Hard cran lemonade weird fizz

Hi, so I've been waiting for my hard lemonade to dry out for a few months. I transferred it to a secondary after it had been sitting on lees for 3 months...the gravity was 1.01. It looked good and still in the carboy till 2 days ago. All of a sudden there's bubbles and fizz around the rim of the liquid and on the top layer of the liquid...

Has anyone had this happen? Even when I took a reading today it appeared bubbly in the hydrometer flask thingy...does it need a good stir or is something else going on?

Today the reading is 1.004.... I'm worried about oxidizing it if I stir since its been fermenting for almost 3 months and has been stirred a few times and the gravity has been checked multiple times

Yea no need to worry. Ether fermentation was not complete when you transfered to secondary and the racking woke up the yeast to finish it off some more or there was just an abundance of CO2 still dissolved in the must.

Regardless of the case just let it sit by itself and over the next 2-4 weeks all that will go away.

Make sure it's topped up to avoid oxidation and a route for infection to take hold. Otherwise, don't worry!

Its not quite topped off...the top of the liquid is right where the wide part of the carboy starts. I could maybe add another can of cranberry concentrate or cocktail. But that would prob put me back a few more weeks before it dries out. I also have some xylitol, which is non fermentable, that I was gonna add to sweeten the lemonade when it'd dried out. Could I use that for topping off?

ErinRae said:

Its not quite topped off...the top of the liquid is right where the wide part of the carboy starts. I could maybe add another can of cranberry concentrate or cocktail. But that would prob put me back a few more weeks before it dries out. I also have some xylitol, which is non fermentable, that I was gonna add to sweeten the lemonade when it'd dried out. Could I use that for topping off?

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You can add your xylitol at this point, but what do you plan to dissolve it in? I would say to avoid water but you seem to want to avoid further delay. If you have access to clear lead free glass marbles three pounds will displace 1 liter. Also, temperature changes are known to kick the little bubbles into action, even in wine that is degassed. The first time it happened to me I was standing there with my mouth hanging open--and then I had a mini-chemistry review with myself.

I ended up mixing a 1/4 cup of xylitol and 1/4 cup of sugar in water and heated and dissolved it..then added it in. This topped off nicely. I'll carb when this dries out and use a can of frozen cranberry concentrate. Do you know if I can use a whole can?

ErinRae said:

I ended up mixing a 1/4 cup of xylitol and 1/4 cup of sugar in water and heated and dissolved it..then added it in. This topped off nicely. I'll carb when this dries out and use a can of frozen cranberry concentrate. Do you know if I can use a whole can?

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You need 75-150 grams fermentable sugar per 5 gallons, so just check label on concentrate when time to prime. As long as your ACV is no higher than 12% you should have successful carbonation--and as long as you have live yeast available. Good tutorial here: http://www.101winemaking.com/sparklingwines.htm