Sorbate and possible fermentation restart?

[crabjoe]

Help me put my mind at ease please...

Here's what happened.

I added K-Meta and K-Sorbate to my Apple wine.. Waited a day then added sugar to bring to a gravity of 1.000 .

Waited a couple days to bottle to find I had 2/3 od a bottle left at the end. I added apple juice, thinking this bottle will be flat cider around 5-6% abv.. Then I got to thinking.. did I possibly just create a bb?

So I'm sitting here thinking.. Sorbate cocoons the yeast, so no matter how much sugar I add, there's no chance of fermentation restarting. Then I'm like crap, what happens if there's one yeast cell that starts munching on the added sugar?

What's everyone's thoughts? Am I good, or do I need to worry about a possible bottle bomb?

Thanks!

 

[FXibley]

sound like you should be all right but if you are worried keep it in the fridge

 

[Intheswamp]

If you're worried about this bottle shouldn't you be worried about the rest of the batch? This bottle and the rest of the bottles were all backsweetened. It's just that this one was backsweetened differently. I would think that it's fine. But will be interesting to hear from a pro.

 

[bshef]

Did you use corks? I think they will push out before exploding. Anyway as sdibley said, put the last bottle in the fridge if you are really worried. Anyway, they all won't go at once. If you aren't planning to age the apple wine, open a bottle in a week or two and see if you have fizz. My beer and cider making experience is that it takes at least 2 weeks before any sign of carbonation. In fact I've bottled with screw tops some back sweetened fruit wines that did carb a little. No bottle bombs.

 

[user 36973]

Sorbate inhibits yeast propagation but does not kill the yeast or prevent live yeast from continuing to ferment.

You definitely can get bottle refermentation after adding sorbate IF there were enough yeasties alive there to begin with.

If there is any refermentation, it will be slowly over a few weeks. Look for additional sediment in the bottle and pushing corks. The corks should blow before the bottle explodes, in the worst case. Sparkling hard cider is good too