Wine Restarted Fermentation After Stabilization

My wine restarted fermentation, I'm not entirely sure why it happened or what I should do about it. I think I'm going to default to just wait longer, that seems to work well in this hobby. If you have tips for me, they are gladly appreciated.
Affiliate Links
Wine Making Supplies
Starsan - amzn.to/48W3T0H
6 Gallon Primary Fermenter - amzn.to/45hYca7
Bung - amzn.to/3LPEY4V
Airlock - amzn.to/3ZGrUVc
Mixing Spoon - amzn.to/3to6pN2
5 Gallon Carboy - amzn.to/3RMag0m
Carboy Cleaning Brush - amzn.to/48R090u
Auto Siphon - amzn.to/3RR4b2V
Campden Tablets (potassium metabisulfite) - amzn.to/48HiBbO
Campden Tablets (sodium metabisulfite) - amzn.to/48H3Rd2
StarSan Sanitizer - amzn.to/3LPDzvb
#9 Corks - amzn.to/48HT9Ti
Bottle Filler - amzn.to/3ZJzDSj
Wine Thief - amzn.to/3PJX8WN
Graduated Cylinder - amzn.to/3teZKo1
Wine Hydrometer - amzn.to/3thk9ZU
Hand Corker - amzn.to/46fuyE1
Floor Corker - amzn.to/3tjJy50
Wine Bottles (Clear) - amzn.to/45iT3i0
Wine Bottles (Green) - amzn.to/3RGdanm
Wine Bottles (Blue) - amzn.to/46ySfH5
Paint Strainer Bags - amzn.to/3Gen1Kc
Misc Wine Supplies
Wine Shrink Caps - amzn.to/3LI4wkn
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

[@CSelH]

We had a rhubarb wine restart fermentation after bottling. We had no idea until bottles started popping in the middle of the night.
Still not sure why fermentation restarted, it had behaved very normally until in the bottle.

[@QualityHomeWinemaking]

I've had luck so far, this is a first for a restarted fermentation no bottle bombs yet. I might have to do some research as to preventing this from happening. I thought it had stopped fermentation but I guess not.

[@jeremiahbullfrog9288]

There are a number of ways to stop an active fermentation; all of them are annoying.
1) Pasteurization -- Heat the wine to 145 degrees F and hold for 30 minutes. This will affect the flavor of the wine but lots of people do it so it must not be too bad.
2) Refrigeration followed by potassium metabisulfite -- Active yeast will overwhelm the metabisulfite. Chilling the batch to below 40 degrees F will sedate the yeast, allowing the metabisulfite to kill them off. Potassium sorbate is then added to keep any stragglers from being able to reproduce (it doesn't kill the yeast but they won't have any babies).
3) Sub-micron filtration -- Yeast are typically 3 to 4 microns in size. So theoretically they can be filtered out with a 2-micron filter. For also removing bacteria, they recommend a 0.45-micron filter; and in mycology (mushroom cultures) we often use 0.22-micron filters. Follow up with metabisulfite and potassium sorbate if desired.
Doing these things without incorporating oxygen can be challenging.
I would probably let it finish fermenting... worst case, your wine will have a higher alcohol content than you intended. Then I'd back-sweeten it with a non-fermentable sugar like allulose or erythritol. I think allulose tastes better but it's not as sweet as sugar so I always do it to taste instead of by a formula.

[@QualityHomeWinemaking]

Thanks for the very detailed response, I did read about pasteurization but also read that it could alter flavor. Next I was thinking about cold crashing but wasn't sure how to stop the yeast after it was cooled, never thought about using potassium sorbate that's very clever, and with temperatures outside being cold, this might be an easy option. If I go this route I'll post a video of it. I was just thinking of going the patience route but this might be an easier solution and because this is part of an experiment in changing yeast in a kit I think it might be the best way to go about this so I don't get a bunch of variables I can't ever duplicate.

[@jeremiahbullfrog9288]

@@QualityHomeWinemaking Don't forget the potassium metabisulfite to kill the dormant (cold) yeast. Potassium sorbate won't generally work on its own... you have to kill off the bulk of the colony first. Cheers and happy fermenting

[@QualityHomeWinemaking]

I don't have the potassium metabisulfite but the sodium metabisulfite, apparently interchangeable... I guess we're going to find out. Thanks for the reminder, video will be up next week of my failure or success.

[@jeremiahbullfrog9288]

​@@QualityHomeWinemaking Awsome looking forward to it