Hello All,

I just got finished my first batch of mulberry wine and I must say I was
pleasantly surprised with both its flavor and potency. It built up my ego
enough to go ahead and try to make another batch of wine.

I try to make wine with whatever I have available on the property. Being
in Florida in the spring time the orange trees produced quite a bit of
fruit. In particular I used Valencia oranges.

Below is the recipe I used along with questions about primary
fermentation.

Recipe:

The juice of 25 medium sized Valencia oranges
The zest of 5 Valencia oranges
1 1/2 gallons of water
4 lbs of sugar
2 packets of Montrachet red start yeast
2 tsp of yeast nutrient(Fermax)

Process:

1. I juiced all 25 oranges which gave me 1 gallon of juice

2. I double filtered the pulp out of the juice leaving me with about 7/8th
of a gallon of juice

3. I set this aside in a pitcher and then zested 5 orange peels being
careful to only get the orange part of the zest.

4. I mixed the zest with the water and slowly mixed 2 lbs of sugar while
bringing the mixture to a slow boil.

5. Once it boiled I lowered the heat and let it simmer for 25 minutes

6. When this mixture reached room temperature, I mixed in the orange juice
that I set aside. I measured the SG it came out to be 1.060.

NOTE: This is where I deviated from the recipe a bit. The original recipe
called for using a yeast starter of 2 packets of yeast mixed with water, and
sugar spread onto a piece of toast to get things started. I felt this was a
bit gross and thought I would try another type of yeast starter.

7. I took 1/2 cup of water at 100 degs F and rehydrated 2 packets of
montrochet yeast for 30 minutes.

8. Once things seem hydrated a half hour later I added a pinch of yeast
nutrient and two tsp of sugar.

9. I waited and watched the starter bloom into life.

10. About an hour and a half later I noticed that the activity was dying
down so I added 1oz of must.

11. A half hour later I noticed that the starter had bloomed to life again.

12. I also noticed that I had forgot to add the yeast nutrient to the pot of
must so I added 2tsp of yeast nutrient.

13. I went to bed and 6 hours later when I woke I added the yeast starter to
the must and went to work.

14. I came home 10 hours later and stirred the mixture, and noticed not must
of a yeasty smell but alot of fizzing when I stirred the mixture.

QUESTIONS:

1. Is there a problem with my primary fermentation?

2. Should I just wait a day or two and see?

3. Is it possible that an SG of 1.060 is too high for the yeast?

4. Can I restart a possible stuck fermentation by slowly acclimating the
yeast culture to the strong sugary must?

Any help or suggestions would be great.
Thanks
Mike T.