Fermenting wine - a tragic accident

[Brewgrrrl]

I just returned home from a 10-day trip to find that one of my cats apparently knocked over some things that fell onto one of my carboys (ARGH!). The cascade of stuff knocked off the bung/airlock that was in a 1-gallon batch of elderberry wine (gasp!). The person watching our house never noticed what had happened, so I have no way of knowing how long the wine was exposed to air. The batch was begun on 8/30/09 and I racked to the secondary just before I left on my trip, so the fermentation was still active.

There are still visible CO2 bubbles in the fermentation and, when I put a bung/airlock back on, it started popping slowly almost right away. The carboy was always topped off so only the top bit in the neck was exposed to air.

I know there's nothing to be done, but I was wondering if anyone might know if the wine is likely to be all right or not? It seems to smell fine right now but (sigh) I am bummed about this. I had no idea the cats could even get up on the storage shelf where this stuff fell from (never, never underestimate cats).

Any thoughts on this?

 

[grapeman]

Chances are it will be alright. The surface area exposed to air was small and the C02 being released, puses that oxygen away from the wine. Put the airlock on, let it finish, be sure to add k-meta when done, and it will probably be alright. Good luck.

 

[vcasey]

You did not notice any elderberry juice on you cats face did you? I would let it finish and see what happens.
VC

 

[Brewgrrrl]

No, but I wouldn't rule out their using a straw or even a wine thief. They are sneaky little so-and-so's...

 

[Wade E]

All should be good. Hopefully no fruit flies got in there but probably didnt like the C02 being expelled.

 

[PeterZ]

CO2 is heavier than air, so it sounds like you had a blanket of CO2 over the wine, eveen without the airlock. It should be fine.