n00b question regarding sweetening wine and stopping fermentation

Hey folks,

For Christmas this year, my wife and I decided to make wine for our families, as gifts. We followed the recipe for Ethiopian T'ej, in the "Wild Fermentation" book. As the title of the book implies, we were going for natural fermentation, so we didn't add yeast. We simply mixed up local raw honey and purified water, and let the concoction sit out (though covered) for a couple days. Then we added fruit (blueberries), and let it sit for another day or two, then tranferred everything to the primary container.

The recipe said the wine would be ready in two weeks, so we bottled it then....and gave our family members wine grenades.

So, I've let the concoction sit since then, racking it once in the middle. I've tested it periodically, and every time, it was still too fizzy. However, when I tested it the other night, it had changed; it now tasted STRONG. Not "bad," just strong; like a fortified liquor or something. So, my question is:
a) Did I ruin my wine somehow
b) If not, can I sweeten it by adding some more honey and/or fruit?
c) If I can, I'm assuming that will re-start fermentation, so....
d) After a week or so, will simply adding potassium sorbate stop the fermentation, so we can give our families their long-overdue presents?

Thanks for any advice you can give! I'm looking forward to participating in the community. I think I'll probably focus on country wines, unless I can find a local organic vineyard here in the Baltimore area.

You'd really wanna sorbate and sulfite it. The combination helps prevent renewed fermentation AND stabilizes the wine.

malkore said:

You'd really wanna sorbate and sulfite it. The combination helps prevent renewed fermentation AND stabilizes the wine.

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Agreed. After you add it, let it sit a few days. Then you can add sugar, honey, or whatever you want to sweeten it. Just make sure to let it sit for a few more days to make absolutely positive that all of the yeasties are dead.

Do I have to sulfite it? I want to avoid adding sulfites if I can. Will the sorbate be enough?

Also, can I add my additional fruit juice and sugar first and THEN put in the sorbate?

Thanks, ya'll!

michaelbelt said:

Do I have to sulfite it? I want to avoid adding sulfites if I can. Will the sorbate be enough?

Also, can I add my additional fruit juice and sugar first and THEN put in the sorbate?

Thanks, ya'll!

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Sorbate might be enough. It might not. I would use a small dose of sulfite, to be sure. Sulfite helps the sorbate work better, as well as prevents unintended MLF from occuring in wines that have a lot of malic acid.

You want to stabilize first. Then wait a few days. Then sweeten. If you add the juice and sugar first, then fermentation will restart.

Gotcha. At first, I thought the sorbate ended fermentation right away, but further reading here (I try to RTFM as much as possible) says that it doesn't kill fermentation, rather that it prevents yeast from multiplying; so fermentation ends naturally after a few days. Is that correct?

We keep a gluten-free house here, and I haven't found any gluten-free wine/beer kits, so we're just doing country wines now, and getting our feet wet with brewing. This site is an awesome source of info.

I think we'll be making Graff (with sorghum in place of the wheat) next!