Re-fermenting apple juice wine...

I am attempting my second batch of apple juice wine and after I back sweetened it has refermented. I added potassium sorbate ( 1tbs per gallon) and it has still refermented. Should I increase the sorbate when I "re-back sweeten?). Any suggestions would be apprecisted.


Michael

Michael, did you add k-meta before the sorbate? The two go together to help prvent refermentation. You may have a malolactic fermentation which is different than a normal fermentation taking a lot longer to run it's course.

No I did not appleman. I will try that if you think it would help.


Z

One batch of apple cider we made with store bought bottled apple juice and frozen concentrate started fermenting again at the end...It was just fizzing...We couldn't hold a siphon when racking as the bubbles would go up the hose and racking cane...it was the oddest thing we had ever seen.....Then it stopped and we dosed it for carbonated apple cider and bottled...it turned out very good.

It tasted really good when it was fizzing and we thought of bottling it at that time....but that was pretty intense carbonation.

Give yours some time...It will quit on it's own....when it's ready.

This tastes really bad...really, really bad! Like before I back swetened.


Z

Michael, now that it is fermenting you will have to let it finish again. Stopping a fermentation in progress is pretty hard to do.Let it finish then stabilize with both k-meta and sorbate.

Gentlemen,
where do I find this k-meta? I looked for it in the on-line catalog and found nothing. What is the chemical?


Z

Potassium Metabisulfite? Is this it?


Z

Yes, that is it! K is the Chemical signature for Potassium as N is the signature for Sodium.

Ok...so the apple is salvagable, no?
Now, how much to use of this k-meta per gallon?
Why is this refermentation or maloactic thing happening only with the apple must? Bewildering for sure but this is what keeps it interesting for sure.


Z

1/4 tsp per 5-6 gallons and Im sure the Apple wine will be fine.

Any wine that is backsweeten and not stablized may start working again, if it happens in the bottle it can be a mess..

I can back that up a few weeks ago when I never sorbated my Pulm wine by accident even though I wrote it down in my notes and never did it. 1 cork exploded in my cellar and the rest were barely holding on even with the shrink wraps tight on them.

I know what you are talking about. My first batch of apple resulted in the police responding to my girlfriends home early one morning...She heard noises and thought it was a burglar, so she called the sherrif's office...When they entered her home they discovered the noise was one of the bottles had refermented and forced the cork out of the bottle through the shrink wrap and acreoss the cieling...LOL yeah, she's still with me..


So I will use the k-meta in conjuction with the pottassium sorbate, correct?


Z

Correct.