The stabilizing additives essentially stop fermentation. Potassium metabisulfite is added to create a hostile environment for the yeast (anyone who has been sexually harassed knows about a hostile environment). Potassium sorbate is added to disrupt the reproductive cycle of the yeast. While neither additive actually kills the yeast, they have little sugar to consume and can't reproduce. Attrition anyone?
Clarifying is pretty self explanatory. Chitosan or isinglass is added to make the wine is crystal clear. I think of it as turning a Hefeweizen into a Coors Light.
I added the stabilizers and used my handy drill-mounted stirring whip to mix them in and drive off excess CO2. I poured in the chitosan and fired up my drill for another couple of minutes.
Up to this point, there has been a significant amount of headspace in the carboy; a couple of inches. But since the fermentation is coming to a halt, there won't be any CO2 produced to protect the wine from oxygen in the air. So I have to top up the wine almost to the top of the carboy. I reattached the cork and airlock, and guess what? We wait more. In about 8 weeks, we rack it again. Oh and I got a new airlock. Super sweet:
