Stopping fermentation

Right I have done a 1 gallon batch of rhubarb wine I am not sure of the OG or the Current gravity as I don't have a hydrometer just yet (but am getting one soon) I am suppose to be bottling it this weekend but it still seems to be fermenting and I don't want it carbonating I have read on a website that if you add 1 clampdown tablet per gallon this should stop the fermentation but it says you then also need to add a stabliser and another website has said that the Camden tablet stablises the wine for you ??? Which parts of this is true will just 1 crushed camden tablet stop it fermenting and stabilize it ? Or am I better off just trying to leave it until it finishes in its own the recipe for one gallon used 1.3kg of sugar and I used Champaign yeast I don't mind a dry wine I don't know if anyone can work out the OG by the ingredients any help would be great.

Thanks

Justin.

potassium sorbate will stop active fermentation. some say that it will only prevent RE-fermentation in a bottle, but I used it in a batch of Valpolicella that my wife and I made to stabilize early (about 5 brix left) to retain some sweet and it worked like a charm.
not sure how much to use for a 1-gallon batch, though.

jlb307 said:

potassium sorbate will stop active fermentation. some say that it will only prevent RE-fermentation in a bottle, but I used it in a batch of Valpolicella that my wife and I made to stabilize early (about 5 brix left) to retain some sweet and it worked like a charm.
not sure how much to use for a 1-gallon batch, though.

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Aren't Camden tablets a form or potassium sorbate ?? I think they tell you to use one tablet per gallon.

campden tabs are potassium metabisulfite.
that oughta work, but i've used metabisulfite when i want a wine to last a little longer in the bottle or to make sure that any wild nasties don't spoil the must.

Ok pretty useful thing to have around then although I don't think this first batch will be around for long I have another five gallon batch I started last week.

Sulfite (campden) doesn't kill yeast- winemakers use it all the time as an antioxidant and preservative. In order to use it to kill wine yeast, you'd have to use so much as to make the wine undrinkable.

Sorbate doesn't kill yeast either, but it does inhibit yeast reproduction.

What that means is that in an active fermentation when you have plenty of yeast that don't need to reproduce to ferment, sorbate won't do a thing. But in a completely clear wine that is finished fermenting, racking the wine from the spent yeast into a new container with sorbate usually can stop fermentation from restarting since the yeast can't reproduce to begin fermentation. It does nothing in an active fermentation, though, since the yeast have already undergone the reproduction phase.

You can try cold crashing a wine in a fridge to slow down the yeast, and then rack off of the yeast and then sorbating. Sorbate works better in the presence of sulfites, so campden tablets are added when sorbate is added. This may or may not work, though.

The most dependable way to have a sweet wine is to let the wine ferment out, clear, and then rack onto the stabilizers. Let it sit a few days, and then sweeten to taste. Even then, I'd wait a few days to make sure fermentation doesn't restart before bottling.

Yooper said:

Sulfite (campden) doesn't kill yeast- winemakers use it all the time as an antioxidant and preservative. In order to use it to kill wine yeast, you'd have to use so much as to make the wine undrinkable.

Sorbate doesn't kill yeast either, but it does inhibit yeast reproduction.

What that means is that in an active fermentation when you have plenty of yeast that don't need to reproduce to ferment, sorbate won't do a thing. But in a completely clear wine that is finished fermenting, racking the wine from the spent yeast into a new container with sorbate usually can stop fermentation from restarting since the yeast can't reproduce to begin fermentation. It does nothing in an active fermentation, though, since the yeast have already undergone the reproduction phase.

You can try cold crashing a wine in a fridge to slow down the yeast, and then rack off of the yeast and then sorbating. Sorbate works better in the presence of sulfites, so campden tablets are added when sorbate is added. This may or may not work, though.

The most dependable way to have a sweet wine is to let the wine ferment out, clear, and then rack onto the stabilizers. Let it sit a few days, and then sweeten to taste. Even then, I'd wait a few days to make sure fermentation doesn't restart before bottling.

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Thanks for the advice yooper although I haven't used stabilizers yet what do they do and are there any in particular you would recommend ??

scorpien222 said:

Thanks for the advice yooper although I haven't used stabilizers yet what do they do and are there any in particular you would recommend ??

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There are only those two that I know of. Campden (sulfite) is commonly used throughout the winemaking process due to its antioxidant properties, and sorbate is the substance that inhibits yeast reproduction.

I like dry wines, so I almost never sweeten a finished wine and so rarely use sorbate. It's only needed for sweetened wines. The thing is, it does have a flavor. I can taste sorbate, even in very small amounts, while others seem to not mind it.

If you use sorbate, make sure not to exceed the dosage of 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of wine. The flavor then is less noticeable.

my bottle says 1/4 tsp per gallon to prevent re fermentation. your products must be much different then mine yooper..

I suppose that's the problem there are quite a few products and all provide different instructions on use.

im just going to do what my bottle says, im sure the people who make these products know what they are doing.