Help with stabilizing and bottling.

[samuel]

Hello. I have a wine that has a specific gravity of 1.040 and i wish to bottle it with that specific gravity because i want it just a little bit sweet. What do i have to do in order to stop fermentation and be able to bottle? I want to bottle it and i dont want the bottle to explode because of co2? Do campden tablets work for that?

 

[roadwarriorsvt]

I would suggest to let the wine ferment as long as it can. Let it go dry. <.999 if it will. Once the yeasts have done as much as they can, you can always add k-meta and sorbate, then backsweeten to your preference.

 

[Rocky]

Samuel, please do as roadwarrior suggests. Let the wine ferment to dry, treat it with k-sorbate (1/2 t per gallon), wait two or three days, back-sweeten it and wait a week or so before bottling just to be sure it does not re-start fermenting. Just one additional comment. An SG of 1.040 would be very, very sweet. If that is what you want, fine, but be aware, once you over sweeten a wine it is very difficult to correct. Blending with a dry wine is really the only way.

 

[tcavan01]

Too sweet

Sam 1.040 is very sweet.
A little sweet would be 1.005 to 1.010. I would ferment to dry and then stabilize and backsweeten.

 

[jswordy]

Lallemand clouds the issue by stating in it's Lalvin yeast FAQ: "In general high SO2 additions may be used to stop the yeast fermentation once the fermentation is complete and the yeast are already in a weakened state."

While technically true, the winemaker has to know how to do it well. The downside risk of early SO2 is off-flavors from stressed yeast.

Another approach you might try on a small batch for grins is to raise your sugar real high in the must, then use a lower-alcohol yeast. The alcohol will kill off most yeast before all sugars are consumed, leaving a sweet wine. From there, you can stabilize and preserve. Again, perfecting the technique is important.