In article om>, Doug
> writes
>
>Not sure what you mean by re-activation. By the time the wine has
>cleared and you are ready to bottle, the original yeast are long gone.
>You may get a few stray cells, but that is what the sorbate is for.
I am learning fast. In the past [hold on to your hair] I have attempted
to 'stop' wines with Campden tablets at an SG chosen to give a desired
level of sweetness. The result has been that when they were bottled, the
wine took up oxygen from the air and before too long corks were popping
out of the bottles.

I now realise from your advice that the method should be to begin
fermenting the mash at a predetermined SG, ferment most of the sugar out
on the mash, then strain and transfer the wine to final fermenting
vessels until all sugar is used up. Then use sorbate and added sweetener
in the way you suggest to finish the wine ready for bottling.

I shall be reading this all up again 'before I begin' at least it is an
acceptable way of being 'driven to drink' (!)
>
>Container terminology must be a little different in UK. In the US, a
>glass container with a volume of a gallon or so is usually referred to
>as a "jug"; containers in the range of 3 to 6 gallons or so are usually
>called "carboys", and the term "demi-john" is reserved for the really
>big glass containers, 12 gallons or more (45 to 50 liters) that usually
>have some sort of wicker or plastic covering over most of the bottom
>and sides. At least, that's been my experience.
>
Yes, we talk differently across the pond, and we don't all use the same
expressions. My own definitions are thus: A 'jug' is mostly a small open
china or glass vessel used for serving milk or water at the breakfast
table, or a pint beer glass with a handle; a 'carboy' is a very large
globular glass vessel sometimes encased in wicker, used for storing
distilled water or other chemicals, or a smaller version without wicker
used as a terrarium for growing plants in an enclosed system; a 'bucket'
for winemaking purposes is a 3 to 6 gallon plastic vessel with a fitted
lid used for initial fermentation; a 'demi-john' is a one gallon glass
vessel used for finally fermenting wine with a fermentation lock added.
I will in future try to refer to initial and final fermentation vessels.

We do have a 'john' as distinct from demi-john, but that is not used in
winekaking other than for disposal after drinking. :-)

Again my thanks to all.
--
Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.