coupla questions

[greenspider]

Hi guys. Been a little busy as of late and got stuck.
I new to the wine making but I have made prison hooch, beer, and mead

My 5 gallon carboy of ancient orange mead is brewing along nicely (I know this is the wine forum, I'm just braggin').
Well 3 weeks ago I had 14 lbs. of pears and decided to make 5 gallons of pear wine, and 2 gallons of pear mead (perry?).
After 10 days I racked the 5 gal. fermentation bucket off of the must/lees into a 5 gallon carboy. I tasted the mixture and it was sour. I added some acid mix and some peptic and within 5 minutes the airlock was bubbling and it's going full speed a week later.
When I made the perry I tasted it and it was delicious. I thought to myself that I should just drink it as is but then I thought how great it would be if it packed a punch to boot.
However; I racked the perry off of the must/lees from a ferm. bucket into two 1 gallon jugs. I tasted it and it was sour/bitter and I was kinda bummed. WELL, after 4 days they still had not restarted their fermenting so I added more yeast and some enzyme 3 days ago and today they are still not perking.
no bubbles, nothing.
they are at 68-70 degrees and their s.g. was .074 when I read them last.

1. what happened to my perry and what should I do now?
2 after each racking there is a loss of at least 1 pint.
Do I add spring/purified water to the carboy each time to bring it up near the airlock? This won't water it down?

 

[PintOfBitter]

I'm assuming your specific gravity is actually supposed to be 1.074? that should be very sweet tasting with a gravity that high. Is there an error? I don't really understand the history of the perry - you tasted it, it was good, then you decided to add more fermentables?

you don't have to top off the carboy unless you're worried about oxidation. You shouldn't really be racking more than 3 times max anyway.

 

[greenspider]

To clarify;
I tasted the perry, it was delicious before I added yeast.
After 10 days I pulled my must bag out and tasted the perry, it was sour/bitter.
I racked it into separate 1 gallon jugs.
It stopped fermenting
I waited 4 days and it still had not started fermenting again.
I added yeast and enzyme.
It is now 4 days more and still no fermenting

Yes S.G. 1.074
Same as what it started at.

I asked about the top off because there is some warning that without it there could be oxidation and this would/could be bad.

 

[PintOfBitter]

hmmm. i'm finding it hard to believe that the flavor changed so much without any change in gravity. did you ever see activity in it?