Help! Have I blown my first batch?

[Krystal_p]

Hello. If anyone can give me any advise I would appriciate it a lot.

I started making a "3 week" 6 bottle Chardonnay wine kit and my friend's son started making his after me and he has already made and drunk his. My friend has been brewing with her husband for years and I asked her a lot of questions but my wine still isn't ready and i started it in October I think.. I left the demijohn in a cupboard, The temperature was the most steady there. For a while, I thought it wasn't doing anything but then it really started bubbling for a long time. It cleared nicely and looks as it should, I bought a hydrometer and it was just above the bottling line. Eventually, There was no activity in the airlock, so with the hydrometer reading, I racked it off.

I tasted it and it tastes really nice as it should.. But the corks popped overnight so I syphoned it back into the demijohn. There was a few gurgles from the airlock, I cannot believe this is not done. Now I'm worried that syphoning it away from the muck at the bottom has taken away something it needs to finish.



Am I going crazy? Can the process go backwards somehow or am I just being a novice? I'm so disapointed because I wanted to make wine for Christmas and now this has put me behind because this was my practice run and I think Ive messed it up somehow. I've just bought a barrel and started a 30 bottle wine kit, I really really want to make this work. Is it obvious what I'm doing wrong?

 

[TonyP]

Yes, sometimes the process goes backward. So, in a few weeks you may have grapes. Just kidding. Welcome to the forum. The fact the wine looked and tasted good is good news. It may be helpful to let us know specifically what you're making.

I'll offer a few observations. You don't mention anything about degassing or stabilizing the wine. These processes are important and (particularly stabilizing incompletely) probably led to your cork problem.

You must make certain all yeast has been killed (or at least deactivated) before you bottle. Otherwise, yeast will continue to ferment the wine creating CO2 gas, which causes corks to pop.

The wine should be OK for Christmas.

Tony P.

 

[robie]

Did you fully follow the instructions, which came with the kit?

Go to our tutorial section and read up on the processes. Sounds like your problem might have been one of:

1) Not degassed. Did you degas according to the kit instructions? taste it; it should not feel fizzy on your tongue.

2) Still fermenting. This is not likely, but possible. I think your hydrometer indicates the wine is dry. Did you add any sugar to the wine after fermentation?

3) Maybe you didn't allow about 3/4 inch of air space between the bottom of the cork and the top of the wine. That air space is absolutely necessary, as one can't compress wine, so if no air space, the corks will come out.

The process can't really go backwards. You should be able to save your wine easily; we just need to figure out what the problem is and get it fixed. Wine making is pretty forgiving.

 

[ShawnDTurner]

Sounds like a c02 problem. If the fermentation is not complete you will produce gas. If you did not degas the kit or bulk age and let it degas naturally there is gas in the wine. Think of champagne...pop goes the cork! Why gas! I would pour the bottles back into demijohn and degas or let it sit for awhile

 

[winemaker_3352]

Fermentation is unlikely unless you added in sugar to sweeten in and did not stabilize it (add k-meta and sorbate).

Chardonnay's are typically dry so I am assuming you did not - if that is the case no need to add in sorbate to stabilize it - k-meta will do just fine.

With these assumptions there are two possibilities:

1. excess CO2 pushing out the corks - needs to be degassed.
2. Not enough airspace for the cork to set properly forcing the corks out - leave a little more room for the cork to set.

 

[Dend78]

i have a question about a bottling line, this may just be something different on your hydrometer but what is said line? for your wine to be finished to dry it will be in the 0.994-0.998 area. if 1.000 is the line you are referring to continued fermentation may be your issue as said above.

 

[Arne]

You said you put the wine in a cupboard, what was the temp. in there. If it was too low, the ferment mite of stopped and when you bottled it, it warmed up a bit and added some oxygen and things took off again. Just a thought. Arne.

 

[Krystal_p]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I have spent the last year reading up on Homebrewing as I sell it on my department at work and I thought the best way to answer questions was to give it a shot myself and also, I get a discount.

Arne, The temp is in the cupboard was 20-25C. It's on an inside wall. It's the only place I felt the temp would be the same for the whole process. Once it cleared, I kept it in there till about a week ago and then moved it to my kitchen which is about the same temp.

Dend78, My hydrometer has a "bottling line" under 1.000 and says medium dry. To be honest, I can't find anything online that tells me anything useful, but it's a 3 week wine and it's been going for months. When I test it in my sample jar it bobs at 0.994, No-where near this yellow line and with no activity in the airlock and going on what I've read online about hydrometers, I assumed it was ready because it's been months and it tastes fine.

Jon, Not all of the bottles popped, so not leaving enough room might be a good theory.. The two that kept popping off where the same bottle and a slightly different shape to the others. I thought at first that the corks were at fault because the two bottles were identical.

Shawn, I poured it back into the demijohn and have left it sitting a while longer as I kept reading scary things on the internet about bottles exploding. There is nothing going on in the airlock.

TonyP Thanks, I hope so too. I have a batch of Rose going and haven't had any problems with that one and the airlock is bubbling like a good one already so I'm hoping we will all be drunk over new year at least!

Robie, I will note a brief note of the said kit instructions and how I proceeded. My friends son who has homebrewed lots before said he thought they were quite confusing and there was one part where it tells you to top up with 4.5 litres of water but I could only fit about 2 in, He had the same problem and as I said, He has made and already drunk his.. but since this was my first time, I approached this very cautiously not wanting to screw it up.

