Disappearing wine!

[KatyDinkle]

Making a Cayuga White with fresh, local juice. A quarter of my wine is now missing from carboy yet the towel underneath is not wet nor does it smell like wine (carboy is a little sticky on one side though).

Here's what I did - can you tell me what happened?

10/15 Put 5 gallons of juice in bucket. Added pectin enzyme. SG = 1.070

10/17 Added 2 cups of sugar. SG = 1.080

10/17 (hours later) pitched yeast: Lalvin 71B4122

10/19 Fermentation not started (SG still 1.080). Added yeast energizer

10/21 Fermentation going strong

10/24 SG = .990 Put lid and airlock on bucket

10/25 Racked to carboy, topped off with 1/2 gallon cayuga juice. Put carboy in garage (outside temps in mid to low 60s, no frost at night) Airlock on.

11/3 Carboy is down about 1/4 of the juice.

 

[dralarms]

Got neighborhood teens?

 

[BernardSmith]

How full was the bucket? Could the wine have bubbled up through the airlock during active fermentation?

 

[beano]

Making a Cayuga White with fresh, local juice. A quarter of my wine is now missing from carboy yet the towel underneath is not wet nor does it smell like wine (carboy is a little sticky on one side though).


10/24 SG = .990 Put lid and airlock on bucket

10/25 Racked to carboy, topped off with 1/2 gallon cayuga juice. Put carboy in garage (outside temps in mid to low 60s, no frost at night) Airlock on.

11/3 Carboy is down about 1/4 of the juice.

Could it be that when you topped off with the 1/2 gallon of juice that fermintation restarted? You indicated that the juice had an SG of 1.070 prior to adding sugar. Hence your sticky carboy. Just a thought.

Beano Joe

 

[KatyDinkle]

Got neighborhood teens?

LOL - I've got my OWN teens and believe me, I already ruled that out!

 

[KatyDinkle]

How full was the bucket? Could the wine have bubbled up through the airlock during active fermentation?

It was topped off when racked into a carboy. My husband carried it to the garage and also remembers that it was full. It was topped off just moments before moving it to garage...so that juice (1/2 gallon) could have re-started fermentation?

 

[Floandgary]

1.080 to .990 in 3-4 days,,,, wow! No mention of stabilization. Likely restarted fermentation!

 

[Arne]

The other problem you mite have are wine gremlins. Best watch for them, hard to spot, but they make wine disappear. Arne.

 

[JohnT]

Hmmmmm..

I love a Mystery!

"just one more question, sir. We have that wine glass with your finger prints on it. Do you mind explaining that???"

 

[JMK]

I think you have a hole in your carboy similar to the hole in my wine glass. My wine keeps disappearing too.