Major krausen issue with my Peach wine w/photo

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Stella

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Really disappointing when this krausen (it is krausen right? When it was floating on top it looked exactly like all the images I saw online of "krausen") showed up and has never gone away and I mean, just look at the picture. I had to put the wine in ice water to make it drop so I can rack it. What in the world caused this? I used about 17lbs of peaches, no dilution, and just did the basic fermentation as with my other fruit wines but this is going on week 4 and it basically took over my wine. Anyone know why?

[Also, the wine smells and tastes really good.]



Thanks for any help.
 

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Oh ok. When I strained the wine and it was all normal liquid again, it would turn back into that situation in the picture, except the foamy stuff was on top.

Then I scooped the foamy stuff out and it was all liquid again but went back to the foam floating.

But still, this situation isn't normal is it? I used about half fresh peaches (cut then frozen) and half store-bought frozen peaches.
 
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I could have sworn I came across images of wine where people said it was krausen and I really thought I had looked into it enough so that I wouldn't be sounding so ignorant on this forum. Sorry 'bout that.
 
Actually, wine can have have a "krausen" (foamy head from active yeast fermentation). Here is a picture of my Vidal Blanc chugging away last month. I had to take out a gallon of this batch and use a blow-off tube for another batch fermenting in a carboy. A krausen in wine is not usual but does happen.

On the other hand it appears your foam is peach pulp that has not fallen out of the wine. It will fall out eventually and cooling the wine will help.
 

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I could have sworn I came across images of wine where people said it was krausen and I really thought I had looked into it enough so that I wouldn't be sounding so ignorant on this forum. Sorry 'bout that.
Don't apologize and don't worry about "sounding so ignorant." We're ALL here to learn, that's the important thing.

"Krausen" or not, I've had a couple wines with no pulp in the must have incredibly thick long lasting foam. I've wondered what causes some ferments to be extra foamy. Some of my vegetable wines had the most. Starch? Protein? Something else?
 
Thanks so much for the reply. That picture is what mine looked like, real foamy. I guess since most recipes only use a few pounds of fruit I didn't come across the pulp situation. Well it's certainly worth it since it does come to a gallon of wine (the rest is in another carboy waiting for me to add this remaining amount) and again it really smells and tastes good. The excess pulp just isn't as fun as a cap and it's pretty gross looking lol but I can deal with it.
 
Don't apologize and don't worry about "sounding so ignorant." We're ALL here to learn, that's the important thing.

"Krausen" or not, I've had a couple wines with no pulp in the must have incredibly thick long lasting foam. I've wondered what causes some ferments to be extra foamy. Some of my vegetable wines had the most. Starch? Protein? Something else?
Thank you! I guess if it's peach pulp there isn't anything I can do to prevent it but if it was krausen I thought maybe it was something that I did and could change. This peach wine was the least enjoyable to deal with but so far it's my favorite in taste and smell. I will definitely be making more. I have to admit that a few years ago when I made peach wine I did dilute the fruit with water with about 8lbs of frozen, skinless fruit (vs 17-20lbs including fresh with skin this time) and it turned out really good and fragrant as well but no foamy situation.

Thanks again.
 
That picture is what mine looked like, real foamy. I guess since most recipes only use a few pounds of fruit I didn't come across the pulp situation.
Folks tend to publish "pretty" pictures for their blogs. Yours is "reality', which isn't always as pretty. ;)

The important thing is the wine smells and tastes good (even as young as it is).

If you're a beer brewer, very little of what you know applies to winemaking. The processes are both fermentation, but the details differ greatly. Ask questions -- it's easier to point you to a good path than it is to fix problems.
 
Welcome to Wine Making Talk
I have had a floating cap. With some yeast as Maurivin B I have had a gallon of foam on top of five gallons of liquid. When the yeast finish eating the foam stopped, sometimes folks on WMT say patience.
I like to get the sugars down about 75% (1.020 gravity) and then press out the fruit pulp with a fine mesh nylon fermenting bag. Peach is mushy (squirts out of the bag) so it takes a light pressure to get a lot of the liquid out before I can put pressure on it. ,,, Sometimes I scratch my head wondering how to separate the wine from the pulp (choke cherry has been my worst), We all have been where you are, some country wines are worse than your peach.
 
Welcome to Wine Making Talk
I have had a floating cap. With some yeast as Maurivin B I have had a gallon of foam on top of five gallons of liquid. When the yeast finish eating the foam stopped, sometimes folks on WMT say patience.
I like to get the sugars down about 75% (1.020 gravity) and then press out the fruit pulp with a fine mesh nylon fermenting bag. Peach is mushy (squirts out of the bag) so it takes a light pressure to get a lot of the liquid out before I can put pressure on it. ,,, Sometimes I scratch my head wondering how to separate the wine from the pulp (choke cherry has been my worst), We all have been where you are, some country wines are worse than your peach.
Thank you for making me feel welcome. I signed up after seeing how helpful and patient people with experience are around here. I did these first 8 gallons on my own and it's amazing how easy it is as a beginner to make something halfway decent but I want to do much better than that. I really want to make some lovely unique and quality wines that are technically sound so I needed to reach out and ask for help.

