Young Country Wine is festering not fermenting. I think!

[foodsasmedicine]

Hi to all

This is my first attempt at making a young country wine and three days into the fermentation process…. it's not looking good! Or is it?!

Since I haven't made it before I don't really have any experience to go on but it seems to me there is more festering than fermenting going on.

I used 1 part sugar to 5 parts water as there's already a lot of sugar in the figs. I also used close to a kilo of figs (give or take) and one vanilla bean.

Any thoughts or feedback on whether this is normal, salvageable or down the sink worthy would be much appreciated.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meraviglia/12643048224/

Cheers

[FermentingYeti]

Give it some time and stir a lot to aerate it. You should have plenty of yeast on the figs-they just need aeration so they can start getting to know the enzymes in the must and get the party started.

Looking at your picture, you may want to carefully skim off the moldy bits before stirring. Mold can only grow on the surface but you don't want to mix it in. I've found that regular stirring keeps this from happening. Maybe skim off all the moldy figs and put some fresh ones in, and then stir several times a day.

I occasionally have wild ferments start fermenting in three days, but it can often take a day or three longer. Make sure it's in a fairly warm place. I put mine over a heater vent since I have central heating.

Rarely is a wild ferment down-the-sink-worthy. If nothing else, make vinegar or add it to your compost pile, if you have one.