restarting fermentation?

[redadmiral]

well, we've been trying to make elderflower wine this year (first time at brewing anything, ever) following a recipe from my grandfather. all was going well until we syphoned it off and the recipe said it could be topped up with some extra sugar dissolved in water. we (fools that we were ) figured the recipe knew what it was talking about, and did so.

however, fermentation has now stopped entirely, and we have a very sweet wine! i have given it a stir and put it in a warm place in the hopes the yeast will reactivate.

anyone got any ideas of how else i could get the yeast to eat up all the sugar? or are we just going to be drinking sweet sweet wine?

[amandaandherveg]

I was going to be asking a similar question. Started my elderflower champagne on Monday (River Cottage recipe but cut the sugar in half). It's in a dark cupbard, nothing happening so far, added half a teaspoon of dry yeast last night - still nothing.

[scarey55]

It says in my trusty CJ Berry book that the simplest solution is to add some "restart", a high powered yeast but if this and all other remedies fail, make up a half pint starter with the juice of three oranges,water,1 level desert spoon sugar, yeast and a pinch of nutrient. Get it going well, then add an equal quantity of the stuck wine. When all this is fermenting, again add an equal quantity of wine and continue doubling up in this way until it is all fermenting once more.

I have never tried it myself but it might help. Shirlthegirl is our resident wine expert but I think she has some problems getting connected to the internet at the moment.

Good luck and let us know if it helps.

[redadmiral]

Thank you! i had just this moment (before i read this) started on your second suggestion, as i'm working with very limited resources and there is nowhere around here to buy any extra strong yeast.

i've got some of the diluted wine, yeast and nutrient on the go, and it appears to be beginning to ferment away happily. i'll let it really get going and then keep adding more wine gradually to help the yeast acclimatise to the alcohol.

thank you for confirming that i'm on the right track. i'll let you know if the wine is salvaged!

[Brewer-again]

restart

the way to restart stuck brews is to make a starter, sugar and yeast and when it is working slowly add the stuck wine to it. Half a pint of starter + pint of brew. When that is frothing add an equal quantity of brew again and so on till it is all go.

wine to starter, works for any stuck brew.

[Hilary B]

the way to restart stuck brews is to make a starter, sugar and yeast and when it is working slowly add the stuck wine to it. Half a pint of starter + pint of brew. When that is frothing add an equal quantity of brew again and so on till it is all go.

wine to starter, works for any stuck brew.

We made some very-sweet elderflower wine a couple of years ago, but it was also very strong (multi 'top-ups' with extra sugar every racking). Tastes a bit like a "pale cream" sherry, DELICIOUS! (hoping one of our 2 batches this year will be similar). I tend to use about twice as much elderflower as recommended, That is what makes the 'sherry' strength one nice.

[redadmiral]

the way to restart stuck brews is to make a starter, sugar and yeast and when it is working slowly add the stuck wine to it. Half a pint of starter + pint of brew. When that is frothing add an equal quantity of brew again and so on till it is all go.

wine to starter, works for any stuck brew.

yep, this is pretty much what i did, and now wine is happily fermenting away again! thanks to all who gave advice, i'm very happy!

[amandaandherveg]

I added a little extra yeast to my Elderflower Champagne, seemed to do the trick, it's like very tasty rocket fuel now.