Good Day, All! First time wine-maker and am having apparent success w/ my apple-cranberry wine bubbling away happily in the carboy. Since I've been overwhelmed with an abundance of apples off my trees this year, I'm pressing a lot of cider and wanted to start up some Cyster.
Recipe:
• 3 lbsClover Honey
• 1 tspAcid Blend
• 1 tspPectic Enzyme
• 1 tspYeast Nutrient
• 3Campden Potassium Metabisulphite Tablets
• 1 packetRed Star Cote Des Blanc
• 3 Gal fresh Cider (pressed it ourselves)
Procedure
Combine one gallon of fresh apple cider with the honey and heat to 180°F. Hold for 10 minutes.
Cool to 85°F. The remaining two gallons should be left in the sanitized primary fermenter.
Crush Campden tablets, dissolve in ½ cup cool water and add to primary fermenter. Add the apple/honey mixture, acid blend, pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient. Stir thoroughly, cover with pail lid and let the juice rest for 24 hours.
Pitch the yeast, place the lid securely on the pail and attach the air lock. Allow it to ferment at room temperature for 14 days or until the activity in the air lock slows to less than 1 bubble per minute, whichever is longer.
Well, today is day 6 and still no activity. SG is still @ starting point of 1.08+. After a little reading, I thought putting the pail lid on was the problem, and the gas was still in the must and killed (or slowed) the yeast. So 2 days ago I covered instead with light towel and have been stirring daily, even added an energizer yesterday and raised the heat a little, thinking also it was too cool.
At this point I'm worried about it going bad soon. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Recipe:
• 3 lbsClover Honey
• 1 tspAcid Blend
• 1 tspPectic Enzyme
• 1 tspYeast Nutrient
• 3Campden Potassium Metabisulphite Tablets
• 1 packetRed Star Cote Des Blanc
• 3 Gal fresh Cider (pressed it ourselves)
Procedure
Combine one gallon of fresh apple cider with the honey and heat to 180°F. Hold for 10 minutes.
Cool to 85°F. The remaining two gallons should be left in the sanitized primary fermenter.
Crush Campden tablets, dissolve in ½ cup cool water and add to primary fermenter. Add the apple/honey mixture, acid blend, pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient. Stir thoroughly, cover with pail lid and let the juice rest for 24 hours.
Pitch the yeast, place the lid securely on the pail and attach the air lock. Allow it to ferment at room temperature for 14 days or until the activity in the air lock slows to less than 1 bubble per minute, whichever is longer.
Well, today is day 6 and still no activity. SG is still @ starting point of 1.08+. After a little reading, I thought putting the pail lid on was the problem, and the gas was still in the must and killed (or slowed) the yeast. So 2 days ago I covered instead with light towel and have been stirring daily, even added an energizer yesterday and raised the heat a little, thinking also it was too cool.
At this point I'm worried about it going bad soon. Any suggestions would be appreciated!