Just this week, I received another call from a customer that had inadvertently made a sparkling wine! This was obvious to her when she started hearing the corks pop out of her bottles. Unfortunately, this occurs more than you think and the problem relates to the yeast not dying.

For those of you that are new to home wine making, yeasts are interesting creatures. I like to refer to them as related to Lemmings. Lemmings are those darling little rodent like creatures that jump off cliffs every 7 years to keep their population under control. Well, yeasts are somewhat similar.

Yeasts eat the sugar in the must and multiply. Then they convert they sugar they ate into alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO2). Under normal circumstances the conversion is 53% alcohol and 47% CO2, along with some other trace compounds. Now, the fun begins. When the alcohol level gets too high, it kills the yeasts! Depending on the yeast strain, this occurs anywhere from 12% - 20%. As a result, the trick is to make sure you start with a high enough sugar level to make sure you generate enough alcohol to kill the yeasts. Most books, I have read, usually suggest a starting S.G. (specific gravity) of 1.080-1.090.

Now, you are probably saying that you can add sulfite and sorbate to stop the fermentation process and if you have been led to believe this will work, I say, you have been mislead! It is extremely difficult to stop an active fermentation. Sulfites and sorbate are used to prevent fermentation from starting again, not stopping an active fermentation. You can try to add sulfite to stop the fermentation, but in the process, you might have to add so much sulfite as to ruin your wine. The other way to stop an active fermentation is by "cold stabilization". I won't go into the details, but the general idea is to almost freeze your wine for several days to stop the fermentation.

All this being said, if you want a sweeter wine, be it from a kit or from fresh ingredients, here is my recommendation.

1. Make sure your starting S.G. is between 1.085 and 1.100, before you pitch the yeast.
2. Pitch the yeast and when the S.G. has dropped to 1.020, rack your wine to a clean secondary container.
3. Allow your wine to ferment to dryness (S.G. of .996 for 2 consecutive days.)
4. Taste your wine. If you want it sweeter, make a sugar solution using the ratio of 1/6 cup of water to 1/2 cup of sugar for each gallon of wine. Put this mixture into a boiling pot (preferably stainless steel, but definitively NOT aluminum!). And bring to a slow boil to dissolve the sugar. Cool the sweetened water to 70 degrees F.
5. Take 1 cup of your wine and slowly add the cooled sugar water to your wine until you reach the desired level of sweetness. Be sure to measure the amount of sugar water added to the cup of wine.
6. Based on the ratio of the two, add a corresponding amount of the sugar water to your wine.
7. Add 1/4 tsp. of Potassium Sorbate and 1/8 tsp. of Potassium Metabisulphite per gallon to your wine and stir well. Take the S.G. reading of your wine.
8. Put your wine back under an airlock, top off, if necessary, and allow your wine to sit for at least a week. At the end of the week, take the S.G., again. If it has not dropped, your wine has not started fermenting and should be ready for bottling.
9. If your S.G. has dropped, your wine has started fermenting again. When this happens, wait for the fermentation to stop before bottling your wine.

I will add there are other ways to achieve the same result. I just like this method best as it leaves the least amount of room for error and virtually guarantees your wine will be exactly as sweet as you desire. In addition, if you do not want to mess with creating a sugar solution, I have a wine conditioner that can be used to accomplish the same result.