Stabilizing at 1.060?

[homesteader26]

I made a batch of wine in September from Concord grapes before I purchased a hydrometer. The 1st SG I took (several days after I pitched my yeast) was 1.120. After 2 wks it was down to 1.078 and I put it in the secondary with only K-meta. It is 3.5 months later and I am racking today (should have been sooner but life and the holidays ....) So today it is 1.060 and is yummy! Is it possible to stabilize and clear a wine with this SG? Thoughts? I'm thinking of just drinking it as is .... It is sweet but delicious! Any idea on ABG with the numbers provided? Am I essentially enjoying juice? Thanks ahead of time for your help, thoughts!

 

[calvin]

Would be about 8% if 1.120 was actually your starting gravity. The way it sits now sounds way to sweet for me. I would try pitching 1118 and see if it will start fermenting again

 

[sour_grapes]

I made a batch of wine in September from Concord grapes before I purchased a hydrometer. The 1st SG I took (several days after I pitched my yeast) was 1.120. After 2 wks it was down to 1.078 and I put it in the secondary with only K-meta. It is 3.5 months later and I am racking today (should have been sooner but life and the holidays ....) So today it is 1.060 and is yummy! Is it possible to stabilize and clear a wine with this SG? Thoughts? I'm thinking of just drinking it as is .... It is sweet but delicious! Any idea on ABG with the numbers provided? Am I essentially enjoying juice? Thanks ahead of time for your help, thoughts!

Why did you add k-meta in secondary?

In my wines, it takes a couple of days for the yeast to get going and for the SG to go down significantly. I am going to take a WAG, then, that your initial SG was about 1.130. Under that assumption, your ABV would be about (1.130-1.060)*131 = 9%.

This is a fairly low ABV. It is too low to indicate that it was alcohol toxicity that stalled your fermentation (unless you used bread yeast instead of wine yeast). It is too low to preclude later refermentation. It is too low to protect your wine from microbial spoilage. I imagine your fermentation stalled due to the k-meta.

You could certainly just drink it now, but I would not bottle it if I were you.

If it were my wine, I would try to restart the fermentation by making a strong starter of, say, EC-1118.

 

[homesteader26]

This was my very first attempt before I had educated myself at all. It had been in primary with bread yeast for 2 weeks. I then added Pasteur Red on 9/10 and got my hydrometer on 9/12 which was when it was 1.120. I put it in secondary at 1.078 on 9/25 because it had been nearly a month in primary and I thought thats what I should do (at that time). Today it is 1.060 so there has been some action in the last 3.5 months and today I again added k-meta with my racking (thought that's what I do each racking).

Does 1118 make any sense at this point? If it does I have it on hand and could try.

Calvin this is 1 of the 1st 3 batches I made before you gave me guidance. I racked those today and am pleasantly surprised at where it's at but I know you said 1 yr so I am waiting for it as it bulk ages

 

[grapeman]

Not much sense on adding more yeast after adding sulfite again. I would just move on and either dump it or drink it. That SG is sweeter than most ice wine! Mot to say you could not get it to ferment drier, but if you like it as is, just drink it and move on.

 

[homesteader26]

Thanks grapeman - do you think I should stabilize and clear but perhaps not bottle with this high of a sg?

 

[homesteader26]

If I add sorbate and clarifier do you think it is safe to bottle in a few weeks?

 

[LeChat]

Let me get this straight: The first time you took the SG, it had been in the primary for 2 weeks already with bread yeast first and then a dose of red pasteur? The SG at that time was 1.120?

What recipe did you use? You might be at alcohol toxicity level already if the OG was sufficiently high. If that is the case, it would be safe to bottle. If you are ntot there yet, I would not risk bottling.

If you do bottle, keep it refrigerated!

 

[homesteader26]

I ended up dumping this batch - the bread yeasty taste was too prominent and I kept trying it and "trying" to like it. That carboy is now empty and ready for something better to go in it

 

[Arne]

On your k-meta additions, you add when you rack, but not when you rack from primary to secondary only when the wine is done fermenting. One other thing I have to add is slow down a bit. Winemaking is not a fast thing. You have to have some patience. Most likely if you had let it sit, the yeast taste will go away. It is amazing what time will do for your wine. Arne.