I made a 5 gallon batch of must up following Jack Kellers recipe for
mulberry wine only I used mulberry juice in place of the mulberries (my
last batch with whole fruit was a bit to tannic for my taste....too
many seeds)

Anyway, I sulfited the must well, yet a day ana a half later it was
bubbling away. There is no funkiness in the batch, no nasty films,
just pretty purple foam. I tried to knock the fermentation out with a
healthy dose of sulfite (and it did slow it down) but I was not able to
stop it completly.

Also, when I made this batch I concurrently made a batch of morat
(using whole fruit) and that is fine, so I do not think the fruit was
the culprit. I can only guess I just did not get my fermenter
completely clean (I used one of those brew buckets with the spigot on
the side).

So any suggestions? Should I just try and pitch a large enough
quantity of yeast to overwhelm whatever is going away at it? I am
afraid if I try any more sulfite the batch will smell of skunks forever
(It has got upwards of 4 tsp in it already).

I do not really believe cleanliness is the issue here. The vat would have
to have been really noticeably unclean to have enough yeast to be at fault.
I bet it was the fruit. Now to your question.

First most wild yeast is more sensitive to sulfite than domestic wine yeast
so sulfite will slow it down or a day or so while the wine yeast becomes
dominant. You probably hit a wild yeast that is less sensitive to sulfite
than normal or it is possible your sulfite is old and has lost it's punch.
It only has a shelf life of 6 months if exposed to air even in powdered
form. It may have been old when you bought it if it was not sold in sealed
glass containers. Read Jack Keller's site on shelf life of wine making
chemicals. Also, you gave it a day and a half which is a bit long.

Second, sulfite is not an agent that will stop an ongoing fermentation.
Once the fermentation is going you are not going to stop it with sulfite
unless you add so much that it would ruin the wine.

Throw it out? No way! Either go with the wild yeast or introduce a
domestic yeast anyway. The wild yeast may (or may not) have a low alcohol
tolerance and may stick at between 5-10%. The domestic yeast could take
over then and finish the wine. But go ahead and see what comes out of this.
Do not give up prematurely.

Ray

"Droopy" wrote in message
ups.com...
I made a 5 gallon batch of must up following Jack Kellers recipe for
mulberry wine only I used mulberry juice in place of the mulberries (my
last batch with whole fruit was a bit to tannic for my taste....too
many seeds)

Anyway, I sulfited the must well, yet a day ana a half later it was
bubbling away. There is no funkiness in the batch, no nasty films,
just pretty purple foam. I tried to knock the fermentation out with a
healthy dose of sulfite (and it did slow it down) but I was not able to
stop it completly.

Also, when I made this batch I concurrently made a batch of morat
(using whole fruit) and that is fine, so I do not think the fruit was
the culprit. I can only guess I just did not get my fermenter
completely clean (I used one of those brew buckets with the spigot on
the side).

So any suggestions? Should I just try and pitch a large enough
quantity of yeast to overwhelm whatever is going away at it? I am
afraid if I try any more sulfite the batch will smell of skunks forever
(It has got upwards of 4 tsp in it already).

Droopy wrote:
I made a 5 gallon batch of must up following Jack Kellers recipe for
mulberry wine only I used mulberry juice in place of the mulberries (my
last batch with whole fruit was a bit to tannic for my taste....too
many seeds)

Anyway, I sulfited the must well, yet a day ana a half later it was
bubbling away. There is no funkiness in the batch, no nasty films,
just pretty purple foam. I tried to knock the fermentation out with a
healthy dose of sulfite (and it did slow it down) but I was not able to
stop it completly.

Also, when I made this batch I concurrently made a batch of morat
(using whole fruit) and that is fine, so I do not think the fruit was
the culprit. I can only guess I just did not get my fermenter
completely clean (I used one of those brew buckets with the spigot on
the side).

So any suggestions? Should I just try and pitch a large enough
quantity of yeast to overwhelm whatever is going away at it? I am
afraid if I try any more sulfite the batch will smell of skunks forever
(It has got upwards of 4 tsp in it already).


I had that happen with a pineapple wine that I started last year. The
campden tablets were put in same as every other batch, and when I went
to pitch the yeast the next day it was bubbling away. Since pineapples
are relatively inexpensive, I decided to let nature take its course on
that batch and either bottle or toss it after a year. I'm still bulk
aging it, about to bottle, but it seems okay (good, even).

It's up to you, but I'd probably try to go with what's there instead of
risking an excess of sulphur in the finished wine. Too bad it was
mulberry instead of something easily/cheaply purchased. :-(


Woods

"Woodswun" wrote in message
...
Droopy wrote:
I made a 5 gallon batch of must up following Jack Kellers recipe for
mulberry wine only I used mulberry juice in place of the mulberries (my
last batch with whole fruit was a bit to tannic for my taste....too
many seeds)

Anyway, I sulfited the must well, yet a day ana a half later it was
bubbling away. There is no funkiness in the batch, no nasty films,
just pretty purple foam. I tried to knock the fermentation out with a
healthy dose of sulfite (and it did slow it down) but I was not able to
stop it completly.

