How to stop fermentation of AW?

About two weeks ago I bottled my first batch of Apfelwein. I had a 5.5 gallon batch going and only 48 bottles, so I first drew off a half gallon into an empty cider jug, then primed and bottled the remainder. No problems so far with the bottled product, but I do notice that when I agitate the bottle slightly, it stirs up sediment from the bottom. I assume this is yeast? Also, I put the un-primed half gallon directly into the refrigerator and have been drinking it since (I'm not a fast drinker). What I have found is that it tastes great and I like it still (haven't tried any primed bottles yet, too soon). I also found that I need to open the jug every day or two in order to let out the built up gas. This has been going on for 2+ weeks now. In the future I would like to bottle some still in wine bottles, but think that if I don't do something to stop the carbonation, I will still have a cork popping problem. What is the preferred method for stopping AW so that it can be bottled with wine corks?

Tron

Drop a few Campden tab's in there.

The best and easiest way to do it is to wait until it's done fermenting. I make lots and lots of wine- patience is the key. Wine that is still fermenting will produce co2. Once it's finished, it won't.

YooperBrew said:

The best and easiest way to do it is to wait until it's done fermenting. I make lots and lots of wine- patience is the key. Wine that is still fermenting will produce co2. Once it's finished, it won't.

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What is an approximate amount of time for this to happen in AW? Mine was in the primary for 6 weeks and had slowed to a very slow bubble rate. If I do go with Campden tabs, what is the proper procedure?

Yoop is absolutely right...that is the best way. As for time, depends on a few things, but let your hydrometer be your guide. If you use campden tabs, you drop about 5 of them into the fermenter then let it sit for 24 hours. Rack as normal.

Well, I have never sucessfully stopped fermentation with campden. All you might do is oversulfite your wine.

If you really want to ensure no further fermentation (and you don't want to bottle carb), you wait until it's done and then add one crushed campden per gallon and some sorbate. (I think around 2/3 tsp or so per 5 gallons, but please check this- I'm going by memory here!) Wait a few days, and then you can sweeten it to taste. This is the only sucessful way I know to sweeten wines without restarting carbonation. Wine yeasts are generally not susceptible to campden, so I use campden all the time during fermentation, including at every other racking and at crushing the fruit. Sorbate doesn't kill yeasts, either, but in conjunction with campden, it can stop the yeast from reproducing, so that fermentation won't restart. Stopping fermentation in the middle of the fermentation period is like stopping a runaway train, though- so it's best to wait until it's done and then backsweeten.

Good luck!

I stopped my last Apfelwine successfully with Campden and sorbate. I used about the amount Yooper suggested. Instead of just dropping it in, I crushed it up into a powder using a pill crusher (any pharmacy has em for $5). Then a few days later I used a two part fining agent. Two days later I crash cooled. Two days later, racked it into a bunch of 1 gallon jugs. As an experiment I poured some in a beer bottle with some sugar and capped it. It didn't carbonate at all after a couple weeks, so i guess I did get it to stop successfully. BTW I used beer yeast, so I don't know if this would work with wine or champagne yeasts.