# stabilized wine still fermenting?



## BernardSmith (Feb 29, 2012)

I racked 1 gallon of pomegranate wine (not from a kit ) with the SG at 1.000 and after a couple of weeks I added Ksorbate (1/4 t) and Kmeta (1 campden tab crushed) but after more than 12 hours the carboy is sending up tiny bubbles and the airlock is still indicating gas being produced. Is this usual? The other half dozen wines I have made seemed to stabilize when I used the same process and same chemicals...


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## cpfan (Feb 29, 2012)

Bubbles do not mean that the wine is fermenting. Bubbles mean that the wine is releasing the CO2 gas generated by fernentation.

Has the wine gotten warmer recently? Warmer liquids hold less CO2.

What was the sg when you added the K-meta & K-sorbate?

Steve


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## Wade E (Mar 1, 2012)

Is the sg still where it was when you added the sorbate? If so its just letting trapped gas out which is good, if not it wasnt truly done fermenting and you should wait until your wines sg is stable for at least 3 days before adding anything!


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## winemaker_3352 (Mar 1, 2012)

+1 to what wade said - also once you stabilize it - wait about 3 days before sweetening it - give the sorbate a chance to work.


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## Arne (Mar 1, 2012)

I am not by my wine bench right now, but I believe my sorbate says to use 1/2 tsp. per gal. Arne.


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## BernardSmith (Mar 1, 2012)

This is really interesting. Wade, are you saying that I should stabilize only when the wine has fully stopped fermenting (identical hydrometer readings over say 3 days at the same temperature), and that stabilization should not be done if the wine is still active even if the SG is 1.000 (I did not want it to go below this). And when I added the Ksorb and Kmeta there was a great deal of effervescence for about two or three minutes although the height of the activity was not more than about 1 inch (did not overflow the carboy). 
Thanks Jon re when to backsweeten. Truth is I wasn't planning on backsweetening for a few months. Should I backsweeten sooner?


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## robie (Mar 1, 2012)

BernardSmith said:


> This is really interesting. Wade, are you saying that I should stabilize only when the wine has fully stopped fermenting (identical hydrometer readings over say 3 days at the same temperature), and that stabilization should not be done if the wine is still active even if the SG is 1.000 (I did not want it to go below this). And when I added the Ksorb and Kmeta there was a great deal of effervescence for about two or three minutes although the height of the activity was not more than about 1 inch (did not overflow the carboy).
> Thanks Jon re when to backsweeten. Truth is I wasn't planning on backsweetening for a few months. Should I backsweeten sooner?



You should let your wine go to as low of an SG reading as possible. Don't try to stop it at any reading, even 1.000. So you only want to stabilize when fermentation is completely done. Outside of fortifying to kill the yeast, home wine makers generally are not equipt to properly remove the yeast to stop a fermentation permanently. 

Likely, what you are seeing is what Cpfan said - CO2 gas coming out of your wine. (You didn't mention if you degassed or not.) If you didn't degas, that gas can be seen visibly coming off your wine slowly for several weeks, especially if the temperature of the wine is rising. Also, if you don't degas, the wine will not clear properly.


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## BernardSmith (Mar 1, 2012)

Thanks Robie. I wonder whether moving the carboy from the basement where it is a little cooler to my kitchen may have resulted in the gas being released from the liquid as you and cpfan suggest.


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## robie (Mar 1, 2012)

BernardSmith said:


> Thanks Robie. I wonder whether moving the carboy from the basement where it is a little cooler to my kitchen may have resulted in the gas being released from the liquid as you and cpfan suggest.



Most definitely. That could represent a sizable temperature change. You will need to degas the wine before you start clearing, anyway. That will stop most of the bubbling of the air lock. Understand that even if all the CO2 is gone, if you increase the temperature of the wine again, it will still bubble out the excess pressure. An increase in atmospheric pressure will cause the same thing. Moral of the story is don't gone by the bubbling of the air lock.

Just make sure it is finished fermenting. A stable SG reading for 3 days will tell you that.


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## Turock (Mar 2, 2012)

I think something new winemakers are not thinking about is that once the wine is racked to the carboy, it's not just called " the secondary"----but rather "secondary FERMENTATION." The yeast continues to add aging flavors to the wine, and I think it's a big mistake to sorbate. Once you get it in the carboy from the primary, let it settle and rack off the lees, then leave it alone. Let it age naturally---let the CO2 come out of it---age some of them 6 months--age some of them 9 months--age some of them 1 year or so. It depends on what you're making wine from and I'm not including kit wines in this.

We make wine from concord,Niagara grapes and fruits. There's not one of those that we touch before AT LEAST 9 months. At bottling, we sorbate and sweeten. If you want to sorbate ahead of time, then do it and then sweeten. But I urge you guys not to be so impatient and let your secondary fermentation do its thing.


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