Stopping wine at one week

Jack Keller has some useful information about this topic:

under the topic "Stopping Fermentation"

In order to end up with a wine which is "not dry", you have to either force fermentation to stop (through a combination of sulfite and sorbate), or pitch a yeast with a low alcohol toxicity such that it dies before all the sugar is metabolized. The latter method is maddening because yeast population dwindles slowly at the toxicity level.

Marshall

-

I've had problems stopping fermentation too but my preferred choice is dry anyway.

McKevvy (UK)

Thanks Marshall, that article is exactly what I needed to know "Camden tablet + stabilizer" I like the bit which suggests waiting another 10 days for the dead yeast cells to settle out.

whatever strength they desire, then adding sorbate and sugar to taste (or just an artificial sweetener without sulphite and sorbate).

Thanks Jim, in Oct '08 my neighbour gave me an old recipe for Elderberry Port. 6lb fruit, 5lb sugar to make 2 gals. Nice port style but too sweet. The following year I reduced to 3lb and it was too dry, so I added Lactose. I needed to added a lot and I didn't like the aftertaste. The early stopping sounds fave.

-

I have had great luck with warming my wines to 165 to 170 degrees. Medium heat as not to scorch anything. Used an open 2-3 gallon pot, no lid, I guess one could put a lid on until near the higher temps. Only held temps there for 2-5 minutes and then put lid on, until cool enough to bottle. Back sweeten while wine is hot. Helps dissolve sugars and kill off any other critters in sugar. I have also done this with one gallon glass bottles. When done heating I just added sugar, put cap back on bottle. wearing oven mittens shook bottle to mix sugar. Let cool on table. Hope it gives ideas. Wine came out smooth and no headaches next day after consumption. Had party to attend.

5 gallons got consumed..

Dave Whitney

Thanks Dave that's worth considering. I have a 2 gallon capacity s/steel lidded stockpot. I've also got one of those CDN thermometers, which is very accurate, it's worth a try if the Camden + Stabilizer doesn't work. This means that I could bottle grape at say day 12. You're happy with 170F to bump off the yeast?

I bought some sulphate and sorbate yesterday and added to both wines. The white (which is older) stopped within a few hours, the younger more active red, took about 20 hours to stop. Thanks again for the Jack Keller link, I'll follow the advice and wait another 10 days for the dead cells to drop.

Bertie

I just chose 170F, for that is the vapor/boiling point area of ethanol.

140 -150 for 10 to 20 minutes will kill alot of critters. Plus I wanted to be on safe side. This is also an old "artificial" way to age and smooth alcholic products. Important note. do not stand over pot as it warms up. I got one hell of a headache. I know some else that dose this and he uses a fan to blow vapor away.. Have fun. Dave Whitney

It's important I try the heating method of yeast zapping on my next batch of red and white. Allow it to age for a few months and compare the two. I doubt whether I will detect Tuesday's addition of Sodium Metabisulphite and Potassium Sorbate. My taste buds aren't very sensitive, I roast my own coffee and have great difficulty in identifying which varietals or region the coffee is from. But I don't envy pro wine tasters' super sensitive palate, you would find way too many faults. Mind you, they get loadsa free wine to compensate!! Bertie

Update : 10 days later, the white was gin clear, but both the white and red had re-started. Activity is very slow - one bubble per day white and about 4 bubbles per day from the red.

I don't want to add another camden tab, so I will follow Dave W suggestion and raise temp to 150F.

Bertie