Bad wine or process?

[timothyg]

I made a Australian Chardonnay wine kit and I believe something is wrong with the wine about 7 months after start. I make many wine kits, have a cellar of 400+ home-made bottles, and sanitize accordingly. This is what I did:
Started fermenting wine: 4/9/12
After following the instructions I added 1/4 teaspoon of metabisulfite and racked: 5/28/12
Added 1/4 teaspoon of metabisulfite again and bottled: 7/15/12
Noticed sediment/particles in wine: 11/10/12

I have had one other kit that messed up, which was my first kit were I did not add metabisulfite and it went bad about 6+ months. This is 15+ kits later, what could be wrong with this kit?

About 20 bottles have this sediment and 10 do not. I consumed 1 bottle last week and another non-sediment one now. The wine tastes warm and somewhat fizzy, I can taste the oak and Chardonnay, could the Potassium Sorbate been bad and fermentation continued despite the metabisulfite?

What could be the problem?

What should I do with my 20 bottles with sediment? What should I do with the 10 bottles with no sediment?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[ffemt128]

Sounds like refermentation has occured based on the sediment. I had this occur, I wrote it off as old Sorbate and dumped the bottles back into a carboy until re-fermentation completed. Re-sorbated with new and no problems since then.

 

[seth8530]

Yeah sounds like to be you bottled an active fermentation either that or fermentation decided to kick back up once it was in the bottle. Do you use a hydrometer to check your gravity?

 

[ibglowin]

DId the wine ferment to fully dry? If it did then there is nothing to ferment unless you back sweetened a Chardonnay which would be pretty unusual.

Here is another theory.

Could be the wine wasn't fully degassed when bottled and over time you had some ultra fine sediment fallout as CO2 levels may have dropped since bottling.

 

[cpfan]

It might help to know which kit you are asking about.

Steve

 

[timothyg]

The kit was RJ Spangol's Australian Chardonnay (Cru Select). I checked the gravity and noted it. It was .998 or less at bottling time.

It certainly is possible I didn't fully degas the wine. It did taste a little bubbly and somewhat sweet. Typically I use a Vanu Vin and time (1.5 months bulk aging this time). I don't think it's sediment though, because it looks like stuff is floating around - it doesn't look like it's a heavy material.

I just find it interesting the yeast survived 3+ months until bottling. It's really odd how the wine tastes somewhat sweet, when I thought I fermented it to dry.

The thing is I only have like 29 bottles or so. So if I put it in the carboy now there would be a huge gap (I only have a 6 gallon carboy). I would rather not add water or add a good wine.

Should I just dump it into the carboy, re-sorbate, then immediately re-bottle? Are there other options, since I already consumed about 3 bottles?

 

[seth8530]

I would dump it into a carboy, displace the excess volume with marbles or the such.. Apply sorbate and a fining agent and see what it does after a week.

 

[Tom_S]

I find it incredibly odd that it gave a reading of .998 but tastes sweet. Unless you were getting a false reading somehow.

 

[seth8530]

I find it incredibly odd that it gave a reading of .998 but tastes sweet. Unless you were getting a false reading somehow.

That could be the case or you could just have a very strong perceived sweetness.

 

[wyntheef]

That could be the case or you could just have a very strong perceived sweetness.

agreed. i have wines test at .994 that taste mildly sweet to me, but my wife would consider it extremely dry. gotta go by the hydrometer and make sure you adjust for temperature.

 

[robie]

Higher alcohol couples with high acid can easily give a wine a sweet tasting sensation, even if it is dry.

I agree with Mike. CO2 can trap small stuff. You wouldn't have the fizz if there were no CO2 present in the wine. Also, you bottled the wine fairly quickly, considering it is a white. That is a nice heavy Chard; I would not have bottled it for 6 months. I made the same kit and it turned out very nice.

 

[timothyg]

I have made the WE Australian Chardonnay and bottled with about the same time, and that kit turned out absolutely excellent. I am waiting longer and longer with my bulk aging, however I suspect bottle aging isn't too far off from bulk carboy aging.

The displacement with marbles sounds like a good idea. I might need a lot of them. Do you think these chromes ones would be bad (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BBM5SG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

What do you think of using a "Oenophilia Private Preserve Wine Preserver" (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DCS18/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20) instead?

 

[seth8530]

I have made the WE Australian Chardonnay and bottled with about the same time, and that kit turned out absolutely excellent. I am waiting longer and longer with my bulk aging, however I suspect bottle aging isn't too far off from bulk carboy aging.

The displacement with marbles sounds like a good idea. I might need a lot of them. Do you think these chromes ones would be bad (http://www.amazon.com/Diameter-Chrome-Bearing-Bearings-VXB/dp/B002BBM5SG/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1352766946&sr=8-12&keywords=marble+ball)?

What do you think of using a "Oenophilia Private Preserve Wine Preserver" (http://www.amazon.com/Oenophilia-Private-Preserve-Wine-Preserver/dp/B0000DCS18/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1352766656&sr=1-1&keywords=Private+Preserve) instead?

I dont think the chrome ones would be bad if you are worried put them inside of a food grade bag inside the carboy... But I would be very carefull with them if you have a glass carboy if you dont want to shatter it.

 

[timothyg]

I guess I need to find marble/glass ones. Any linked/suggestions?

Does anyone think, and/or have experience with, the CO2 wine preserver? Will it be a bad idea?

 

[seth8530]

Its all up to you... Co2 wine preserver.. Like to displace oxygen? It would not be a bad idea.. But perhaps unnecessary depending on your head space.

 

[ibglowin]

Here is a link to some Marbles now being sold by More Wine. Have not used them but I would suspect they have done due diligence that they are acceptable for winemaking since they are one of the top distributors of products for the home wine maker in the country.

Aslo the cans of "Private Reserve" are great for small unfinished bottles of wine but for larger head spaces you really should top up, rack down or think about a cylinder of Argon gas as the cost of that stuff is $$$$$ for what you get.