Roger McGinnis wrote:
> After primary fermentation of cranberry wine to a specific gravity of about
> 0.99, I transferred it to a carboy with an airlock. Quite a bit of the
> yeast was also transferred. After 2 weeks in the carboy I still see small
> gas bubbles being generated. Based on the specific gravity when I
> transfered the wine, I am surprised fermentation is still occuring. Will
> cranberry wine undergo a secondary fermentation or am I just too impatient?
>
>
Roger,

There's nothing wrong. Cranberries contain Benzoic Acid, a natural
preservative, and usually don't ferment too fast. Do a Google search on
"Cranberries benzoic", and you'll get more than you need to know.

I have some blueberry wine which is still _very_ slowly fermenting
fermenting after all these months since last summer. Blueberries also
contain the benzoic (benzoate) ion, and are naturally protected against
fungal decay, aka fermentation. Sometimes it takes many months to
ferment to dryness, but it eventually gets there. Sometimes a racking
reinvigorates the yeast, so it seems, and this may speed things up a
bit, but I'd rather avoid the risk of unnecessary oxygen exposure.

It's not that you're necessarily impatient, but your particular wine
demands extraordinary patience ;-)

--
Mike MTM, Cokesbury, NJ, USA

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com