Experiment with EC-1118

[KatoFong]

So lately there's been a few discussions about EC-1118. Some call it friend, others call it foe. Some people note its fast ferment, while others (myself in particular) say it has a tendency to lag. One source on the parent site recommends it as a good wash yeast, because it ferments out really crisp and clean, while I personally find it tends to be a bit funky when it ferments.

In researching EC-1118, I've found it's a pris de mousse yeast. As near as I can figure, that means it's meant to be added with sugar to an already fermented wine to add carbonation, as you would do in making champagne. Hence the high alcohol tolerance (a low tolerance yeast wouldn't be able to start a good ferment in an already fermented wine). In working with it recently on a mead, I noticed that, when I fermented the primary well under its alcohol tolerance and then added sugar and fruit to it in the secondary, it 1) roared to life in the secondary and 2) fermented out crisper than I had seen it do before. Its ferment also had a better defined end with the yeast settling and the wine clarifying relatively succinctly.

So tonight I'm beginning an experiment. I'm going to start a batch of wine using the following recipe and see what we end up with:

In primary:

25 lbs store-bought white grapes
7 lbs sugar
Water to 3 gallons
10 or so sachets of EC-1118
Some fresh OJ (for fine vegetable matter)
Yeast nutrient

Crush grapes in primary. Invert the sugar by dissolving into 1 gallon of boiling water with a few tsps of citric acid added. Add to primary and top off with remaining water. Rehydrate yeast and stir into the must. Cover with cheesecloth and loose lid and let sit for three days. Aerate regularly.

After three days, strain grape matter from the surface of the must, taking care to press out as much juice as possible. Siphon must into secondary.

In secondary:

Add to must

3 lbs sugar, dissolved into enough water to bring total to five gallons
(potentially) 0ne can 100% grape juice concentrate.

Mix thoroughly into must and afix airlock. Let it ferment out.

Alternately, I may do two secondary additions of sugar to the must, so as to bring the alcohol up gradually. My hope is that the incremental ferment will produce a better "wine" than simply dumping a bunch of sugar and letting the yeast go unsupervised.

[possum]

Good luck KatoFong. It seems like a good plan. I have had good luck with the re-sugaring process for my raspberry, and wineberry wine.

My next wine experiment is going to use a similar plan, but I like sweet wine, so I'll POISON my yeast with some spirit, and keep some sweetness by bosting the %abv to 20+%. That should remove the need for chemical stabilizers or synthetic sweetners.

[KatoFong]

So you'll basically be making a port-style fortified wine, then?

[possum]

Exactly, but not with grapes, berry fruit.
The red wineberrys and black raspberrys grow around the cemetaries and roadsides in Southern PA. About the last week of june untill mid july the fruit should be ready. I just hope I can get the time to pick them with my summer classes (away from my usual residence by 200miles). If I can get a good pickin' on I will probably freeze 'em untill I can get the yeasties in effect...it will be a little cooler then in september anyway and I should have more time.

When I fed my fruit wines in multiple stages using REDSTAR CHMPAGNE last year the end result was good. My sister liked it very much, but the supply is gone now.

[WhiteLightning]

I've found that the EC-1118 yeast is better than the Red Star champange yeast, but neither are anywhere as good as; http://www.whitelabs.com/gravity.html
This stuff is super-amazing. My local brew shop carries the stuff, and along with most of White Labs yeast products. Anyway this stuff ferments really fast, it says to aerate, but you dont really need to do it.

[possum]

I thought that ec-1118 and red* champ were the same, but distributed by different companies ? No matter. I absoloutly love the platnum25 from White labs ! I used it mixed along with crosby distillers yeast for my rum and whiskey. It is the stuff. Crosby distillers gives good results by itself as well. But together my rum came out great, fast, highly alcoholic (before distill), and compleatly dry. I did get to feeding my rum in stages after building up a big yeast population.

I've had "a couple of drops" already tonight, I can't wait untill I get some more of of that rum going again.

Like I mentioned earlier, I had pretty good final product from the red* champ for wine, but for all sugar and nutrient wash, it was poopy.

[KatoFong]

Started this batch today. 15lbs grapes, but I'll fortify the taste with grape juice in the secondary. This is the first time I've used whole grapes for a wine, so I wasn't sure how much juice the grapes would release. It turned out they released a lot more than I had thought. Also, lacking a mechanical method to crush them, I had to resort to the old methods...I stomped them. Not with my feet, but it was basically the same method. I feel so Italian.

It's bubbling happily away and my kitchen smells pleasantly of yeast. In about a week, I'm going to rack it into the secondary and add sugar and juice.

[possum]

Did you use campden tablets or anything like that to kill off the wild yeasts ?
It is not 100% required, but it helps to have only the organisms that you desire in there. It will probably work anyway, it might be too late to mention it.

[KatoFong]

I didn't use a campden tablet, no, but I gave them a good thorough washing beforehand. And I think I used enough EC-1118 in the wash that any wild yeasts will quickly be rubbed out. I just aerated the wash and it's bubbling pretty vigorouslY, so someone's working on it.

[pothead]

Here is what I did with the last few grape batches....
Put 20lbs grapes in nylon bag(the coarse kind), then I put them in a big stock pot and boiled them, added 5lbs sugar, then simmered them for a couple hours(mashing them in the bag heavily every 10 minutes or so). Then I let it cool, pour it into a fermenting bucket(keeping the grapes in the bag in the fermenter) add my nutrients, a little lemon juice, and yeast, and let it go. I gave the bag a good pressing twice a day. I let it go for 2 weeks, then pull the bag out and toss it. I let it settle for another 2 weeks, than run it.

[KatoFong]

Where do you get the nylon bag?

I strained the grape matter from the top last night and transferred into a secondary and gave the yeast a second feeding of grape juice and sugar. This wash is fermenting far more vigorously than I've ever seen before with EC-1118...seriously, it's a little frightening to watch. So I'm either on to something with this staged feeding thing or something wild has taken hold.

I'm going to let this run until things settle a bit and I can rack it, then I'll rack off the lees, add another two to four pounds of sugar (total added sugar to=12 lbs) and as much grape juice as it takes to pull everything up to 5 gallons. Then I'll let it go until it fairly well clears and run it. Really I've got no reason to rush this one. My still is with a welder right now, so it's going to be a while before I can run anything anyway.

[Tater]

Paint store carry bags to strain paint. They have them big enough to fit a 5 gallon bucket.

[KatoFong]

I'll remember that next time I make a wash like this or any wine from grapes. I know a suprising number of people who have fruiting grape vines growing around their houses. A Chicago vintage could be in order.

[Big J]

Any updates on this? Curious how it went.

I started out using EC-1118 but have been experimenting with other yeasts on my molasses washes, as I wasn't happy with the flavor of my rum. I spoke with some really knowledgeable people in the local wine industry and they weren't big fans of EC-1118. I'm looking forward to seeing how other yeasts affect the flavor of my finished product.

Curious to see how it works out for you as its made for grapes and not molasses!

Cheers,
J

[pothead]

I prefer bakers yeast for molasess and grapes