Nancy, wine making and maturing is all about patience which, according to an old song, very few possess. When I first began making home wine back in
1970, I too had my share of stuck fermentations until I was told about 'starter bottles'. Since then I have had no fermentation troubles at all. One tried and tested method of un-sticking fermentation is to wash and sterilise a fresh jug, pour half of the stuck wine into it, put a bung in and keeping a hand tightly on the bung, shake the jug up and down until the wine inside froths vigorously. Once the froth has died down, return the other half of the wine to the fresh jug and fit the airlock. Do the same with the other jug/s. The idea is to aerate the young wine. Make sure too that you are not giving your wines too much heat, why do you need a heating pad at this time of the year anyway?Aphodius