Wine fermenting again??

[waggoner]

I'm a bit stumped and worried on this.

I made 5 gallons of blackberry and elderberry wine (SG 1085) back in October about the 14th. All went well, fermented on the pulp for 5 days then transfered to a carbouy. It stopped working when it got to SG .997, no bubbles and no more SG drop.
So on the 25th november i racked it to a clean carbouy and added a tin of the Youngs blackcherry kit to it, whick took the SG to SG 1010, a bit sweet, but ok. But i never added any sodium Met to it,,i wanted to see if the sugar in the blackcherry kit would do anything.

Since then its been quite,,doing nothing, no bubbles, no SG drop.

I've just looked at it now and its bubbling away like a mad thing!! Bubble in the airlock every 15 seconds...

I'm worried why it should suddenly come back to life after doing nothing for weeks........could this be a sign of a problem??? Or could it be that its mysteriously brought its-self back to life??

Its been in the same place all the time so temperture has been constance.

Well,,its got me stumped,,and i would hate to lose it if there is a problem.

Thanks.

[Duffbeer]

Perfectly normal without being stabilised, it may seem the yeast has given up, but under the right conditions it can easily spring back into life if there are fermentable sugars available. It will be fine, though if you wish to sweeten with fermentable sweetener you must stabilise with sulphite & sorbate.

[Cellar_Rat]

I sweeten with canderel - no aftertaste and no unexpected fizz. Belt, braces and a bit of string!

[waggoner]

Thanks Duffbeer. That sounds ok then, it had me a bit worried when i seen it starting to bubble again, (its still going now). Hopefully it might make the SG go a little bit lower then,,as in not so sweet,,which would be good.
Yes,,once its stopped i'll be sure to stabilse it now,,don't fancy it starting again in corked bottles!!

Sounds interesting about using Canderel cellar rat,,,,i got a few no1 wines on the go at the moment,,so i'll try and sweeten one a bit and see how it goes.

Thank you both.

[goldseal]

This has happened to at least one of my wines.

When you think it has finished, take a very careful SG reading, then wait several days before taking another one to confirm it has finished for good. You might not see a measurable SG drop over a couple of days.

[Cellar_Rat]

.... And this Château le Blanc '68 is supposed to be served slightly chilled! This is room temperature! What do you think we are, animals?