the container with the wort. Oxygen interferes with the transformation of grapes into wine; this process must occur under anaerobic conditions. If the juice comes into contact with air (oxygen), the wort turns into vinegar and gradually sours.
  2. Temperature surges. Despite the fairly wide range of temperatures allowed for fermentation, homemade wine does not like strong fluctuations. Sudden changes will cause the yeast to go into hibernation, stop fermenting and take time to activate. In this case, the whole process will be greatly extended, which will negatively affect the taste of the drink.
  3. Unsuitable raw material - wort. If there is little sugar in the juice, then the yeast will have nothing to process into alcohol, that is, the fermentation itself does not begin. If, on the contrary, there are too many carbohydrates, then they simply do not have time to cope with their increased concentration. Another disadvantage of wort is its insufficient physical properties, such as density and viscosity. Too thick juice obtained from fruits with pulp is more difficult to ferment.
  4. The problem is the sourdough. There are “wild” yeasts on the skins of grapes. Under favorable conditions, they are quite sufficient for the juice to turn into wine naturally. But in practice this is not always the case. Sometimes natural starter is not enough for fermentation, especially when it comes to fruity homemade wine. Then you need to add yeast.
  5. Foreign microorganisms can interfere with the fermentation process. especially mold. Moldy juice will not make wine. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to thoroughly wash all dishes, use only fresh berries without the slightest sign of rot, and also actively fight various diseases of grapes even before the berries appear.

The last factor, when homemade wine does not ferment, is a natural stop of the process, its completion. On average, it takes from 15 to 35 days to receive wine. After this, the process stops. Sometimes it is artificially stopped by adding alcohol to the wine.

Important! If a glove is used as a closure and after several days it does not rise, it is worth checking the tightness of its connection to the container.

No fermentation at the initial stage

For grape juice to start fermenting, a certain amount of time must pass. The first signs of yeast activity often appear after a few hours. But don’t be alarmed if they are not visible in the first three days. This is normal; the winemaker should start to worry if the composition does not show any signs of activity after 4-5 days.

The first step is to check the sugar level in the wort. If there is no special device (hydrometer), then you should taste the future wine. It should be sweet, but not too cloying and not very viscous. If there is not enough sweetness, then add regular sugar at the rate of 50-100 g for each liter of liquid. It’s better not to pour in the whole product at once, but to divide it into 4-5 portions. If the liquid is thick, then add 10-15% water.

Next, you should check the water seal and the tightness of the container. If necessary, coat the perimeter of the lid with dough to prevent oxygen from getting inside. If even after this, after a couple of days, the homemade wine does not begin to ferment naturally, you will have to add yeast.

Reasons why wine stops fermenting after adding sugar

The easiest way to activate fermentation is to add sugar to the wort to provide food for the microorganisms. But if you add too much of it, it can slow down the process. The reason is that high doses of sugar act as a preservative; they inhibit the vital activity of microorganisms. In addition, yeast does not have time to process large amounts of carbohydrates.

To avoid making such mistakes, you need to get a hydrometer and measure the sugar content of the wort before fermentation. After adding sugar, it should not exceed 20%. To save too sweet homemade wine, you will have to dilute it with water. Next you will have to add a new portion of yeast.

Important! Sugar is always introduced not all at once, but in small portions so that the yeast has time to ferment it, with an interval of 3-4 days, be sure to first dissolve it in a portion of the wort.

What to do if homemade wine does not ferment?

If the wort does not show signs of fermentation, it is necessary to check all the factors important for this process.

Most often, the problem can be solved in one of the following ways:

  • improving the sealing of the fermentation vessel, blocking the access of oxygen;
  • increasing the amount of sugar in the wort to a concentration of 20%;
  • if there is excessive sugar content or viscosity, on the contrary, dilution with water is required;
  • raising the temperature (warm slightly) of the juice to activate the yeast, but not higher than 30 ° C;
  • ensuring a constant room temperature in the range from 16 °C to 27 °C;
  • adding an additional portion of fresh yeast.

If the reason for stopping the winemaking process lies in rapidly growing mold, then there is only one way out: destroy the unsuccessful wine and be sure to sterilize all containers.

Conclusion

If your homemade wine doesn't ferment or the fermentation process suddenly stops, don't panic. The reason why this happened should be determined. If it is eliminated in time, then young wine can be saved and a natural and tasty drink can be made from it.

So, we pressed the pulp of red grapes or removed the fermenting white must from the coarse sediment, and received wine material, your future home wine, containing approximately 1/3 of the initial sugar content. Some call it young wine, but I believe that the wort becomes one after the end of the quiet fermentation stage.

Vessels for quiet fermentation

Where does secondary fermentation take place at home? Most often these are 10 or 20 liter glass bottles or 19 liter plastic drinking water bottles. Some winemakers use barrels or other vessels. The main requirement for them: they must either be filled almost to capacity, or have a floating lid, which allows the air gap between the wine and the shutter to be minimized, since at this stage contact with air is already undesirable for the wort.

I recommend using transparent vessels: in them the layer of sediment formed by solid particles and dead yeast is clearly visible, which greatly facilitates subsequent pourings. See for yourself: after the wine has fermented in a bottle for a month, you decide to decant or pour it, without touching the sediment, into a clean bottle. You can clearly see the layer of sediment at the bottom and take measures not to accidentally touch it during the pouring process. In an opaque container this will be much more difficult. It is necessary to install a drain valve at a certain height above the bottom, or to somehow contrive when overflowing.

Try the wort - just to find out what it tastes like. The taste will be terrible, I guarantee it. 🙂 Even later excellent wines at this stage are “still ta guidota” - the wort is saturated with yeast, living and dead, full of all sorts of fresh volatile components formed during the fermentation process, perhaps “seasoned” with all the delights of the tastes and aromas of YAMB. But still, the winemaker must know and understand the tastes of the must and wine at all stages of its creation. Young wine is like a child, clumsy and unattractive at the very beginning, but then developing into a beautiful creation.

