Ray,
I am green as a gourd at this new hobby and in my first batch of Muscadine
wine the primary ferment went okay, added yeast and got a less than moderate
ferment. After a week I transferred it to the secondary carboys and put an
air lock on it. This was on December 2nd (south GA) 2 years ago and
probably too chilly.

It fermented steadily, but VERY slowly until after Thanksgiving last year,
almost a year. I added fresh yeast on one occasion shortly after
transferring to the secondary to try to get it going. No luck. I racked it
a couple of times to get if off the sediment and it cleared very well and
finally fermented dry. I bottled it and a couple of months later tried it.
Smelled great. Tasted like...well you know, wine... but different. It
might have been okay in a year or two, or ten, or it might have poisoned me.
With no experience for comparison purposes I opted to pour 48 bottles down
the drain, (insert sound of weeping).

This year's batch looks very promising and was started with frozen
muscadines back in June. Everything has gone well and it tastes much better.
I will bottle in a couple of weeks unless I decide to let it bulk age in the
carboys. I think I learned that getting off to a good ferment to start with
is important.
Logan
"Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
news
> Okay, a follow up to some posts I have made over the last few months.
>
> Back in February I started a 2.5 gal batch of Welch's Frozen Concord and a
> batch of the Niagra. I used the recipe on Jack's site for both. I
> started each at SG = 1.085. After 5 days I racked each. The Niagra
> continued fine. The Concord bubbled for a few days and stopped. I let it
> sit for a week or so and checked it . It was at 1.030, right where it was
> when I racked it. I repitched it. Nothing. I had a batch of mustang that
> needed racking into secondary so I added a pint of the lease and let it go
> for 3 weeks. Nothing.
>
> In the mean time I had started a batch of Welch's frozen Grape/Raspberry.
> It did the same thing and stuck at 1.030.
>
> The Niagara finished out fine, cleared and was a very nice wine.
>
> I needed to rack my cherry out of secondary to bulk age so I just racked
> both the two stuch lines onto the gal or so racked both of the two stuck
> wines onto the cherry sedement and stired them up good. After two weeks,
> nothing. The SG was down to about 1.020 thanks to adding all the dry
> finished lease.
>
> At this point I gave up. I racked it to a 5 gal carboy and set it asside
> to clear. I figured that I would just have some sweet, low alcohol wine.
> That was months ago. This weekend I figured I should rack off any
> sedement. When I checked it, I saw a bubble. I watched it and low and
> behold the airlock is bubbling at about 1 bubble a min. It is finally
> fermenting.
>
> I have no idea when it started, how long it has been going, or how much
> longer it will go. I did not even check the SG, just left it alone. I
> will check it in two weeks when I get back from vacation. In 25+ years of
> wine making this is the longest ferment I have ever had. One thing is for
> sure. If I like the results, I will never be able to duplicate it.
>
> In previous posts I have made some comments about the Welch's Concord
> sticking. Well, I am not sure now. Oh ... The Niagara is almost gone. A
> very nice white wine. Better than most of the Kit Whites I have made.
>
> Ray
>
>