Cork Poppers

[Cajun Wine Man]

The last 3 wines I bottled gave me problems.

After sweetening and adding Asorbic Acid etc., they started blowing their tops.

They produced gas like hell(refermenting). I put all back in containers and added fresh AA, degassed ,let them set for a while. Glory be, they are acting normal.

Question- was the AA was to old. What is the shelf life of this stuff?

 

[Dean]

Ascorbic Acid is a preservative (Vitamin C), but does not take place of Potassium Sorbate. Sorbate is what you need to use to prevent yeast from replicating.

The procedure should go like this:

Primary fermentation (HUGE YEAST COLONY!)
Secondary vessel (Still a huge yeast colony)
degassing
stabilizing (sorbate and k-meta)
clearing (either time or clearing agent)
racking off yeast sediment
optional filtering, then bottling

Sadly, you will have to give the yeast time again to fall out of solution. Hit them now with sorbate to prevent them from multiplying, wait for them to fall out, then you can back sweeten and bottle.

 

[grapeman]

Dean is right. Ascorbic acid is not meant to be a stabilizing agent. I'm not sure where you got that information, but you do need potassium sorbate along with the metabisulfite to prevent renewed fermentation.

 

[Cajun Wine Man]

The AA idea was given to me by the old gentleman that got me started. Maybe he needs to be corrected. Thanks guys.

 

[Wade E]

Yep, Ascorbic acid is a good anti oxidant especially when tarting a wine like Apple where the juice or the fruit can brown very easily but you dont want to use too much sulfite as that will hinder your fermentation. I use the normal amount of sulfite to stall any wild yeast from starting to ferment the must and also add 1 tsp of ascorbic acid to help protect the color of my wine further wile its fermenting. Its especially good to use while cutting up all the fruit for a batch as you know how fast some fruit can turnbrown like a banana or an apple and sometimes we cut up a lot to make up a 6 gallon or bigger batch and the first fruit would be already very nasty by then. It basically is Vitamin C.