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How To Kill A Fermentation Effectively
Hello,
I am a novice home winemaker. I seem to have a problem with killing yeast. For example, I added potassium sorbate/ campden in the recommended amounts to some port a month ago, and it is still active. Is this normal? The port tastes like it already has quite a bit of alcohol in it, and I would like to stop the fermentation before it gets any stronger. I am also concerned about the mead batch I just started. How do I keep it sweet and not overpoweringly strong if I can't seem to kill the yeast?
Thanks all!!
i quinn,
Post your complete recipe and sg readings and what you have done from the start and it will be easier to answer your questions. I can't be much help but a lot of others here can be.
The normal process to terminate fermentation in a port is to fortify with brandy to increase the alcohol to a level at which the yeast can not survive.
The easiest way to get a sweet wine is to ferment the wine dry, then add sorbate and sulphite then sweeten.
Terminating an active fermentation without fortifying can be tricky. If you want to terminate an active fermentation I suggest to chill the wine to 40 Deg F to stop the active fermentation, then sorbate. Sorbate prevents the reproduction of yeast but doesn’t kill the live yeast. Cooling will shock the yeast and bring things to a halt but not necessarily kill the yeast so this will not guarantee a stopped fermentation, but it has worked for me in the past, followed by sterile filtering. I have heard that Sodium Benzonate will terminate an active fermentation but I have not tried it.
Good Luck!!!
Hello Quinn! You've got a very good question. It's more convenient for me to give you some tips if you will post your recipe here. I guess I've encountered the same problem before.
I have no experience with wine making, but I imagine if you cool it off pretty good, then after the yeast drop out rack it off the yeast, and then add the sorbate as reccomened above. I would imagine racking it off the yeast will help to kill it more effectively.
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