Clearing and Stablizing Debris?

[Maverick00]

Hey, I'm curious as to what's sitting on the top liquid surface of my wine. It looks like white foam until you have a closer looks and it's more like a crystal or frost type structure? This appeared after clearing stabilizing and degassing when I topped off the Carboy with cold RO water straight from the tap. Did using this cold water bring something out of the wine and will this be absorbed back? Another off topic question, when degassing, can you hand stir too vigorously? I had foam I'm assuming from mixing air, almost coming out of the Carboy and had to allow it to clear before I was able to top with water.

Grand cru international - California Chardonnay
Sg 0.996

Thanks for the help guys

 

[grapeman]

No you likely didn't stir too vigorously. The foam is an indication it was degassing. If you used a drill then it is possible, but not by hand. You need to have it foam up and subside a number of times for the gas to be all gone.

Also it is best to top with wine, not water. The water dilutes everything and can lead to thin wine with little body and lower alchohol and flavor. Give the carboy a little bump and see if the stuff falls to the bottom. Often you can get stuff collecting on the sides and when bumped it will fall to the bottom where it may be racked off later.

 

[Maverick00]

Thanks grapeman, yeah I've tried tapping the debris but it looks as if it's floating somewhat against the top of the Carboy, I'll try again when I get home. Would it be recommended to degas the wine again before bottling? It was still quite foamy after the time suggested for degassing, Or should I go by taste?

I'll top off with wine from now on, wasn't aware that was the procedure. I'll try to save a bottle or two for top off when I go to make my next batch.

 

[grapeman]

The time normally stated for degassing isn't enough to do a good job. Also make sure the wine is about 75 degrees. It also looks like it needs more clearing. If nto 75, warm it up to that and degas some more. The wine may finsih clearing after that. Once good and clear, I like to rack off any additional sediment before bottling.