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wineforfun

Still Trying To Make The Perfect Wine and Now Tryi
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I have noticed this "film", for lack of better word/description, on a few of my kit wines. They taste fine, just wondering what this may be. This particular pic is from my 2013 RJS OVZ. The film was more together when I first poured, but it is swirled since I had swirled the glass of wine around.
This was my first kit. I did add sorbate to it. The other two kits I have done, I left out the sorbate. I don't know that the sorbate has anything to do with it, I am just mentioning what I did.
Anyway, just curious if anyone has any ideas what this may be. I don't normally notice it with commercial wine.

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Are you getting that in every glass you pour? Are your wine glasses well cleaned and rinsed before use? Could it be tiny CO2 bubbles. I've been doing kits for close to 4 years - both WE and RJS - and have not noticed any film at all.

Try pouring a glass through a coffee filter and see if you're still seeing that film. I have had stuff (protein strands?) I can see in the bottle of some of my fruit wines that pouring through a coffee filter removes so that I don't see it in the glass.
 
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Are you getting that in every glass you pour? Are your wine glasses well cleaned and rinsed before use? Could it be tiny CO2 bubbles. I've been doing kits for close to 4 years - both WE and RJS - and have not noticed any film at all.

Try pouring a glass through a coffee filter and see if you're still seeing that film. I have had stuff (protein strands?) I can see in the bottle of some of my fruit wines that pouring through a coffee filter removes so that I don't see it in the glass.

I forgot to look at pour 2 and 3. Usually starting to get "happy" and my A.D.D. kicks in. :)
Glasses are clean as far as I know. Like I said, I don't notice it on commercial wines. I would think CO2 would be long gone after being bottled for 3 yrs., but I could be wrong.
Also, I don't get it when drinking one of my fruit wines, dragon blood-type wines, etc.
I will try the coffee filter route though and see what that does.
Thanks.
 
I'd be willing to bet that's CO2. Decant your wine and let it sit for about a half hour to warm up. It should dissipate.

Also: The "poof" test works, even on a 3-year-old in the bottle, to give you a sense of CO2... I'd say try it.
 
Yea, that glass has bubbles on the edges, I'm guessing it's CO2. That's what mine look like when poured. If you decant the bottle for a few hours it will go away, try that as a test next time you open a bottle (and do the poof test that @jgmann67 suggests).

I had bottled a few wines last winter, that had no CO2 to my knowledge in them when I bottled, but when @Boatboy24 opened (I think a Sangiovese) that I gave him there was still CO2 in it. When I then opened a bottle from my basement, yup, CO2 and lot's of it. I had beaten that wine mercilessly for a week, but my kitchen in the winter hovers in the mid 60s, the cooler wine holds onto the gas better without releasing it (even if using an AIO).

If I'm planning to bottle a wine during the colder months I've been AIO-ing it a few times when the temps are warmer in the Fall, then letting it bulk age in the basement until I bottle, hopefully having removed most of the CO2 (at that point I also started using solid bungs).
 
Ok, I will give that a go next time I open one of these kit bottles. As far as the RJS OVZ I opened, I won't be opening another one of those for a year. I have three bottles left and plan on opening them at years 4, 5 & 6. I did pour this bottle through an aerator after the first glass. It is a little gizmo you insert in the bottle and pour through. But like I said, I didn't pay attention to the "film" after the first glass.

@ceeaton
I am not seeing the bubbles around the edge you speak of. I see the white rim, but I believe that is just the way the pic was taken, I could be wrong though.

Either way, I will give future bottles the "poof" test.
 
I would think CO2 would be long gone after being bottled for 3 yrs., but I could be wrong.

If you bottled wine with CO2 in it, my belief is that it will still be there even three years later. Had you bulk aged it for three years, I would agree that there should be none. My very first wine was bottled a little fizzy, I have 5 bottles left and to this day, it's still got CO2 in it. When I open one of those bottles, I put the cork back in just a bit, shake it, and relieve the CO2 a few times before pouring it. After that, don't notice any carbonation at all after that.
 
If you bottled wine with CO2 in it, my belief is that it will still be there even three years later. Had you bulk aged it for three years, I would agree that there should be none. My very first wine was bottled a little fizzy, I have 5 bottles left and to this day, it's still got CO2 in it. When I open one of those bottles, I put the cork back in just a bit, shake it, and relieve the CO2 a few times before pouring it. After that, don't notice any carbonation at all after that.

You could be right. It was my first kit so it is very possible I didn't get all the CO2 out.

I have become much better at letting time "do it's thing" compared to early on.
 
You could be right. It was my first kit so it is very possible I didn't get all the CO2 out.

I have become much better at letting time "do it's thing" compared to early on.

Couldn't agree more!!! In the beginning, waiting to bottle / drink the "completed" wine longer than a few weeks seemed an impossible task. Now, procrastinating bottling beyond a year, just because I don't feel like doing it, is a regular event.
 
Hi, My name is whitehrs and I am an early bottler.
I have gotten to the point where I am at about 6 months to bottle.. I'm getting better. I was bottling, and probably ruining great wine, at 1 or 2 months.
 
Couldn't agree more!!! In the beginning, waiting to bottle / drink the "completed" wine longer than a few weeks seemed an impossible task. Now, procrastinating bottling beyond a year, just because I don't feel like doing it, is a regular event.
I hope I get to that point before too long. I had to make a batch of Dragonblood just so I'd have something that is early drinkable. Hopefully that will help me keep my mitts off of the other wines I have going . . .
 
Hi, My name is whitehrs and I am an early bottler.
I have gotten to the point where I am at about 6 months to bottle.. I'm getting better. I was bottling, and probably ruining great wine, at 1 or 2 months.

I bottle my 4-week kits at about 3 months and my 6-week kits at about 5 months. DB is ready to consume in about two months pitching the yeast to popping the cork. Vacuum degassing will get you there without CO2 issues.

Yes, even kit wines will improve somewhat over longer waits from pitching the yeast to opening the first bottle but I've been very pleased with all my wines without having to wait very long. Guess I should be more thankful for my unsophisticated wine tasting palette.
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