Just another basic question - at the end of fermentation you add finings to clear and campden tabs to halt the yeast from perhaps starting back up again. Firstly, is that correct? Secondly does it matter which order you put them in, or if you miss them out?
In my beer making days we added Campden tabs to stop fermentation and then used the finings to make the brew clear. Mrs LWW tells me that she uses them in her winemaking to dechlorinate the water prior to making her wine. Hope that this helps.
Campden Tablets (CT) on their own wont necessarily prevent further fermentation if you've still got some residual sugar in your wine. A Final Gravity of 0.990 is usually indicative that it's fermented right out. If you add Potassium Sorbate at the same time as the CTs you will be able to add some sugar to your finished/matured wine at a later date to adjust the sweetness (AKA 'back sweetening'). It's best to add CTs before fining because you should always de-gass first and CTs inhibit uptake of oxygen of the wine, thus reducing chance of oxidation. That's the 'simple' explanation.
You see, this is why I like forums! So much information I have no idea about yet So anyway - bugger. I didn't add the CT before the finings. Maybe I'd get away without it?
I forgot to mention that if you get some Potassium Sorbate, always add it in conjunction with a CT or you run the risk of a wine defect known as 'Geraniums' because that's what your wine could end up smelling like. More stuff, most wine
Well after clearing its obvious that it's still slightly fermenting. Any issues to expect with just leaving it to run?
How do you know it's still fermenting - are you monitoring the SG with a hydrometer? If there's bubbles coming through the airlock it's probably just naturally degasing (releasing the CO2 in solution), especially as it's clearing, and it's warm weather. If it will clear naturally you can save on the cost of finings, unless you want to drink it ASAP.
Still bubbling... I've set it on the propagator to gently heat through a bit (multi purpose these propagators!) and hopefully force the remaining yeast to ferment off
