Need help with stunted fermentation

gavinsims

Hi all,
I'm in the midst of making apple wine using the 25 litre recipe. My wine has been fermenting with the apples for 3 weeks (I know the recipe says 2 weeks, but I left it an extra week as the hydrometer was too low).
Well I just checked it now and the hydrometer showed 1.04 which it says is beer/5% alcohol. My wine is around 20 degrees according to the temp and i think bubbles still coming up (hard to tell with the apples, but top is a bubble froth). I've given it a good stir to hopefully give the yeast a boost. Is this saveable? Maybe keep it warmer? It does seem to be fermenting, just very slowly, it smells alcohol, the bucket is swollen before I opened it to check.

Any help appreciated, I only used the wine kits before (grape concentrate 7 day kits) so this is all new to me.

Thanks in advance.

HBO_Staff

Hi, are we right in thinking you are using your own apples to make the wine? If it is then the fermentation time can really vary, keep it warm around 20 degrees C and then monitor it by taking hydrometer readings from time to time. It sounds as though it is still fermenting, small bubbles rising up through the liquid are a sign it is still fermenting and the hydrometer reading must be stable and remain unchanged for a couple of readings to show it has stopped, with a nice and low reading.

By stirring it up this helps to re-suspend the yeast and will help it keep going, the fermentation will be complete once all the sugars have fermented, it is important not to bottle before it has stopped as it would create excess pressure in your bottles.

If using apple juice then the fermentation time can really vary, don't worry if it takes quite a while, the main thing is to let it complete before bottling

gavinsims

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I've just added sachet 2, fermentation finally stopped! Think my apples were too sweet as I picked from a local tree. Tasting very nice though, will keep you posted ☺