I made a wine with Zinfadel grapes by the following steps.
I crushed the grapes.
Let the must/juice ferment for 3 weeks(it fermented the whole time I
was surprised).
And then I have the wine in carboys now in my basement.

The fermentation was done in my garage and I did not control the
temperature. I did not add anything to the wine no yeast no chemicals
none of that shit. The grapes I bought do contain sulfates or whatever
they use when growing them. During the day it was 50 degrees and at
night it was 30 degrees roughly. One carboy I drank and the wine was
just a little sugary but this other carboy the wine is very sugary. Is
the wine going to eventually ferment? What should I do? Still good
though!

> During the day it was 50 degrees and at
> night it was 30 degrees roughly. One carboy I drank and the wine was
> just a little sugary but this other carboy the wine is very sugary. Is
> the wine going to eventually ferment? What should I do? Still good
> though!

Warm it to at least 75 F and it may finish fermenting.

Joe

Joe is right. Warm it up and it might finish.

Relying on wild or native yeasts can be a bit of a crapshoot. You may
end up with a strain that's ideal for wine and can ferment it to
dryness, but you could just as easily end up with a strain that either
doesn't finish, or produces off flavors or aromas. In the future you
may want to consider inoculating with a cultured yeast strain.

Greg G.

On Dec 31 2008, 3:39*am, wrote:
> I made a wine with Zinfadel grapes by the following steps.
> I crushed the grapes.
> Let the must/juice ferment for 3 weeks(it fermented the whole time I
> was surprised).
> And then I have the wine in carboys now in my basement.
>
> The fermentation was done in my garage and I did not control the
> temperature. I did not add anything to the wine no yeast no chemicals
> none of that shit. The grapes I bought do contain sulfates or whatever
> they use when growing them. During the day it was 50 degrees and at
> night it was 30 degrees roughly. One carboy I drank and the wine was
> just a little sugary but this other carboy the wine is very sugary. Is
> the wine going to eventually ferment? What should I do? Still good
> though!

From your method you just dont care how you make the wine so you won't
care about how it turns out. May I suggest that you research the
methods, ingredients, etc and employ a certain amount of care and
common sense to gain the desirable result? It will certainly help.

T.B.

i think the cold may have stopped the fermentation process... that
happened to me once .to fix i put some wine yeast in a half quart of
100%orange juice, till it started fermenting good then added it to the
wine.it took right off. i left it in open bucket till it reached 1.300
specific gravity,then went into carboy with air lock at room temp till
done ,1.0 specific gravity,about 65 degrees room temp.. lucas

----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.minibite.com/america/malone.htm

Hi All,
> wrote in message
...
> i think the cold may have stopped the fermentation process... that
> happened to me once .to fix i put some wine yeast in a half quart of
> 100%orange juice, till it started fermenting good then added it to the
> wine.it took right off. i left it in [OPEN BUCKET ] till it reached 1.300
> specific gravity,then went into carboy with air lock at room temp till
> done ,1.0 specific gravity,about 65 degrees room temp.. lucas
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> http://www.minibite.com/america/malone.htm
>
I would not leave it in an open bucket, as you may get contamination. Cover
the bucket with a plastic bag and an elastic band or some other type of
cover. hope this helps you.

Richard M. Watkin.

On Dec 30 2008, 7:39*pm, wrote:
> I did not add anything to the wine no yeast no chemicals
> none of that shit.

No wonder it's not working. There's more to making wine than just
letting it rot.

On Jan 5, 4:17*pm, Madalch > wrote:
> On Dec 30 2008, 7:39*pm, wrote:
>
> > I did not add anything to the wine no yeast no chemicals
> > none of that shit.
>
> No wonder it's not working. *There's more to making wine than just
> letting it rot.

Natural yeast will quit around 11% alcohol. If your grapes were very
ripe the fermentation will stick with residual sugar left.

On Jan 5, 4:21*pm, wrote:
> Natural yeast will quit around 11% alcohol. If your grapes were very
> ripe the fermentation will stick with residual sugar left.

If he's lucky. His two carboys wound up with different yeast
colonies, since one of them fermented a lot more than the other.

On Mon, 5 Jan 2009 16:34:39 -0800 (PST), Madalch >
wrote:

>On Jan 5, 4:21*pm, wrote:
>> Natural yeast will quit around 11% alcohol. If your grapes were very
>> ripe the fermentation will stick with residual sugar left.
>
>If he's lucky. His two carboys wound up with different yeast
>colonies, since one of them fermented a lot more than the other.

Some wild yeasts do well to get as high as 4%.

You can skip the sulfite if you wish to take a chance with that,
especially after the initial 24 hours (more chancy before that time),
but adding a cultured yeast for winemaking (not for bread or beer
making) is not using a chemical additive. It's a natural product.

Leaving things up to chance gives you unpredictable results, as you've
seen different results even between the two batches.

Covering the fermenters and using an airlock will prevent the
unpredictable yeasts and bacteria from getting into your wine.

On Jan 5, 7:34*pm, Madalch > wrote:
> On Jan 5, 4:21*pm, wrote:
>
> > Natural yeast will quit around 11% alcohol. If your grapes were very
> > ripe the fermentation will stick with residual sugar left.
>
> If he's lucky. *His two carboys wound up with different yeast
> colonies, since one of them fermented a lot more than the other.

You're right. The average is more close to 8% than 11%. Bottom line is
natural yeast won't end up with a dry ferment.

On Jan 5, 7:02*pm, Donald > wrote:

> but adding a cultured yeast for winemaking (not for bread or beer
> making) is not using a chemical additive. It's a natural product.

"Chemical additive" is not a synonym for "unnatural" or "evil",
despite what the organic food movement would have you think.

The grapes that one starts out with a chock full of chemicals-
sucrose, glucose, fructose, tartatric acid, tannic acid, phenols,
citric acid, ascorbic acid, various esters, etc., etc. And don't
forget the dihydrogen monoxide. Anyone who is afraid of -chemicals-
shouldn't be making wine. Or eating. Or drinking. Or breathing.

On Jan 5, 5:21*pm, wrote:
> On Jan 5, 4:17*pm, Madalch > wrote:
>
> ...
> Natural yeast will quit around 11% alcohol. If your grapes were very
> ripe the fermentation will stick with residual sugar left.

All of the cultured yeasts that are commonly used are "natural". They
were isolated from the environment in various wine producing regions
of the world. I've heard recently of a genetically modified strain,
but it isn't available in small sachets for home wine makers yet.

Native, wild, or feral yeasts may be anything. If you just crush
grapes and let them start fermenting, the yeast strain at work may be
one that has never been put to the task of wine making, or it may be
one that has a long history and was released into your environment in
recent times. For this reason you could end up with a fermentation
stopping at 8 percent or finishing at 20%.

Relying on native or wild yeasts is like a box of chocolates, "you
never know what you're gonna get".

Greg G.