Refermentation question.

[LenniePike]

Made several 5 gallon batches of blackberry using Wade's recipe and two of the batches have refermented on me. Recipe and procedures were as follows:
-34 # of berries split in two buckets, each bucket had:
-1.5 tsp of pectic enzyme
-1.5 tsp yeast nutrient
-1/8 tsp of kmeta
Sugar was added to bring both to 1.090 sg. I used 1 packet of Lalvin 71B-1122 per bucket. This was started on 10-6-11. I transferred to carboy at 1.020 sg.
-11/12/11 was first rack with sg 1.000
-12/14/11 was the second rack with sg 1.000 at which time I added 3 tsp of sorbate, 1/4 tsp kmeta and 1 tsp tannin.
-12/17/11 I added 12 pound fpac with 2 tsp acid blend and back sweetened to sg 1.010. TA was only .45 which I know is a little low. Used strips for ph and could not get a consistent reading.
-1/30/12 racked and bottled. All the bottles have refermented. Tasted awesome prior to bottling.
Did I rush this to the bottle?

 

[sly22guy]

So the lowest SG reading you had prior to stabilizing and back sweetening was only 1.00? It should have dropped lower than that. What temp did you keep your carboy at?

As my own person rule of thumb i will wait a minimum of 6 months before i bottle but i always wait until it falls clear.

 

[SBWs]

What do you mean by all the bottles have re-fermented? Are the corks popping?

 

[LenniePike]

Temp was 65-70 degrees and the sg of 1.000 held for over a month so I assumed it was finished fermenting. I had 2 bottles pop the cork and every bottle that I opened was very carbonated...geyser when I poured. I opened all of the surviving bottle and dumped back into a carboy, added a pinch of kmeta and am in the process of monitoring. The sg when I bottled was backsweetened to 1.010 and currently it is 1.007. So it is refermenting. I currently have 5 gallons each of apple, apple raspberry and blueberry/pom bulk aging and I want to make sure this does'nt happen again. In the future I plan on a minimum age of 6 months before bottling but is there anything else that I could have done wrong. Sorbate was bought 4 months prior but with no expiration date. Thanks for the replys.

 

[Rocky]

I am surprised that you could get it to re-ferment after adding potassium sorbate. I have never been able to do so.

 

[LenniePike]

I'm starting to think the problem was with the ksorbate, but my LHBS only carries it with no expiration date. I've read that it's only good for about 6 months. Does anyone know of a good source for "dated/use by" ksorbate. Could anything else have caused a referment? I'm new to wine making and this is depressing :-(

 

[Julie]

Well I think your problem was a two parter. First you are racking too soon. Rack from primary to secondary when sg is 1.010 or lower. Then don't rack again until your wine is completely done with fermenting, this should go down to around .994. Second part is you maybe right about the sorbate. Keep it in the frig and date the package when you bring it home.

 

[g8keeper]

i know it was mentioned that the sg of the bottled wine had dropped from the level it was prior, BUT, unless i am missing something, i didn't actually read anywhere that the wine had been degassed prior to stabilizing and fining....could this also be part of the problem as well???...the trapped suspended c02, when put under pressure, also caused the wine to carb up, and eventually cause the gushers???...

 

[SBWs]

In your first post you mention nothing about degassing. Was it degassed prior to bottling?

I got to learn to type faster!

 

[g8keeper]

In your first post you mention nothing about degassing. Was it degassed prior to bottling?

I got to learn to type faster!

lol....sorry sbws....guess i beat you to the enter button...lol...

 

[LenniePike]

I degassed but probably not enough. SInce that batch I've bought a whip thing for the drill, but honestly I think using the spoon handle worked better. I know my apple had tons of gas and took me about a week to finally degas it. Would improper degassing cause a "geyser" or increase the chances of a referment? So in future I will transfer at 1.010, wait longer for racking, keep my sorbate in the fridge, degas properly and wait longer to bottle. I'll have to check my notes but I'm sure I must have done at least one thing right Thanks for the replys.