stopped bubbling too soon

Did you take any SG readings? Darlene

I'm afraid not. It is full of grounds, so would have been difficult to take.

Maybe it went cold? S

Why did you transfer it if it was still fermenting? Just curious.

How did you transfer it? Most of the yeast are in the lees (which is why you can see bubbles rising from the bottom of the carboy). So, if you racked it off the lees, you may have lost most of the remaining yeast. And, in an anaerobic environment, the yeast colony would not be likely to grow.

What recipe are you using? My coffee wine reached 0.995 in 16 days, and I was sugar-feeding it (which prolongs the ferment). 4-6 weeks seems awfully long. Also, most recipes do NOT use coffee grounds, but brewed (and strained) coffee. Seems like 4-6 weeks of steeping in coffee grounds is going to be very alkali and bitter. And that sort of alkalinity could definitely halt a fermentation. [I hope you didn't interpret "one cup of coffee" in the recipe to mean one cup of coffee grounds, as I almost did once.]

It is quite easy to take the SG of a must with skins, oak chips, or coffee grounds floating in it. Use a ladle (if the must is in a primary) or a turkey baster (if the must is in a narrow-mouth carboy) to extract a sample. Then pour it through a small basket strainer (sold at the local dollar store for $1) into a measuring cup or other handy container, and from there into the hydrometer test cylinder. If your equipment (including hydrometer and test cylinder) are clean and sterile, you can return the sample to the fermenter after measuring it. Note: use a course strainer. The fine-mesh sort will clog up.

Darlene is right. There may be no sugar left. Check the SG. Just draw off some juice, Filter if you want but that will not change things much. It may have just gone faster than you expected. It happens all the time. Let us know what the beginning and current SG is.

Ray

To cold that is the question, yes it may be sugar but if it is to cold, it will not ferment.? Check the temp before adding more sugar. What i am about to suggest to you may be controversial but firstly confirm the coffee wine is at production temp, if fermentation does not start at the right temp then add directly to the demijohn one teaspoon of white sugar, but does when sugar is added. This will establish whether it is sugar or temp or both. Stephen.

Any ideas? S

I just racked a 1 gallon recipe which fermented to dryness in 1 week - 12% alcohol by volume. My SG reading was below 1.000. Sometimes things just go that quick. I have another one going for 1 month that is not going to ferment any more - it'll be sweet, which is okay. Ray's right. Try to take an SG reading anyway - at least you'll know if it is stuck or all done fermenting. Darlene

Thank you for all the ideas and answers. I'm going to try it all out and get back to you. Love Serenity (now more calm)