Apple wine is refermenting

[Winegirl]

Hi all, I've read where this happens with apple wine.
Nov 22 - SG 1056
Nov 26 - 1004 - racked to secondary
Nov 29 - 1002
Dec 4 - 1002 - must be done, added kmeta & sorbate, degassed with vacuum
Dec 6 - 1002 - simmered 500ml apple juice and added 1 c sugar - added to wine
Dec 20 - small bubbles rising - degassed again
Dec 28 - 1006
Jan 8 - 1004

So it's dropping slowly.

I probably should've waited for it to go below 1002, but where it stayed the same for 6 days, I figured it was done. So when this finishes again, should I add more sorbate? Rack it off the sediment and wait a week or so before sweetening again? Thanks for any help.

Kim

 

[cpfan]

How much sorbate did you add, and what size is the batch?

Steve

 

[Thig]

That is such a small change that something other than refermentation could have caused it. Small co2 bubbles sticking to the hydrometer making it rise or maybe a difference in temp of a few degrees. My eyes are hardly good enough to read the scale at that point.

 

[Winegirl]

How much sorbate did you add, and what size is the batch?

Steve

It's a 3 gal batch and 1 tsp of sorbate, per pkg directions.

 

[GreginND]

I agree that it is a small change. It is small enough that it could be just errors due to temperature fluctuations.

 

[Winegirl]

What could all the bubbles be from? I've degassed and degassed with a vacuum, that shouldn't be it. Where I already used kmeta, I didn't think it could be MLF. Any ideas?

 

[GreginND]

Looking at your procedure again I am pretty sure it is fermenting again. It looks like you sweetened and tried to stabilize it before it was done fermenting. Remember that sorbate does not kill yeast. It only prevents it from multiplying. If you have a large active yeast population it will keep on eating away at the sugar despite adding sorbate.

You need to let the wine finish and clear as much as possible before you sweeten and add sorbate. It should be as free of yeast as possible. In general I rack and age my wines for 3months and even up to a year before I sweeten and sorbate.

At this point for your batch the only thing you can really do is let it play out and see where the fermentation will stop. Let it sit and clear and then reevaluate the sweetness and add more sugar if needed. I would probably add a half dose of more sorbate at that time too. Of course you want to keep the so2 levels up the whole time.

 

[Winegirl]

Looking at your procedure again I am pretty sure it is fermenting again. It looks like you sweetened and tried to stabilize it before it was done fermenting. Remember that sorbate does not kill yeast. It only prevents it from multiplying. If you have a large active yeast population it will keep on eating away at the sugar despite adding sorbate.

You need to let the wine finish and clear as much as possible before you sweeten and add sorbate. It should be as free of yeast as possible. In general I rack and age my wines for 3months and even up to a year before I sweeten and sorbate.

At this point for your batch the only thing you can really do is let it play out and see where the fermentation will stop. Let it sit and clear and then reevaluate the sweetness and add more sugar if needed. I would probably add a half dose of more sorbate at that time too. Of course you want to keep the so2 levels up the whole time.

Thanks very much for your reply. I was wondering about the addition of more sorbate. I'll let it do it's thing, wait until it's clear before sorbating and sweetening again.

 

[Arne]

For some reason apple has a habit of doing this to folks. I have had it happen and many more on here have posted about it. I have learned to let it sit in the carboy for a long time and havn't had the problem again. Arne.