It was a 900g Wine Kit, It says Just Add Sugar and water. I bought it as a starter kit that had a demijohn, Airlock, Syphon, Steriliser, etc.. This kit I feel, Has really dumbed down the process for us poor people who don't drink very much outside of birthdays and christmas. I was very careful to sterilise everything too.

Empty the contents of the can into a sterilised demijohn, then add 1.8litres of cold water and 450g of brewing sugar. (*It came with 500g, so I weighed it out) swirling the demijohn carefully. Add the contents of the wine yeast and nutrafine sachets and shake the demijohn gently then seal with the rubber bung and airlock, half filling the airlock with water. Transfer the demijohn to a constantly warm place between 20-25C and leave to ferment.
On Day 3, top up 4.5 litres with cool boiled water and allow fermentation to continue or until completion this will usually take another seven days. (I could only fit about 2.5 litres of water, my friends son said the same.. after this, it started rapidly bubbling away happily. I left it until there was no more activity at all with the airlock or what I could see) Once fermentation is complete, empty the contents of the wine stabiliser sachet into a clean cup, add cold water and mix to dissolve, Add to the wine, rinsing out the cup with a little more cold water. Pour the sachet of wine finings directly into the demijohn and gently swirl. Over the next 24 hours Shake the demijohn to remove unwanted carbon dioxide gas formed during fermentation. (I had my boyfriend on shake the demijohn duty all day when I was at work.) Transfer the demijohn to a cool place and leave undisturbed to clear. It may take up to 10 days depending on the temperature. (At this point, I left it alone for much longer than ten days, The longer I left it, The more it cleared. It went from quite a dark looking orange colour to a crystal clear Chardonnay colour.)
When the wine is clear, Syphon it from the demijohn into the bottles being careful not to disturb the sediment at the bottom and seal with corks or plastic stoppers and enjoy.

This is when two of the bottles popped, By the time I got home from work, They had popped again. I googled and syphoned it back into the demijohn and looked for a nice looking forum to get some opinions.. and here we are.

 

[Dend78]

well sounds to me like not enough space from cork to wine or it wasn't fully degassed. if the bottling line is under 1.000 and it was at ,994 then you should be completely dry, so that being said i wouldn't see how it could start fermenting again with nothing left to ferment. I would lean more to the degassing thing but its cleared hmmm

 

[Krystal_p]

It's perfectly clear. It looks like wine. It tastes just fine.. There is zero activity going on in the air lock. Not a bubble. I sit there watching it just in case.. but nothing.

 

[Pumpkinman]

I agree with the others, it needs to be degassed. On a positive note, once it is degassed, it may even taste better yet!
This is a very unique community, everyone is ready and willing to help out! Ask as many questions as you can, I hate to sound corny, but there is not stupid question.
Wine making is as involved as you want to get, there are so many different ways to do things, most times you will get the correct solution, fast, here at wine making talk.
Welcome Aboard!

 

[Dend78]

so when you taste it does it have carbonation to it?

 

[robie]

Concerning the sachet of stabilizer, were you able to get the whole thing into the wine? It is important that you poured it ALL in and mixed it up well.

Put two fingers side-by-side. Their total width is about the amount of space one needs between the bottom of the cork and the top of the wine. Justtake a look at a typical commercial bottle of wine and see how much space they have above the wine level.

If the wine doesn't taste fizzy on the end of your tongue and the SG is .994, maybe the bottles, which popped the corks, have a neck opening too large for the corks you are using. Do all the bottles the same size neck opening?

Wonder if the wine started its own spontaneous malolatic fermentation (MLF)...
That kit doesn't sound too fancy, so maybe they didn't add lysozyme to inhibit MLF. That possibly could also be it. However, you would see some bubbles rising from the wine, just not nearly as much as you will see during normal alcohol fermentation. Kit wines are not supposed to go trough MLF.

Outside of this, I can't say much. Try to make a little better kit next time. See how it goes. I am sorry for your troubles on your first kit... what a bummer!.

 

[Krystal_p]

Hey thanks.. and no, It doesn't taste carbonated at all. It's nice, I had a bit to taste. It tastes like a very nice dry white wine.

Yeah the stabilizer all went in.

No, The bottles were different, Some were very very tight on the plastic corks I used.. Maybe thats it? The two that popped were the exact same though.

To be honest, it's not a fancy kit but I sell loads of them at work on my department and haven't had any of my customers mention any of the problems I have had, So it might have be me being "special". I sell them, That's why I'm giving it go so I know (sort of) how to help people.. but I ended up turning into one of the people.

 

[Dend78]

3/4" or 2cm

 

[Krystal_p]

There's absolutly no bubbles in my wine and there's nothing going on in the airlock. I'm just too pussy to bottle it again so I'm just going to let it sit there for a while. Is that okay to do?

 

[Krystal_p]

I don't have a clue what the size is. It doesn't say.

 

[Dend78]

let it sit? in an open bottle? and you only had 2 pop? if thats the case i would say everything was fine just 2 special ones, i wouldnt let it sit unless its in a topped up carboy or demijohn.

if you have 2 open bottles though I would have to say its 5 o'clock somewhere

 

[Krystal_p]

I meant in the demijohn with the airlock. Not sitting open lol

 

[robie]

If the hydrometer shows the wine is dry and it doesn't have loads of CO2 in it, there is no reason to let it set. Just don't use those two bottles; if you have to use them, don't fill them quite as full.

You mentioned plastic corks. What exactly do you mean? Do you put them in with a corking machine or do you put them in by hand?