Also, when I made this batch I concurrently made a batch of morat
(using whole fruit) and that is fine, so I do not think the fruit was
the culprit. I can only guess I just did not get my fermenter
completely clean (I used one of those brew buckets with the spigot on
the side).

So any suggestions? Should I just try and pitch a large enough
quantity of yeast to overwhelm whatever is going away at it? I am
afraid if I try any more sulfite the batch will smell of skunks forever
(It has got upwards of 4 tsp in it already).


I had that happen with a pineapple wine that I started last year. The
campden tablets were put in same as every other batch, and when I went
to pitch the yeast the next day it was bubbling away. Since pineapples
are relatively inexpensive, I decided to let nature take its course on
that batch and either bottle or toss it after a year. I'm still bulk
aging it, about to bottle, but it seems okay (good, even).

It's up to you, but I'd probably try to go with what's there instead of
risking an excess of sulphur in the finished wine. Too bad it was
mulberry instead of something easily/cheaply purchased. :-(


Woods

There is a common misconception among home winemakers that sulfur dioxide
"kills yeast." Therefore, wine yeast should not be added for 24 hours after
adding sulfur dioxide. The 24 hour period is needed to allow the added
sulfur dioxide to blow off.

This is _not_ the best way to use SO2 in wine.

Added SO2 stunts most of the native yeasts found on grapes and makes the
native yeasts inactive for several hours. (Normal levels of SO2 will _not_
kill "wild" yeast).

Commercial "wine" yeast is _not_ effected by normal levels of SO2. So,
yeast manufacturers recommend adding commercial wine yeast right after the
sulfur dioxide is mixed into the must. The commercial yeast is unaffected,
and it reproduces several generations of new yeast cells while the native
yeast is till stunned. The commercial yeast cells then outnumber the native
yeast cells many time over, so the added yeast dominates the fermentation..

Lum
Del Mar, California, USA

Lum wrote:
"Woodswun" wrote in message
...

Droopy wrote:

I made a 5 gallon batch of must up following Jack Kellers recipe for
mulberry wine only I used mulberry juice in place of the mulberries (my
last batch with whole fruit was a bit to tannic for my taste....too
many seeds)

Anyway, I sulfited the must well, yet a day ana a half later it was
bubbling away. There is no funkiness in the batch, no nasty films,
just pretty purple foam. I tried to knock the fermentation out with a
healthy dose of sulfite (and it did slow it down) but I was not able to
stop it completly.

Also, when I made this batch I concurrently made a batch of morat
(using whole fruit) and that is fine, so I do not think the fruit was
the culprit. I can only guess I just did not get my fermenter
completely clean (I used one of those brew buckets with the spigot on
the side).

So any suggestions? Should I just try and pitch a large enough
quantity of yeast to overwhelm whatever is going away at it? I am
afraid if I try any more sulfite the batch will smell of skunks forever
(It has got upwards of 4 tsp in it already).


I had that happen with a pineapple wine that I started last year. The
campden tablets were put in same as every other batch, and when I went
to pitch the yeast the next day it was bubbling away. Since pineapples
are relatively inexpensive, I decided to let nature take its course on
that batch and either bottle or toss it after a year. I'm still bulk
aging it, about to bottle, but it seems okay (good, even).

It's up to you, but I'd probably try to go with what's there instead of
risking an excess of sulphur in the finished wine. Too bad it was
mulberry instead of something easily/cheaply purchased. :-(


Woods


There is a common misconception among home winemakers that sulfur dioxide
"kills yeast." Therefore, wine yeast should not be added for 24 hours after
adding sulfur dioxide. The 24 hour period is needed to allow the added
sulfur dioxide to blow off.

This is _not_ the best way to use SO2 in wine.

Added SO2 stunts most of the native yeasts found on grapes and makes the
native yeasts inactive for several hours. (Normal levels of SO2 will _not_
kill "wild" yeast).

Commercial "wine" yeast is _not_ effected by normal levels of SO2. So,
yeast manufacturers recommend adding commercial wine yeast right after the
sulfur dioxide is mixed into the must. The commercial yeast is unaffected,
and it reproduces several generations of new yeast cells while the native
yeast is till stunned. The commercial yeast cells then outnumber the native
yeast cells many time over, so the added yeast dominates the fermentation..

Lum
Del Mar, California, USA



Thanks for the info, I didn't know that.

Fortunately, it isn't a big problem, since the pineapples were pretty
cheap and it didn't cost much to start the must. (Actually, in looking
back through my records it was a pineapple mead that started on its own
- the honey was free, so it really only cost about $5 for a 5 gallon
batch). If it works, fine, if not, not a huge loss if I toss it.

I'll definitely keep the SO2 advice in mind for future projects. ^_^

Woods

Anyway, you were all right. It fermented down to about 1.060 by itself
(started at 1.10), it sat for a day and then picked up (I am assuming
after the commercial yeast I added kicked in).

It did not taste funny or in anyway off either.


I just wonder why the morat that I made with the same berries (and the
pomace from the wine, rinsed to extract color and leftover sugar) did
not ferment spontaneously. I did not pasturized the honey at all, so
you would think it would be more likely to take off by itself.