2

I have a wine that's been on primary fermentation for 10 days and still haven't seen any activity in the airlock. I think that the reason is the sugar and the yeast needed to be added. I saw in some YouTube channels that in one gallon of Welch's grape juice I should take out two cups of the juice out, then I have to add half a kg of sugar and one teaspoon of yeast to it. In fact, I did not remove the two cups because I'm using a bigger container.

So shall I add like 150 grams of sugar and 1/3 of the yeast to it?

Note: I'm using bread yeast, and my room temperature is 21°C or 70°F.

3
  • 2
    why are you using bread yeast... brewers yeast isn't expensive, are you following a recipe? grape juice should have enough sugar to ferment, if you get too much sugar it will inhibit the yeast.. I dont know what 150g of sugar is for your size of vessel, 150 g of sugar could be a lot for a liter, and not really anything for a 20l fermentor. Commented Sep 2, 2019 at 14:44
  • 1
    Bread yeast works just fine and produces a delicious product protecting the fruity flavors of your fruit.So long as you aren’t expecting alcohol above 10ish percent then there is not good reason not to use bakers yeast.
    – Escoce
    Commented Sep 2, 2019 at 15:26
  • 1
    Please post all ingredients of your recipe, quantity of juice, sugar, water, etc. Also, Welch's Grape Juice could contain preservatives that will slow the yeast, check the juice ingredients to be sure.
    – Philippe
    Commented Sep 3, 2019 at 15:10

1 Answer 1

2

So the reason for removing juice rather than getting a larger container is to protect the sanitary environment of the juice bottle. If you start transferring juice into a new container, you are effectively undoing that. In this case you really need the ability to sanitize your bottles and equipment.

Regarding letting your juice stand for 10 days before adding sugar and yeast, well...at this point is like rolling the dice. It may be infected it may not be.

Since it’s such a small amount, I would go buy a new bottle of juice.

Yes you can give yourself food poisoning if the wrong bug gets a hold of your juice. You are usually safe, but food poisoning IS a real possibility when you haven’t taken the proper precautions (such as sanitary conditions, and supporting an active fermentation). Letting exposed juice sit around doing nothing adds some risk that something will go wrong. I am making these numbers up, but let’s say 9 times out of 10 you’ll be fine. It’s the 1 time out of 10 that you worry about.

3
  • 1
    Thank you for your reply. First off all, I'm using bread yeast; because I'm from Saudi Arabia and we're not allowed to import wine yeast. Second : the big container is a disposal water container, so io pretty sure that it's sanitized. 3rd : I put 3 gallons of my grabe juice with 1.5 kg of sugar and one teaspoon of yeast, and I am asking if I should add more yeast because it's not active enough. And I learned this recipe youtu.be/R6VDWftvuj4
    – Rash
    Commented Sep 2, 2019 at 20:19
  • 1
    You can add more yeast if you want, it might speed things up. I knew a pilot who would smuggle wine yeast into SA. Just a few packets at a time, but that’s enough to grow more yeast from. I think bread yeast is just fine. Something you need to know, a disposed water container is not sanitary. Clean and sanitary are at very different levels. Get some StarSan. It is used by the food industry all over the world.
    – Escoce
    Commented Sep 2, 2019 at 22:44
  • 1
    Thank you for your helpful reply Escoce
    – Rash
    Commented Sep 3, 2019 at 6:37

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.