So far patience has been problem numero-uno but I'm working on it. Also, after having the peach wine in ice water for 4 days the separation is very dramatic.
 
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Peach wine creates a lot of fruit sediment. Over time it will compact somewhat. When I rack it off the sediment, I pour the sediment into a sanitized container (e.g. 1/2 gallon jug or a wine bottle) and put it in the fridge. Sometimes that will help it to compact more over a few days.

Recently I have been experimenting with uses for the fruit pulp sediment. If the ferment has gone well and the yeast was health, it won't have any off flavors. Of course, it will taste yeasty. I have mixed in a little heavy cream and sugar to make it into fruit smoothies. Very nice! I also wonder if it could be made into ice cream or sorbet. I hate to waste all that wonderful tasting fruit and nutritious yeast.
 
Folks tend to publish "pretty" pictures for their blogs. Yours is "reality', which isn't always as pretty. ;)

The important thing is the wine smells and tastes good (even as young as it is).

If you're a beer brewer, very little of what you know applies to winemaking. The processes are both fermentation, but the details differ greatly. Ask questions -- it's easier to point you to a good path than it is to fix problems.
Thank you winemaker81! The only pretty picture I have so far is of a carboy of this rasberry wine I'm working on. I swear that is the most beautiful and juiciest color I've ever seen. I'm so determined to achieve a taste experience that can go with the visual. I mean in a glass it's just going to be so gorgeous. In fact I'd like to focus on rasberry, my favorite flavor, and create a really amazing wine.

(Reading some of your "white papers" now. I wish I had done so 3 weeks ago lol. Oh well.)
 
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Peach wine creates a lot of fruit sediment. Over time it will compact somewhat. When I rack it off the sediment, I pour the sediment into a sanitized container (e.g. 1/2 gallon jug or a wine bottle) and put it in the fridge. Sometimes that will help it to compact more over a few days.

Recently I have been experimenting with uses for the fruit pulp sediment. If the ferment has gone well and the yeast was health, it won't have any off flavors. Of course, it will taste yeasty. I have mixed in a little heavy cream and sugar to make it into fruit smoothies. Very nice! I also wonder if it could be made into ice cream or sorbet. I hate to waste all that wonderful tasting fruit and nutritious yeast.
Oh my goodness my favorite is raspberry sorbet and I will have so much leftover raspberry when I do my first racking pretty soon. I will have to look into that since I don't really like diluting with water so I have lots of leftovers. I have one wine that is Honeycrisp apples and Red pear. Surely I can come up with something so I don't waste it all.

I put my peach wine in ice water 4 days ago and the separation was so fast and significant and there is hardly any color left in the top of the carboy today. I wouldn't have tried it had I not had such an issue with the peach sediment but I like the idea of maybe putting a clearing agent in and doing the ice water bath.
 
Recently I have been experimenting with uses for the fruit pulp sediment. If the ferment has gone well and the yeast was health, it won't have any off flavors. Of course, it will taste yeasty. I have mixed in a little heavy cream and sugar to make it into fruit smoothies. Very nice! I also wonder if it could be made into ice cream or sorbet. I hate to waste all that wonderful tasting fruit and nutritious yeast.
Me too!
Apple or pear butter: 4 cups pulp, 3 cups sugar, 1 Tbl or more of cinnamon, cook on low heat until thick.

Lees/pulp can be used as a marinade.

I've read people use it for pie filling. Haven't tried.

Seems it could be used in some recipes that call for a cooking wine.

I agree - I think it's a wonderful resource that we mostly ignore. Maybe we need a thread for innovative lees usage?
 
want to make some lovely unique and quality wines that are technically sound.
On my part, the quality improved when I assumed that the free SO2 was zero and automatically added 50ppm every time I did any operation with a carboy. If you like to cook, the blending/ understanding of flavors is just another type of cooking. ,,,, and with country wines a little sweetness brings out ripe fruity notes.
 
Yes indeed 03AA45EC-D781-4A0E-94EA-DE1B38626068.jpeg
 

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Really disappointing when this krausen (it is krausen right? When it was floating on top it looked exactly like all the images I saw online of "krausen") showed up and has never gone away and I mean, just look at the picture. I had to put the wine in ice water to make it drop so I can rack it. What in the world caused this? I used about 17lbs of peaches, no dilution, and just did the basic fermentation as with my other fruit wines but this is going on week 4 and it basically took over my wine. Anyone know why?

[Also, the wine smells and tastes really good.]



Thanks for any help.
patience is most important ingredient, time will take care of many things when it comes to wine, IMHO, them lees need way more time to settle, again IMHO.
Dawg
 
(Teminology point) Wine doesn't have a krausen. Beer does. That on the bottom is known as lees, peach wine is well known to generate huge amounts of lees. That might be a bit more than normal, but it's been a long time since I made peach wine.
JEEZE, i was feared I'd half to learn to spell that,,, ;)
Dawg
 

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