success to failure in 24 hours

[countrygirl]

so i'm still giddy about getting some good scores on my first competition...
so i give my sister a bottle of the apple pear spice...
she just called and said it exploded like champagne!!!!
can you say....you didn't degas properly countrygirl?
i knew you could...
the word of the day boys and girls is...degas...

 

[Wade E]

I dont think its a degassing problem that would make it do that, sounds more like a re fermentation! Is there any sediment in the bottles at all? This would be indicative of a fermentation in the bottle. Did you sweeten this wine and did you sweeten it right after stabilizing?

 

[countrygirl]

i sweetened it with frozen apple juice concentrate, but several days (one weekend to the next) after sorbate...i still have 2.5 gallon on bulk and it's not blurped once??

 

[Wade E]

I must say Ive had 2 batches that fermented again in the bottle over the years even though I stabilized the wine. I dot know if it was just bad sorbate or what!

 

[countrygirl]

I must say Ive had 2 batches that fermented again in the bottle over the years even though I stabilized the wine. I dot know if it was just bad sorbate or what!

hmmm, the good thing is i've only got 4 bottles of this to open tomrrow, lol, but bad news is i gave a friend at work a bottle yesterday and i can't get a hold of her...don't want her to get hurt

 

[Wade E]

The first batch it actually blew a few corks out and the rest the shrink capsule was barely holding the corks in. The other batch is just like the batch I made purposely and there was no sign other then just some sediment in the bottle. I actually purposely id a batch or raspberry wine and although it was very tasty this way the sediment in the bottle wasnt pretty (remember I used very little sugar as to not stress the bottles) so I degassed and filtered and re bottled. Ill stick to kegging it from now on. Making it a sparkling wine in Champagne bottles was just too much work for me although I must say it does taste a little better naturally fermented.

 

[Larryh86GT]

One of my one gallon batches of raspberry also fermented after bottling. This was after stablizing and waiting a week before sweetening the wine. It was an excellent raspberry champagne. I use magnum bottles with screw caps and I had to open the bottles very carefully to control the fizz.

 

[AlFulchino]

Countrygirl..is your second batch the one that is bulk aging under airlock or solid bung? if under airlock then it might be releasing gas very slowly....if you want to double check that second bathc then warm up the room you are aging it in...if it is in a cooler temp room and there is yeast still waiting then the warmer temps will spur it along

sometimes it is better to sorbate and stir and then wait one week minimum before sweetening...

 

[abefroman]

Now you know how to make champagne

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Did you add K-meta at the same time you added sorbate?

 

[countrygirl]

Did you add K-meta at the same time you added sorbate?

i don't think so...

now that i look at the bulk age, it has about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of foam along the headspace...it is under airlock...i wonder what would happen under warmer temps. do i just rack and resorbate?

 

[abefroman]

i don't think so...

now that i look at the bulk age, it has about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of foam along the headspace...it is under airlock...i wonder what would happen under warmer temps. do i just rack and resorbate?

Rack it, degas again, then top up and add k-meta, otherwise it will spoil. 1/4tsp for 6 gallons.

Also, keep notes of what you added when, when you rack, etc, then you don't have to think.

 

[countrygirl]

i've been a very poor record keeper
that's one of my new years resolutions...i even bought a fancier notebook with pockets, etc. i had a notebook at the beginning, but there are several batches i didn't write down
i sat the other four bottles outside overnight and only one spewed when opened. it tastes and smells very strong...almost beer like?

 

[Wade E]

If its fermenting again dont do anything except let it finish. If you added both sulfite and sorbate Id get new sorbate and add agin when the wine is stable. Are you sure the wine was stable when you added these the first time cause if not thats the problem. Your wine has to be stable when you add these or what you have right now will happen again and again.

 

[Sirs]

only thing with wine there is never a certainty of much of anything. you do what you can and hope it doesn't decide to fool you, oh and there's never a failure only that mother nature fools us.

 

[countrygirl]

only thing with wine there is never a certainty of much of anything. you do what you can and hope it doesn't decide to fool you, oh and there's never a failure only that mother nature fools us.

she obviously has a great sense of humor, because if i could have had a cork spew on anyone, my sister needed it, lol!!! puts things in perspective for her, lol

 

[Julie]

Rack it, degas again, then top up and add k-meta, otherwise it will spoil. 1/4tsp for 6 gallons.

Also, keep notes of what you added when, when you rack, etc, then you don't have to think.

Abe, why do you think this will spoil? by the sounds of it, it's fermenting.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

it's best to wait a long time to bottle. what i mean is, i don't sweeten until atleast 2-3 months after the going into the secondary. the yeast, hopefully, is far gone. we've had this happen also, and it gets messy!

 

[winemaker_3352]

Yeah - as long as it is fermenting it will not spoil. Like Wade mentioned - it would let it finish fermenting - once it is done i would add the k-meta and sorbate.

 

[abefroman]

Abe, why do you think this will spoil? by the sounds of it, it's fermenting.

You're right, she thought it was done though, at which time she should have sanitized it to prevent spoilage, and then it probably wouldn't have exploded as well, since the k-meta would probably killed what little yeast was left.