Fermenting or Degassing?

[MuskyDine]

Eight days ago the SG on my 5 gallon batch of muscadine wine was at 0.994 so I racked to carboy, added campden tabs and sorbate, topped off with a finished wine, added air lock and put away to start clearing. Tonight I notice fine bubbles making their way up through the wine and forming a ring at the neck of the carboy. I stirred the wine vigorously after racking. Could this still be the carbon dioxide from the initial fermentation?

 

[Turock]

Yes, it's CO2. Why did you sorbate??? A wine should never be sorbated when cloudy and only if you backsweeten. The best time to add sorbate is at bottling time. Wines need to be bulk aged before adding sorbate.

 

[lawrstin]

IMHO the gas that is being created is from the Camden. The metabisulfite reacts with the component of the wine and free sulfur and a SO2 gas is created. Over time, the free sulfur will bond with other reduction compounds or escape as a gas.

 

[MuskyDine]

I added sorbate in accordance with the wine recipe and instructions that I obtained online. The recipe was from Waldo James in a You Tube video. I followed same procedure before with excellent results. The wine cleared just fine.

 

[lawrstin]

The sorbate is being used as a stabilizer not as a fining agent. Your wine was not reported as bone dry (.994) and the sorbate will prevent a reoccurrence of fermentation. Why I prefer not to use sorbate I understand the directions that you were under. Good luck and cheers!

 

[MuskyDine]

I understood that sorbate is a stabilizer. I have read on this site that it can hamper clearing if used too early, but I had already added it when I learned that.

 

[jamesngalveston]

you never said you attempted to degas. I would agree its co2.