Update and request for advice- stopped bubbling too soon

Your gravity is very low -- 1.000 means you have very little sugare there. If you added more, then I suspect it was all done before. You will certainly see slow renewed fermentation from the little bit of sugar that is there, but it won't be very vigorous like your primary fermentation. Put it under airlock and just leave it alone for a while. It should be fine.

Not necessarily. Rack it out from the mold and taste it. Does it smell and taste really bad? If not, it is probably fine. Definitely add sulfite (campden) at the recommended levels to prevent the mold from regrowing.

Yep.

Moving it to a warmer spot might have helped. Adding sugar was asking for trouble.

The specific gravity is a measurement of the weight of the liquid with respect to the weight of water. At the beginning of fermentation, it is indication of the sugar content (and potential alcohol). During fermentation, it is an indication of the progress, since the (heavy) sugar is converted into (light) alcohol and (even lighter) CO2, which goes out the airlock. When the SG reaches 1.000, fermentation is almost complete, or it may be "stuck". When the SG reaches .990-.995, fermenation is complete, and all the sugar has been converted to alcohol.

If you added sugar (how much?), and the SG is now 1.000, and there are no bubbles, and no foaming when you stir it, your ferment is stuck. The sugar that you added has not been converted to alcohol, and your wine will be a little sweeter than it would have been otherwise.

I can't remember the details you posted earlier, but there is nothing wrong with a slightly-sweet coffee wine.

I would guess it has finished "very quickly" (How long was it fermenting?). It was probably at .990-.995 before you added the sugar. (How much did you add? 2 ounces per gallon will raise the SG by ~ .005, which would take you from 0.990-0.995)

Unless you wanted it totally dry, it has not gone "horribly wrong". Now you should top up (to within three fingers-breadth of the top) with distilled water, and affix a solid stopper. Watch the stopper. If the stopper is pushed out within a few hours, it is still fermenting, and you should put the airlock back. If not, wait 2-3 weeks, perhaps more, until the wine clears. Then rack, add SO2, and let it clear for another few months, preferably in 28-32ºF storage. Rack again when there is a about 1/4-1/2" of sediment. If there is a lot of sediment, or the wine is still not clear, you need to let it age and rack again. Keep it for at least 6-months before drinking. A year if you can wait that long. It will taste much better.

It is a sign of poor storage, too much headroom, improper (i.e. not airtight) sealing, or the carboy wasn't properly sterilized before use.

Use a spoon (or turkey baster) to remove the mould from the surface. Then rack the wine, pouring it through a coffee filter, and add 1 campden tablet (or 1 tsp. 10% meta solution) per gallon to the new container. Top it up, and affix an airlock or solid stopper. If the mould comes back, chuck the wine. Wash the container that had the mould in it in bleach and rinse it well.

message news:...

Although mold is prevalent on wine spills and diluted wine, none of the molds grow directly on the surface of wine. However, film yeast can produce a thick, heavy surface coating that often looks like mold. in any case, Negodki has given good advice.

Home winemakers are always afraid of microbes, but relatively few microorganisms can grow in wine. In general, the wine microorganisms are limited to some yeasts (mostly the fermentation yeasts), the vinegar bacteria and lactic bacteria. See Rankin "Making Good Wine," page 118.

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