Ready to bottle but........

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WineYooper

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My blackberry is 11 months old in the carboy and I'm on the verge of bottling. Have been observing and find I have a very small amount of bubbles rising to the top. My concern is what are the chances of secondary ferment going on? I last added 1/4 tsp of KMS and 1/2 cup of sugar syrup on 3/35 at 2nd to last rack. Racked again on 4/26 due to fine sediment in carboy. Need some help with this, don't know exactly what I should do at this point. I brought it up from the basement to see if warming at room temp would help release more or if a re-ferment has started. This was de-gassed thoroughly before.
 
Take an SG reading three day's in a row and tell us what you get. How did you degas it.
 
I used a bent stir stick in my drill and ran it forward and then reverse numerous times. Thinking maybe I need to sorbate and add KMS again. Looking at my notes this was never sorbated along the way.
Just took an SG reading and its 1.0993.
 
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Are you sure the SG is 1.0993 and not 0.993? My starting SG's are that high, but not after 11 months.
 
Well there is your trouble. You sweetened without sorbate. That referments and causes air bubbles. Let it go dry again and this time add sorbate, sweeten and let it stand a week or two. If no more bubbles again, then bottle. And yes, it is not 1.0993 - maybe 0.993.
 
Oops my bad, .993 is correct. Thanks for catching. Read it right but something was lost between my brain and the typing. Will wait and then sorbate. Should I add more KMS to avoid the geranium smell as I've read or will the KMS added on March 25th cover this for me? I have not tested for so2 levels before when making wine so will have to get into this mode as well. Just started using sorbate in the second batch after this one. I will have to add it to my apple started last Sept., the batches after that had the addition. This is the first batch that I added sugar syrup to so have not run into this before.
 
Without a test to make sure the levels are high enough, it is hard to tell if you need more. To be safe you could add a half dose.
 
You are correct, it could be a little MLF going on. If that is the case, you don't want to add sorbate at this time. If your sulfite levels are high enough, it'll prevent MLF. If you have MLF going on, your sulfite levels must be low and you'll want to add some before the sorbate.
 
Lon it likely isn't MLF because k-meta was added in March and so was sugar at that time. That is the magic formula for renewed fermentation - sugar with no sorbate.
 
So, I guess I let this finish ferment again then add sorbate and KMS. Live and learn. After I sorbate and KMS will I have to wait a period of time for any fallout? Do not want to mess this up at this point, a year is a long time to wait.
Still learning as you can tell.
Just checked the SG and it has gone up with the increase in ambient temp., now at .996 and am seeing more bubbles. Sure feel foolish!
 
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So, I guess I let this finish ferment again then add sorbate and KMS. Live and learn. After I sorbate and KMS will I have to wait a period of time for any fallout? Do not want to mess this up at this point, a year is a long time to wait.
Still learning as you can tell.
Just checked the SG and it has gone up with the increase in ambient temp., now at .996 and am seeing more bubbles. Sure feel foolish!

Yeah, you will have more lees as some of the yeast falls out of suspension again...
 

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