Fermentation ended ?

[Handy Andy]

I know nothing. Is the following normal?

I have a 60 litres of red wine, which has reached 0.998, and appears to have stopped fermenting. It leaves a fizzy sensation in the mouth, which didnt happen with aeither of my other 2 wines I have made this year. Could the fermentation still be happening or could it have started doing a MLF without me adding ingredients to force a MLF. The wine does not fizz in the glass when it is poured, it justs leaves a fizzy sensation in the mouth.

 

[Johnd]

I know nothing. Is the following normal?

I have a 60 litres of red wine, which has reached 0.998, and appears to have stopped fermenting. It leaves a fizzy sensation in the mouth, which didnt happen with aeither of my other 2 wines I have made this year. Could the fermentation still be happening or could it have started doing a MLF without me adding ingredients to force a MLF. The wine does not fizz in the glass when it is poured, it justs leaves a fizzy sensation in the mouth.

Sounds like it's partially degassed, but still has some CO2 left in solution, this is completely normal. I usually leave my reds sitting in glass or barrel for 6 - 12 months before bottling, this will allow ample time for your wine to degas on its own..........

Unless you've added MLB to your wine, it's not likely that it has started MLF on its own, but it's not impossible if this is wine made from grapes and it hasn't been sulfited yet.

 

[Handy Andy]

Sounds like it's partially degassed, but still has some CO2 left in solution, this is completely normal. I usually leave my reds sitting in glass or barrel for 6 - 12 months before bottling, this will allow ample time for your wine to degas on its own..........

Unless you've added MLB to your wine, it's not likely that it has started MLF on its own, but it's not impossible if this is wine made from grapes and it hasn't been sulfited yet.

I have not sulfited it yet, I was going to do that when I was convinced it had stopped fermenting, before racking it.

Is there a chance I could have introduced some Bacteria? I only scrubbed the barrel with water after the last fermentation

The wine tastes not bad at the moment. Should I add k-meta sooner rather than waiting for the fizzy sensation to stop?

 

[Johnd]

I have not sulfited it yet, I was going to do that when I was convinced it had stopped fermenting, before racking it.

Is there a chance I could have introduced some Bacteria? I only scrubbed the barrel with water after the last fermentation

The wine tastes not bad at the moment. Should I add k-meta sooner rather than waiting for the fizzy sensation to stop?

Typically, when fermentation has ceased (indicated by SG of .998 or less, which is unchanged for 3 days in a row), it's appropriate to add your sulfite. It's possible that there were some nasties in the barrel if you didn't sanitize it, but the fermentation environment is pretty harsh, and gets harsher as the alcohol content increases. My advice is to sulfite as soon as you are sure that fermentation has ceased, just to make sure you're not harboring some bacteria that may harm your product. The adding of k-meta will not have an effect on how quickly / slowly your wine degasses.

 

[Boatboy24]

I agree with John, unless you plan on adding malolactic bacteria. If you do, you should wait on the sulfite addition. But it sounds to me like your wine is either just winding up fermentation, or already finished and is just degassing.