wine Question for wine makers

JohnsMyName

JohnsMyName

My father and I made peach wine from his abundance of fruit this year. We have a wine that went straight from primary fermentation in a bucket to secondary in a carboy, and then was subsequently racked off another 3 times over the past 3 months. He added sparkloid a few weeks ago and hasn't seen any activity for awhile, but hasn't added anything else. Are we OK to bottle/barrel age it without using sulfites, campden etc... ?

ETA: I know that no airlock activity doesn't mean the yeast is gone, also that something isn't going on in there, but was hoping someone would definitively tell us one way or the other if we're safe to bottle and/or put into a barrel (we have a new barrel ready to go).
 
I've never used sparkloid specifically, but if it's clear go ahead and bottle it. If you aren't backsweetening with fresh juice you can bottle and store, but see below

I like to keep the free so2 range in the 40 to 50ppm range but hats because I sometimes add fresh juice into it for tannins and some residual sweetness depending on style, especially in a barrel. Prevents oxidation as well as protection from creepy crawlies still in the wood.

Just because the yeast is there doesn't mean that it's still going to ferment especially if it's been sitting for 3 months like you say. There's nothing left.
 
Wheebz thank you brother, didn't want to ask on the distilling forum for fear of getting flamed. I really appreciate the opinion from someone with as much knowledge as you.
 
I'm no expert but have made a few batches myself. You will almost always have some yeast floating. What you need to do is get a hydrometer and check for residual sugars. If you are near 1.000 you have no sweetness left and the yeast has nothing to eat to create co2.
Bottle bombs are not fun if your wine decides to restart the fermentation process.  I've had several bottles pop on me even after a year in the bottle.
 
Say we did use dome campden to achieve 40ppm so2 (if we decide to back sweeten), would we need to let it off gas and rerack or could we add it and then bottle or barrel it?
 
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