Foaming out of control

Moved a Chilean Pinot Noir from bucket to 6 carboy and gallon jug. Plenty of head space in each. A grape foam explosion through the airlocks. The yeast is BM 4x4.

I have removed the airlocks, secured a paper towel over the opening. Is there any thing else I should do to assure I will have good wine?

What was the SG when you racked the wine? What is it at present? You may have moved it too early in the process and there is still a lot of sugar. You may want to move it back to the primary depending on the current SG.

I agree with Rocky. When you mix some oxygen in and the ferment isn't pretty well done, it can take off again. I usually make sure the carboy is set in a tray, bucket, or even a large garbage bag. If you have an eruption it is much easier to clean up. It will eventually settle down. Good luck with it, Arne.

Rocky said:

What was the SG when you racked the wine? What is it at present? You may have moved it too early in the process and there is still a lot of sugar. You may want to move it back to the primary depending on the current SG.

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Those were my thoughts too.

Similar Problem

I've had a similar problem with my frozen Malbec juice bucket. This is a product from Chile. The day after getting the bucket home, the heavy foaming started. I had drilled a hole in the top, put in a rubber washer, and put in an air-lock. It was filled with foaming wine. I decided to move the must into one of my own 6 gallon fermenters, but realized it would do the same thing in mine as well, so I split the must between two 6 gallon fermenters. This solution handled the foaming.

I also have a 6 gallon bucket of Carmenere. It behaved just fine, with slower fermentation.

The starting SG when I got the buckets home was 1.085. After 6 days, the SG on the malbec is about 1.004 while that of the Carmenare is 1.015.

I plan to add a bit of nutrient to the Carmenre to help it finish, but do not plan to add any to the Malbec.

I added MLF and oak to both yesterday.

It's nice to have the smell of fermenting yeasts in the cellar again.

Foaming out of control - I have been accused of this!

These guys have you on the right track. If the foaming is now well contained in your carboy, you might decide to just leave it there fior the couple days it may take to settle back down. Be sure to top up before you put another airlock on it.

The SG started at 1.094 and now after going back to primary it is 1.074
Hope it's not ruined.

I would let it get to at least 1.010 before I transferred it again if then. You can leave in primary till it is fermented dry in fact some of us do this.

I transfer to the carboy when the SG is down to at least 1.005.