air lock not bubbling

[jennybain]

Hi - I need some advice as this is my first attempt at making wine. I am making Elderberry and Bramble wine and have had the mash for 5 days in a fermenting bucket with sugar, yeast, nutrient, pectolase and citric acid. Fermentation was going fine and I strained it into a demi john 2 days ago. In the first few hours I noticed some bubbles being released through the air lock but over the last 24 hours or so I have noticed no bubbles.

I am not sitting watching it, and am at work all day, but I thought I would definitely have noticed bubbling. The Demi John is plastic, by the way.....can this make a difference?

The brew is sitting in my bathroom on heated floor tiles, so I assume it is warm enough. Should I add more yeast/sugar/both??? The recipe I am following didn't say to add any more sugar when transferring it to demi john.
Should I have?

Thanks.
Jenny

[SarzWix]

Did you add the yeast at the same time as the pectolase? They should really be 24 hours apart, or the pectolase stops the yeast from working. Try another tsp of yeast

[jennybain]

Hi - I added the Pectolase the day before the yeast etc.

I also have the demijohn about 3/4 full.....should I have topped it up? if so, with what and is it too late now?

[jennybain]

if I am adding more yeast, do I mix it with anything first or just sprinkle it into Demijohn? should I add more sugar and remove/replace airlock?

[Two_Sheds]

you tend not to get any bubbling with the plastic DJs: it's perfectly normal. It's because the plastic expands to accommodate the gas; glass doesn't expand so the gas gets forced through the airlock

[jennybain]

ahhh, I didn't think of that. maybe it is all going ok then. I can't find my hydrometer and so couldn't take a reading before I started, or since.

Should I top up the demijohn though? I would say I have about 4-5 inches space at the moment, but then this would let oxygen into the container.

[Two_Sheds]

you want to have the liquid up to the neck of the DJ. Think first though, if you intend adding more sugar at some point?

I tend to bubble it for a month, then rack it. Then top up to the neck with grape juice to extend the fermentation further (and get a stronger wine)

[jennybain]

do you just use ordinary grape juice from cartons?

[Two_Sheds]

Yes, but pressed, not UHT.

The standard advice is to top up with sugar dissolved in boiling water, but I prefer to use fruit juice

[Keith2202]

Most of the fermentation will have happened in the bucket, it will be going a lot slower now, hence not so noticeably bubbling.

[jennybain]

Ok, I hoped this would be the case. So if it was you, would you not bother adding anymore sugar or yeast? Just leave it alone now and let it 'happen'?

[Two_Sheds]

that depends how much you added in the first place. And if you're going to top up to the neck or not

[jennybain]

at the moment the mix contains 1.8kg sugar, 3kg fruit and the total volume is approx 1.7 gallons. (split between 2 demijohns)

[Two_Sheds]

I normally put 1kg of sugar in a DJ. Plus you get natural sugar in the fruit - you want to aim for a Specific Gravity of about 1090, which you then ferment out to 1000 or less.

So long as you have an SG of about 1090, your wine will be strong enough (about 12%) to keep.

If you add more sugar along the fermentation, and your yeast can cope with it, you'll get a stronger wine.

[jennybain]

thanks, this has all been very helpful.