I missed the stabilizing step in the wine making process. Please advise.?!
Answers: I'm making my own wine from a "Make Your Own Wine" Lakeview Valley Farms. After secondary fermentation I missed the stabilizing step in which the sorbate and sulfite is added. Instead I went to the clearing step in which tartaric acid and gelatin are added. A few days later I noticed the omitted step and added the stabilizer ingredients and will wait a few days before bottling. Is this OK, or is it now a lost cause?
The stabilizing only stops fermentation. If the wine has been fermenting for a good while (a month in primary, a month or 2 in secondary) then you shouldn't need to stabilize.
This may be a per kit thing, to stop it from fermenting all the way out, in which case the wine may be a little drier (and higher ABV) than you had planned. I don't think adding it late should hurt anything. If you are worried, give it an extra week or so before degassing to ensure all of the SO2 is out of there.
that is too technical for me..I did hard cider,..
I got my help from a book and this place.
http://www.thebeveragepeople.com
You are fine.
The stabilizers can be added at any point really, before bottling.
Wait for any settling say a week or two at least, before bottling so any undisolved stuff settles out.
Be sure to de-gas the wine as well as possible before bottling- number one flaw in home made wine is CO2.
You'll be fine. The real mistake is to forget to stabilize (especially if you bottle too early) and then store it at room temperature in the back of a closet you never look in. A month later, half the bottles will have popped their corks and all your hard work will be soaked into the carpet. Wine and mead making is teaching me patience, but slowly.