O.k., now what?

[gardengrl]

I have my first batch of Strawberry wine (1gal) waiting for the next step. It completely fermented out about 2 weeks ago, and I racked it to another 1 gal carboy last week (to get it off the gross lees).
It fermented fast, in about a week. So now what? I'm confused about all the info as to what to do next. Should I stabalize & sweeten now? Should I let it sit for a while, then stabalize & sweeten? Should I use some potassium sorbate to clear it up? When should I degas?


Do you have to use potassium sorbate? And if you do, don't you have to use it fairly early in the process so it has "stuff" to cling to/gather? Also, should you stabalize & sweeten before adding potassium sorbate?


There are so many options as to what to do at what point in the process that I'm confused.


Thanks!

 

[grapeman]

Potassium Sorbate IS the stabilizing chemical, not a clarifier. You have a lot of options, but the least amount of additives involves clearing on it's own. This post really should follow another post where you started the strawberry wine so we can follow it's progress without having to search out your previous processes. You should have added a campden tablet by now or a very small amount of k-meta. That will keep your wine without worrying until it gets clear in a month or so. Once it is clear, rack again and then add the potassium sorbate and another campden tablet. Stir the heck out of it to degas. At that point you can sweeten to your likes. Let it stay a few days to make sure it doesn't start fermenting the newly added sugars(which it will if you don't add potassium sorbate). After you are sure it is stable(no ferment) you can bottle.

 

[gardengrl]

Thanks Appleman! Yes, I added the kmeta before racking into the 2ndary. It's very dry & will need some sweetening. I was thinking of using Super Kleer for clarifying (sorry if I got that mixed up in my previous post).


So, if I wanted to use Super Kleer versus time for clarifying is this the correct process to use? :


- Add pot sorbate (to stabilize)


- Then sweeten


- Then degas


- Then add Super Kleer
- Wait for it to clear, then bottle

 

[grapeman]

That will work great. It should clear in a day to three with the Super Kleer. Good stuff.