Wine Question (post fermentation)

[Tennessee Brew]

(1) Ok so I fermented 5 gallon of blackberry from Vintners wine base. It been in primary since 10/25 I was going to move it to a secondary but didn't have the carboys free. Should be ok right?
(2) I want to do this one right so should I add potassium sorbate before I bottle this? Someone told me that fermentation should be done by now but I worry about a burst bottle.
(3) If I decide to backsweeten some, how should I go about that? Add my sugars and see if a fermentation starts again then add sorbate to halt it?

 

[Coffee49]

The wine should be taken off primary at at 0.95 hydrometer reading or when airlock has very little activity, so2 and sorbate should be added during first racking , I back sweeten my wine just before bottling but I let my wine go 10 months before bottling to ensure no more activity is possible

 

[madscientist451]

I always use secondary for wine/cider and let it clear out before bottling.

 

[Coffee49]

Yes, 4 months in secondary does wonders, cold stabilization during this step does a good job of dropping unwanted suspension also.

 

[TkmLinus]

I have racked wine into my bottling bucket, cleaned out the carboy, then racked back into it when I didn't have an available secondary. I just tried to minimize splashing. I agree with everyone that you should not skip secondary.

I would let it age longer in secondary before bottling, I have bottled after 6 months of aging without campden and had no problems 1 year later. You may want to add it if you plan on aging for a really long time.

If you choose to backsweeten, add Potassium Sorbate and Campden tablets 24 hours before bottling. At bottling time add your sugar to the wine(last time I sweetend strawberry wine I dissolved 3 tablespoons sugar in 1.5 tablespoons of water for a 1 gallon batch). While some may do things different this is what has worked for me. Good luck!

 

[Tennessee Brew]

ok so I am going to put this into a secondary, so would a second plastic bucket me ok? I know some guys say move it to a glass carboy but its gonna be two weeks before I even have those ready. So could I simply add more sugar to it, let it reach max ABV and then bottle once everything stalls out? I want to have at least two gallons I will back sweeten, the rest will go in as is.
From my understanding sorbate is just to keep a new fermentation from starting. If I add sugar I am sure it will start again even with sorbate right?

 

[Maylar]

From my understanding sorbate is just to keep a new fermentation from starting. If I add sugar I am sure it will start again even with sorbate right?

No.