1

Since I had enough sloes left over after doing this year's sloe gin, I have a demijohn of sloes fermenting - the first home brewing I've tried. About 2kg of sloes, boiled down with 2kg of sugar, and some wine yeast provided my more experienced brewers.

It's clearly fermenting, but is going very slowly - only one 'glub' through the air lock ever thirty seconds or more. I tried adding even more sugar, and it didn't help.

There's a lot of non-sugar material in there, so is this sloth to be expected? Does it indicate that the yeast is processing the more complex fruit sugars instead of the simple sugar? Is it just going to produce the right result very slowly, or will it fail? Is there anything I can do to find out what's going on in there?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

I'm personally not familiar with fermenting Sloes, but mead generally does not ferment much faster than 1 bubble every 15-30 seconds. "Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew."

Improve this answer
1

Also, try adding a little yeast nutrient to your wine, the yeast may be sluggish because of a lack of nutrients. Mead is another wine that lacks nutrients, so i mix in some nutrient when I pitch the yeast and add a the rest of the recommended amount on day 2 or so.

I realize this is probably getting to you too late, but it's something to think about for next time.

Improve this answer
1
  • Still appreciated. I did add some nutrient at the beginning, it was given to me along with the yeast, but if the sloes are lacking in the nutrient then maybe they need more than usual.
    – Marcus Downing
    Commented Nov 23, 2010 at 8:24

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.