Corks a popping- Blueberry

[hilltopwino]

My blueberry has started popping their corks. I opened a bottle to check/taste and it is extremely fizzy but tastes pretty good.
Here's the procedure so far... Started 7-2010, started with 50 pounds of frozen berries along with the usual suspects (nutrient, pectic enzyme, acid blend....) to make 6 gallons. 71B added after 12 hours, no activity after 36 hours, made a starter and still no activity after 24 more so added another starter. After 24 hours and no activity I sprinkled 2T of sugar, a pinch of nutrients and then pitched dry Premier Cuvee on top. It finally started fermenting after another day and fermented to .995 some 30 days later.
It aged for 7 months (degassed 3 times) before adding campden, sorbate, and blueberry juice (concentrated) and the bottled a couple of weeks later. Now, more the 12 months later the corks are starting to pop.
I have dumped all the bottles back in a carboy with more campden to degas some more before re-bottling.
I would like it a little sweeter but I am afraid to add anything that may start the fermentation again. I also read that sorbate should not be added if the wine has gone through MLF. Do you think that's what happened? How can I tell without access to much testing equipment?

 

[cpfan]

First q...how much sorbate did you add per gallon?

Steve

 

[hilltopwino]

First q...how much sorbate did you add per gallon?

Steve

The usual - 1/2 teaspoon per gallon

 

[mmadmikes1]

And my point about sorbate and Campden is it is a false sense of security. The juice you added probably did the trick and restarted it. Never would expect this from blueberry.

 

[Wade E]

I would be more likely to believe the sorbate was past its expiration date but there is no way of knowing this nor is there anyway of knowing if this is a refermentation or malo fermentation without doing a chromatography test if its even still going. This happened to me with my plum wine years ago and it was very upsetting as I truly thought the wine was perfect and after doing what your doing it just wasnt the same.

 

[tonyandkory]

I recently had a kit wine that started a re-ferment in the bottle even though I added the pack of sorbate they included with the kit.
My thoughts are that the sorbate was bad.... we had to empty the bottles, re-sorbate, clear and filter then re-bottle ... what a chore.
I feel for ya

 

[roadwarriorsvt]

Could if be that the wine needs to be de-gassed and may not be a referment?

 

[btom2004]

What is the condition of the corks? They only last for about two years you know. Maybe they got ruined and popped out.

 

[Runningwolf]

What is the condition of the corks? They only last for about two years you know.

Where did you get this information?

 

[saramc]

As far as the wine going thru a spontaneous MLF, it usually won't do that in the presence of k-meta, and if it did with sorbate on board you would usually pick up a geranium scent. Any off odors?

Are there any S.G. changes going on?

Has there been a temperature change that my have woken up any hibernating yeast not impacted by the combination of k-meta + sorbate? The only way to get it sweeter without continuing a ferment is to use a non-fermentable sweetener, but if it is refermenting you really can't stop it. You could try cold-shocking it for a few days, racking, stabilizing, and sterile filtering. Good luck!

 

[btom2004]

Where did you get this information?

Was just taking a wild guess, attempting to ascertain if the corks went bad. I read that corks only have a shelf life of two years. Maybe they broke down and popped out? Not likey ha?

 

[saramc]

Was just taking a wild guess, attempting to ascertain if the corks went bad. I read that corks only have a shelf life of two years. Maybe they broke down and popped out? Not likey ha?

A bad cork won't cause a cork to POP OUT, pressure building up behind the cork is what causes the cork to come back out. Typically a bad cork, depending on the type of cork used, may break into bits as you attempt to remove the cork from the bottle, or does not seal properly with your bottle (did you use the right size). There are many types of corks, and if all corks went bad after two years I would shudder to think about all the wine that people across the world have had stored for decades and then some. Are there corks with a life of two years---sure.

 

[slh]

nonfermenting sweetener?

As far as the wine going thru a spontaneous MLF, it usually won't do that in the presence of k-meta, and if it did with sorbate on board you would usually pick up a geranium scent. Any off odors?

Are there any S.G. changes going on?

Has there been a temperature change that my have woken up any hibernating yeast not impacted by the combination of k-meta + sorbate? The only way to get it sweeter without continuing a ferment is to use a non-fermentable sweetener, but if it is refermenting you really can't stop it. You could try cold-shocking it for a few days, racking, stabilizing, and sterile filtering. Good luck!

You got my attention when you mentioned back sweetening with a non-fermentable sweetener. Are we talking Splenda? Stevia? Saccharin?

 

[mmadmikes1]

Let me see if I have this right, adding non ferment-able sweeteners(artificial sweeteners) because the chemicals you add to stop fermentation is not working? So add more chemicals? Maybe learn to make wine without them and stop trying to beat nature and work with it