boucheman414
Member
Hey guys! I am at a loss.. Okay, let me give you the rundown.
I started a batch over the summer. It is a solid blueberry wine from 4 blueberry bushes that we have in the yard. It took me about 2 years to get enough as the bushes themselves are quite old and the production on them has been slowing down due to weather, age, and other factors unknown to me.
Anyways, I finally got about 18-19lbs of blueberries stored in the freezer and decided last April-May to start my batch. The batch went off without a hitch. Everything went good until about a month ago when I racked it. I racked the batch and decided to pull out about 3 bottles worth to try and see how it taste raw, with sugar added, cold, etc... Right off the bat I noticed an off smell. A "rotten egg" smell.. Sulfur like smell.. So, I searched the internet high and low for an answer to why my wine smelled like this and how I could fix it. I finally found out that it had something to do with the sulfite content which is weird because I didn't add any more sulfites than I should have but I guess somewhere alone the line I messed up. However, after some methods I picked up from the site I was reading(from THIS WEBSITE{under "here's what we recommend you do"} portion about how to fix the problem) I think I have it taken care of. I racked it about 4-5 times in a row making sure to aerate. Then I waited a day or two then siphoned it through a tube that had some copper inside of it(it was one of the suggestions on how to fix it). I took some copper coated 16 gauge wire and stripped it and wrapped the wire around a cylinder small enough to fit into my siphoning tube then siphoned the wine through. Then, I waited a day then filtered it using a Brita filter that I broke open and took the contents out and wrapped in cheese cloth and put into a makeshift container with small holes punched into the bottom of it... By the way, if you haven't noticed, I don't have the money to spend on $200-$300 wine filtering machines haha, so I did what I could do.
So, after a day or so, the sulfur smell is gone and the off taste is gone. YAY! I fixed it. Now, I will get to the thing that I am lost on. I have been trying to decided how to stabilize the batch so that it can be back sweetened. It has a good taste to it now but it is a little dry for my liking. So I want to sweeten it a bit but I am afraid if I add any more sugar it will begin fermenting again. Now, I have a bag of potassium sorbate and a bottle of campden tablets(*potassium* metabisulfite) on hand and I was going to use these to inhibit any more fermentation. But the more stuff I read online the more I am freaked out about using these.
So here is what I want to know. By using the methods I mentioned earlier to get rid of the sulfur smell have I killed all of the yeast? If not, what would be the best method to stabilize for back sweetening? I can tell you some of the readings that I have gotten from my measurements: The pH is 3.2(as tested with
these test strips.
With an acid test kit I got a reading of .48% Tartaric or 3.04 ppt sulfuric.
The SG was at .990(@75*F ~.992)
And the ABV as tested with the Vinometer was ~10%
So, with all of this information, what is the next step? Should I use the stabilizers mentioned earlier before I back sweeten? Or should I wait or.... What should I do next?
Thanks in advance for your help! And also Thanks for helping me in the past and running such a well ordered forum! These are the best! This is the only place I come to with questions because I know I am getting quality information!
I started a batch over the summer. It is a solid blueberry wine from 4 blueberry bushes that we have in the yard. It took me about 2 years to get enough as the bushes themselves are quite old and the production on them has been slowing down due to weather, age, and other factors unknown to me.
Anyways, I finally got about 18-19lbs of blueberries stored in the freezer and decided last April-May to start my batch. The batch went off without a hitch. Everything went good until about a month ago when I racked it. I racked the batch and decided to pull out about 3 bottles worth to try and see how it taste raw, with sugar added, cold, etc... Right off the bat I noticed an off smell. A "rotten egg" smell.. Sulfur like smell.. So, I searched the internet high and low for an answer to why my wine smelled like this and how I could fix it. I finally found out that it had something to do with the sulfite content which is weird because I didn't add any more sulfites than I should have but I guess somewhere alone the line I messed up. However, after some methods I picked up from the site I was reading(from THIS WEBSITE{under "here's what we recommend you do"} portion about how to fix the problem) I think I have it taken care of. I racked it about 4-5 times in a row making sure to aerate. Then I waited a day or two then siphoned it through a tube that had some copper inside of it(it was one of the suggestions on how to fix it). I took some copper coated 16 gauge wire and stripped it and wrapped the wire around a cylinder small enough to fit into my siphoning tube then siphoned the wine through. Then, I waited a day then filtered it using a Brita filter that I broke open and took the contents out and wrapped in cheese cloth and put into a makeshift container with small holes punched into the bottom of it... By the way, if you haven't noticed, I don't have the money to spend on $200-$300 wine filtering machines haha, so I did what I could do.
So, after a day or so, the sulfur smell is gone and the off taste is gone. YAY! I fixed it. Now, I will get to the thing that I am lost on. I have been trying to decided how to stabilize the batch so that it can be back sweetened. It has a good taste to it now but it is a little dry for my liking. So I want to sweeten it a bit but I am afraid if I add any more sugar it will begin fermenting again. Now, I have a bag of potassium sorbate and a bottle of campden tablets(*potassium* metabisulfite) on hand and I was going to use these to inhibit any more fermentation. But the more stuff I read online the more I am freaked out about using these.
So here is what I want to know. By using the methods I mentioned earlier to get rid of the sulfur smell have I killed all of the yeast? If not, what would be the best method to stabilize for back sweetening? I can tell you some of the readings that I have gotten from my measurements: The pH is 3.2(as tested with
With an acid test kit I got a reading of .48% Tartaric or 3.04 ppt sulfuric.
The SG was at .990(@75*F ~.992)
And the ABV as tested with the Vinometer was ~10%
So, with all of this information, what is the next step? Should I use the stabilizers mentioned earlier before I back sweeten? Or should I wait or.... What should I do next?
Thanks in advance for your help! And also Thanks for helping me in the past and running such a well ordered forum! These are the best! This is the only place I come to with questions because I know I am getting quality information!