Persistent brew - won't stop brewing?

[Jonny69]

I don't think I've had one of these before. I inherited a couple of litres of someone's elderberry wine - I don't know what their recipe was, but it was brewed all the way to dry and undrinkably strong. With a bit of tasting and experimentation I 'watered' it down with a bit of red grape brew that I'd done and I added a dash of straight red grape juice to add some sweetness back. Hhappy with the way it tasted in the glass, I stabilised the remaining wine with Campden and sorbate, left it a few days so it was well dissolved, before topping up with red grape juice as before.

Now, a couple of weeks later I spotted it was fermenting again, despite me having stabilised it. I doubled the dose up and by 'eck it's still persisting to brew. I've already put in double the recommended dose of pot sorb, but I can't seem to stop it!

I don't really want to add more chemicals if I don't have to, but is this all I can do? I've just assumed that adding it straight to the wine is the right thing to do; do I need to pre-dissolve it in something or just bung it in?

:hat:

 

[alanywiseman.]

Is it definetly fermenting and not just degassing?

 

[Jonny69]

99% sure it's fermenting

I degassed it before I put it in the PET bottle, but it's definitely pressuring back up, there's fresh sediment and it's become fizzy!

 

[oldbloke]

Try pasteurising?
Waterbath at 150 to 160 degF for an hour

 

[Jonny69]

I might have to! Last night it had pressured right up, so the yeast has obviously taken full control. I might save some of the sediment for any stuck brews

 

[alanywiseman.]

Could this be an infection? Not trying to worry you but I have never seen this.

The other thing to note is that campden and sorbate stop yeast budding and reproducing. That means that any active yeast can continue to ferment your wine but they will eventually die. Hiow clear was your wine before stabalising?

 

[RobWalker]

could be MLF...is there a film on top?

 

[Brewtrog]

CJJ Berry says to expect fermentation to start up again for a bit when you mix wines, maybe just give it a bit of time? I'd avoid pasteurising as far as possible, you'd loose alcohol and risk giving the brew off flavours.

 

[bull080383]

try freezing it to kill the yeast I did it with a cider once worked fine then I backsweetned it. left in freezer for 2 days allowed to defrost bit of a pain if you have lots to do.

 

[Jonny69]

Could this be an infection? Not trying to worry you but I have never seen this.

The other thing to note is that campden and sorbate stop yeast budding and reproducing. That means that any active yeast can continue to ferment your wine but they will eventually die. Hiow clear was your wine before stabalising?

No infection that I can detect - still seems to taste great. It was quite clear. Fermentation was back in November and it had been racked and stood for a few months. I re-racked it before stabilising and belnding.

could be MLF...is there a film on top?

No, I wish! It would be straight in my cider if it was that

I wonder if the containment of being in the PET bottle has anything to do with it. It was quite happy sitting in the demijohn and did nothing. I remember I had a grape brew that appeared to be stuck no matter what I did to it, so I put it in a PET and it started fermenting again quite quickly afterwards.

 

[Jonny69]

Well here we go again! One of my blackberry wines from last year has been sat dormant for over 6 months, still a little on the sweet side but it's not been uncommon for my blackberries to stay like that, so I decided to give it a final rack and stabilise it. Into a clean sterilised demijohn, de-gassed, Campden and sorbate added together and... two weeks later it's bloody fermenting again :shock: :wha: :? :hmm: