Making a White Cranberry/ Peach wine. Advise please

Donatelo · Mar 29, 2018

I added a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar to the carboy. It reacted like piranhas in the river attacking a pig. Man did that start foaming! It is now bubbling along at 48 seconds between bubbles.

Going to be a nice wine!

Donatelo · Mar 30, 2018

I racked this 3-gallons into a clean carboy this morning. Last time I racked this wine was January 23rd. Do I need to add campden tablets again? The carboy had some lees in the bottom and the wine was cloudy about 1" up from the bottom. Rest of the wine was clear. The yeast is still slightly active (bubbles every 2 mins).

Donatelo · Mar 31, 2018

I've been researching the problem of "Fizzy" wine. Often it is blamed on a stalled fermentation or SO2 in the wine.I believe that I have found a third possibility.
Bacterial contamination. The articles that I have read discuss the difference between bubbles and fizz. Bubbles from fermentation are large enough that you might be tempted to call them bubbles rather than fizzy. They grow as they make their way to the top of the carboy. The taste might be smooth without much mouth feel.
Fizzy will give a sensation of definite fizziness on your tongue. The bubbles are tiny and are produced with any disturbance.
To prevent the bacterial contamination, it is imperative that you follow proper sanitation techniques All equipment must be SANITIZED. Simply rinsing with hot water from the sink is not enough. B-Brite is the product that I normally use, However I believe that I didn't use it on this equipment this time. Now I am paying for that.
I added three crushed campden tablets and 1 1/2 teaspoons of potassium Sorbate to help with the fizzy wine. Maybe it will help. I don't know.

cmason1957 · Mar 31, 2018

I think fizzy wine is caused by inadequate degassing to remove all the CO2. Time, racking under vacuum are, I think the two best ways to remove the CO2. I don't think you can get it all out just with stirring.

Donatelo · Apr 6, 2018

It is raining here, wife is off in Branson, Mo and I think it is time to look at this 3 gallon of White cranberry that has given me so much trouble. The SG is at .994 and it has lost that fizzy taste, but it tastes different from my other wines. It is not a bad taste, just strange. Lacking in mouth feel and flat.
I filled a wine bottle full and it is clear, but not brilliantly so like some of my Chardonnays. I racked it into a clean, sanitized carboy, tossed about a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar into it,and put a fresh airlock on. There was no frizzy bubbling as before but, the airlock is showing a small amount of movement after 1 1/2 minutes.
I hate to say it , but this wine is going to take a long, long time to develop.