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wine not tasting alcoholic...Help!

PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 1:01 am
by shimolani
Hey folks!
Last year I started my first wine following the recipe in Wild Fermentation for elderberry wine. Its fairly straightforward and I followed the recipe carefully. It calls for 3 gal. berries, 10-12 lbs sugar, 1 packet of yeast. I used fresh wild lowbush cranberries that I harvested. After starting it, I transferred it into a glass carboy with an airlock and left it alone at a stable temperature for another 10 mo. It tastes wonderful, but not exactly alcoholic. Its still fairly sweet, although much more complex and definitely somewhat fermented. Does it need more time? More sugar? More yeast? The recipe says that once you bottle it, its ready to drink- is there something I can do during the bottling process to get it to ferment more as with champagne? Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

Re: wine not tasting alcoholic...Help!

PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 7:30 am
by Christopher Weeks
Did you see bubbling -- either in the vessel or in the water-lock? What kind of yeast did you use? I wonder if the fruit has antimicrobial properties that makes it a little tougher to ferment.

Re: wine not tasting alcoholic...Help!

PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 10:37 am
by shimolani
Hhhmm. Yes, that could be. Cranberry does have some pretty awesome antibacterial benefits, but elderberries do to I think... It definitely got bubbling pretty good when I first started it, but the bubbling died out within about a week. When I tested the sugar content all seemed good. I'm not sure exactly what kind of yeast it was, but it was a special kind that I bought designed for wild fruits that have lots of their own yeast going. Does anyone know if it will continue to develop flavor after its racked? Also looking back over my notes I think that I forgot to transfer it a second time leaving the sediment behind, earlier on in the process. Could this have an undesirable effect?