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Yet another FOODIE Question - Stabilizing sweet white wines. - Printable Version

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- wineseven - 12-14-2005

Yet another Foodie Question - Stabilizing sweet white wines.

In process of fermenting late, late harvest Sauvignon blanc with Botrytis to achieve sweet white.
Started at Brix 36!, 18.5% potential alc. Now, despite the yeast's manufacturer claim that it will suck at 13% max., the wine at 10 Brix, 15.5% alc. - the fermentation raged still.
So I ripped off all the shelves from my fridge to create place for the 6.5 gal. carboy, racked the wine off lees and stopped the fermenting at the temp 35°F.
I KNOW IT WILL START FERMENTING AGAIN WHEN THE TEMP WILL RISE. HOW DO I STABILIZE THE WINE?
PS: There is no So2 added at the crush.


- Thomas - 12-14-2005

You are definitely going have to add some SO2.

To get the yeast cells out, you'll either need some form of filtratiion. or if you can rack a few times before the weather warms, you might be able to weaken the yeast cells enough so that what remains can't restart in the 15% alc. solution.

Your last resort, at bottling, could be adding potassium sorbate to inhibit refermentation.