Refermentation issue

[Charlesthewino]

I have a Concorde grape wine that is fermenting again. The first fermentation was down to SG of .995. The airlock stopped bubbling so I racked to a clean carboy. I added potassium sorbate then back sweetened with the same Concorde grape juice. I bottled a couple and put the airlock back in the carboy. Next thing I know the airlock is very slowly bubbling (about a week later) and the 2 bottles moved the cork a 1/4 inch. I thought the potassium sorbate should have prevented the refermentation.


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[richmke]

Did you add Potassium Metabisulfate (K-Meta)? K-Meta kills off most things, and the K Sorbate keeps anything left from reproducing.

Nothing is 100%. If you did not add k-meta, what might be happening is:

1) The K-Sorbate kept 99% from reproducing, and the 1% is merrily fermenting; or
2) There is bacteria that is resistant to K-Sorbate that is fermenting.

Add K-meta, and see if that solves your problem.

 

[NorCal]

Or while they are not reproducing, they are happily consuming the sugar and producing CO2. Are you concerned about your bottles bursting?

 

[richmke]

Are you concerned about your bottles bursting?

The continued fermenting defeats the purpose of back sweetening. All the sugars will eventually be consumed leaving dry wine.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Yeast have a short life span.

You need to get your wine down to or below .990

Aging and fully clearing greatly helps the refermentation with the addition of GOOD sorbate. K-Meta will not kill everything. It stuns the growth temporarily until your commercial yeast gain a foot hold. It also clings to O2 molecules to resist wine oxidation.

Never bottle immediately after adding sorbate. Wait a few weeks to see if refermentation is an issue.

It could also be a degassing issue with changes in atmospheric pressures.

 

[Turock]

You're probably dealing with alot of CO2. Just because your hydrometer says the wine is at dry stage, does not mean you should be bottling. Concord--and all wines that aren't for early drinking--need 1 year of bulk aging. This not only gets rid of sediment, which is unstable, but allows the wine to degass and for the flavor to come forward. After bulk aging and getting rid of sediment and CO2, then the wine is stable for bottling.

Backsweetening with concentrate is fine--but not until after bulk aging for 1 year. We often back sweeten this way---but the wine has bulk aged for 1 year or more beforehand. Being in a hurry leads to nothing but problems.

 

[salcoco]

sorbate has a shelf life. if not less than six months old that might be problem. good advice above, add K-meta and sorbate in tandem. let wine sit for a week or better to insure fermentation does not restart.

 

[Turock]

I absolutely agree with THAT!! Only keep sorbate for 1 year. And also--you can't sorbate cloudy wine and expect it to work. The bulk of the yeast cells must be racked off first. You should also dissolve it in some water before adding it to wine.

 

[Charlesthewino]

It turns out that I did forget to add the K-meta. All the other steps were followed. All my other wines I did add it to. Just missed this one batch. The Sorbate was shipped in Feb 14 so I don't think shelf life is an issue. The 2 bottles have already been consumed as I didn't want any messes.


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