I goofed up with 4 gallons (well Kinda)

[Bman2794]

So, I recently started a 5 gallon batch, 4 in one container, and a single 1 gallons. All the same recipe and pitch temp/yeast.

So today I back sweetened. Here is where I goofed.

I racked the 4 Gallons into 4 seperate 1 gallon containers 4 days early of a full month (just now realizing this, dumb I know) and the “final gravity” was at 1.015, starting it was 1.115. The batch wasn’t fully clear and I had stabilized 2 days ago and just back sweetened today 7/19/21 (assuming it was done). Pretty sure it was fermenting/almost finished but not completely. How should I proceed to fix this goof up, and would more stabilizers/back sweetening be needed?
( 1/16th tsp of k meta and 1/2 sorbate per gallon was used and I don’t wanna ruin the flavor/scent)

 

[bernardsmith]

If you added K-sorbate and K-meta the probability is that you have killed the fermentation and there is not much you can do to restart this fermentation. What you might do, if the wine is too sweet for you, is to use the wine from this batch to blend with another wine you've made or will make that is too dry for your taste. The wine, however, will still tend to clear - that has nothing to do with stabilization and if the wine is as sweet as you like it then no harm , no foul.

 

[Bman2794]

If you added K-sorbate and K-meta the probability is that you have killed the fermentation and there is not much you can do to restart this fermentation. What you might do, if the wine is too sweet for you, is to use the wine from this batch to blend with another wine you've made or will make that is too dry for your taste. The wine, however, will still tend to clear - that has nothing to do with stabilization and if the wine is as sweet as you like it then no harm , no foul.

Honestly this is helpful, thank you! my goal was to just back sweeten as I thought the ferment was done, I know I shouldn’t have done it this early but you live and learn, so if it stops even better, as when I calculated the amount of honey I used to back sweeten it should be at the perfect amount. I planned on taking a grav reading in a couple days once the added honey settles and hopefully doesn’t ferment, and take it for cold crashing then sitting in 65 degrees for another few weeks to clear and avoid bottle bombs!

 

[bernardsmith]

If you stabilize correctly you stop the yeast producing CO2 (and alcohol) and if the yeast no longer produce CO2 then there is no way that pressure can INCREASE in the bottle (because no more gas is being pumped into a confined space - the sealed bottle) and if pressure cannot increase then you cannot experience exploding bottles. "Cold crashing" might help yeast that has not flocculated to drop out of solution and so may aid in clarifying the wine but the cold does not kill the yeast, it simply puts them into a state of suspended animation which when you raise the temperature again they will spring back to life. This is why we stabilize and don't cold crash in order to back sweeten. Brewing and wine making are similar ... but they are not the same. Brewers don't "backsweeten " beer or ale , not least because with grains there are about 15 points of unfermentable sugars that result in very sweet beers which is why gruit herbs, and today, hops, are used in brewing to balance the sweetness with acidity

 

[Bman2794]

If you stabilize correctly you stop the yeast producing CO2 (and alcohol) and if the yeast no longer produce CO2 then there is no way that pressure can INCREASE in the bottle (because no more gas is being pumped into a confined space - the sealed bottle) and if pressure cannot increase then you cannot experience exploding bottles. "Cold crashing" might help yeast that has not flocculated to drop out of solution and so may aid in clarifying the wine but the cold does not kill the yeast, it simply puts them into a state of suspended animation which when you raise the temperature again they will spring back to life. This is why we stabilize and don't cold crash in order to back sweeten. Brewing and wine making are similar ... but they are not the same. Brewers don't "backsweeten " beer or ale , not least because with grains there are about 15 points of unfermentable sugars that result in very sweet beers which is why gruit herbs, and today, hops, are used in brewing to balance the sweetness with acidity

Noted, my plan was only to cold crashing to help clear only, since I had stabilized (not exactly at the right time) and back sweetened, but then after cold crashing was going to allow it to be back at 65 degrees to let time do its thing for another month and half to ensure it’s not going to react a little later