Do I need an airlock on?

[jordibird]

Hi,
I started a WOW varient (1L of Don Simon strawberry orange and red grape with 1L of white grape) 3 and half weeks ago and although it still had small bubbles on top I took a hydrometer reading and got 0.990, so after reading posts on the forum I guess the yeasties are finished.

My question now is I have a 5L PET which I was going to rack into (after sterilising) and onto a crushed CT and the addition of pot sorbate but does the PET need an airlock or can I just screw the top on and leave it to clear (it's starting to clear by itself at the minute). I am not quite adept at converting the top to take an airlock (nearly had a trip to A and E) so wondered if I needed one at this stage, my others have either airlocks with tons of vaseline to hide my hacking or the old balloon method.

Also from the reading it seems the wine will be as dry as the Sahara. I am a lover of medium wines so will need to back sweeten, however after reading various posts I'm now a taj confused as to how I would do this.

Sorry for the long post again any advice as always is much appreciated.

Cheers
Lezli

:drunk:

 

[taxidiver]

Hi,
My question now is I have a 5L PET which I was going to rack into (after sterilising) and onto a crushed CT and the addition of pot sorbate but does the PET need an airlock or can I just screw the top on and leave it to clear

I'd give it a good shake to remove any trapped carbon dioxide and screw the top on the PET bottle. Leave it somewhere cool and look after 12 hours or so to see if the PET is starting to bulge, in which case release some of the pressure. But I reckon you should be fine if you have stopped it with sorbate.
Back sweetening depends on taste. I drop a sweetener tab at a time into the demijohn until it tastes right.
:thumb:
Geoff

 

[Kirk]

I tend to work on the basis that until it is stabilised and clear in a DJ/FV and if wanted ready to go into bottles then I keep an air lock on it.

May not need ot but this way I know that any DJ with a cork rammed home is finished and (hopefully) stabilised and can be bottled when I feel like it.