Use of air blockers

The 19 liter cylinder is familiar to everyone. This is exactly what I use. I am sure that in a couple of months the wine will not pick up any harmful components from food-grade plastic. It is also important that they are much easier to work with than 20-liter glass bottles due to the large dead weight of glass bottles and the danger of breaking them. So if you have a friend who bottles drinking water, it's time to take advantage of your friendship. I don’t have such a friend, and I made an agreement with the courier of the company that delivered water to our office. You can always purchase a small number of such cylinders “at a reduced price” from them.
Since from now on it is very important to prevent air from entering the wort, the neck of the container is plugged with a stopper in which a hole is drilled. An air blocker, or seal, is inserted into this hole, allowing carbon dioxide and other gases formed during fermentation to freely exit the container with future homemade wine, and does not allow outside air to enter the container. There are many types of air blockers. The most common ones are shown in the figures below:

My favorite type (for aesthetic reasons) is the single glass locker. But since this model is not the cheapest and is quite fragile, I prefer to use a single plastic blocker.
Fill the bottle up to the “shoulders”, that is, to the point where the bottle begins to narrow into the neck, so that there is enough space for foam. Never allow foam to rise to the level of the blocker or get inside. Foam can spill out through the blocker onto the floor, which will immediately attract clouds of insects and, of course, cause rapid growth of mold. If the wine does not release gas through the blocker, clean and replace the blocker, and pour some wine out of the bottle.

Quiet fermentation should take place in a room with a relatively low temperature - from 16 to 21 ° C. Try to keep the container with fermenting wort as far as possible from the direct effects of cold and drafts. At this time of year, as a rule, it is already deep autumn.

When the silent fermentation is completely completed, the empty space in the cylinder forms a small vacuum, which draws the disinfectant solution towards the cylinder. This is a signal about the end of fermentation. Don't let the air blocker work in reverse, drawing air (and solution droplets as well) back into the wine. To prevent this, the progress of secondary fermentation should be closely monitored. After some time - this can take from several days to a month or two - the number of bubbles will decrease from many per minute to several per day. A few days after this, when the formation of gas bubbles stops altogether, strain the wine - yes, yes, this is already young wine! - with a hose (this process is also called “sedimentation” or “decantation”) into a clean bottle and seal it with an air blocker, which must first be thoroughly rinsed and a fresh pyrosulfite solution poured into it. This time the wine should be poured into the container, a couple of centimeters short of the bottom edge of the cork. This way, only a minimal amount of air will remain in the cylinder. Some gases dissolved in the wine will come out, the air blocker will release a few bubbles. Then everything will calm down, and the wine can be aged.

Many winemakers use medical gloves with pierced fingers instead of a blocker to release gases. This is possible, of course, but I don’t like it: it’s impossible to accurately monitor the stages of the fermentation process, and it’s also unaesthetic. Buying blockers today is not a problem. But if you still can’t find it, do this: insert a flexible tube (for example, from a medical dropper) into the bottle cap and lower its end into a glass of water. The glass can be placed next to the bottle, or you can tape it to it: this will make it more convenient to move it.

First removal from sediment

It is necessary to slightly sulfite your homemade wine during the first decantation after fermentation, since the sulfur we added when crushing the grapes has already been partially bound in chemical reactions, and has partially evaporated along with carbon dioxide during fermentation. Some winemakers add large amounts of sulfite to the wine during the first racking. Some don't add it at all. If you added the minimum amount that I recommended in previous articles, you can add more
25 mg of sulfur per liter, this is approximately 1 g of pyrosulfite per bottle of 19...20 liters. This makes the wine more transparent and preserves it, especially those wines that are sent to the cellar for storage and aging.

Since the duration of the period of secondary fermentation and the settling of a clearly visible layer of sediment can vary from one to ten weeks, it is difficult to formulate any clear timing for the first decantation. Suffice it to say that the first pumping should be done when all the sugar has fermented into alcohol and gas formation has completely stopped. Almost always, with rare exceptions, this happens at the end of November-December.
After the first decant, the amount of wine will be reduced by the amount of sediment you separate. I have found that, as a rule, three containers of unexpressed wine filled to the shoulder level will yield two full containers of finished wine. If you need more wine to top up your bottle, use the same type of wine, store-bought or good homemade wine. The wine for topping up must be no worse in quality than the wine you are topping up! To express wine, you need to have spare bottles on hand. You will only need one spare bottle if you immediately wash out the first bottle you just emptied and use it to drain the wine from the second. A couple of spare bottles are always very handy, and I can afford to wash used bottles when I have free time at the end of the whole process, rather than rushing from side to side during the desludge process.

It often happens that when you fill a bottle, there will be too little wine left to fill a whole bottle. This is where 6 liter bottles in which mineral water is sold come in handy. Also keep several 2 and 1.5 liter mineral water bottles in your household. The wine should be poured under the caps without any residue. Another good thing about mineral water bottles is that if 200...300 ml of wine is not enough to fill it up to the neck, you can simply squeeze it, letting out excess air, and screw it on. Such small vessels are good for refilling larger containers: bottles or barrels, the use of which in aging wine will be discussed later. Under no circumstances should you leave a container with fully fermented wine and not fill it completely, otherwise the wine will spoil.

At this point, at the first removal from the lees, we finished with the process of fermentation, the formation of our young homemade wine from grape must. Now he has to move from the stage of childhood and adolescence to the stage of maturity - to go through the process of aging. We will talk about it in the next article. In the meantime, you already have enough information to welcome the beginning of the winemaking season! 🙂