My cabernet is exploding!

[TheNautiGals]

I got the Lodi Ranch 11 Cab kit as a gift for Valentine's Day. I'm pretty new to winemaking. I started last Summer and have made only 6 kits to date. I pitched the yeast in the primary on Sunday afternoon. I've been locking down my primary, but I thought for the cab I'd just lay the lid on top of the bucket with no airlock. I also put a cloth overtop of the airlock hole. This morning I woke up to a cab explosion. It fermented over and down the sides of the bucket and splashed pretty much everything within arm's reach. I cleaned up the mess (lost some yeast and some oak I fear), gave the wine a good stir, put back the lid (tightly this time) and put on an airlock. Within an hour, the airlock is now filled with wine and it's fermenting, well, rather vigorously. I think I may need to siphon out a gallon or so of the wine and ferment it separately. Any other ideas to keep this from happening again? Is this typical of a big cab?

Thanks,
Ann

 

[g8keeper]

I got the Lodi Ranch 11 Cab kit as a gift for Valentine's Day. I'm pretty new to winemaking. I started last Summer and have made only 6 kits to date. I pitched the yeast in the primary on Sunday afternoon. I've been locking down my primary, but I thought for the cab I'd just lay the lid on top of the bucket with no airlock. I also put a cloth overtop of the airlock hole. This morning I woke up to a cab explosion. It fermented over and down the sides of the bucket and splashed pretty much everything within arm's reach. I cleaned up the mess (lost some yeast and some oak I fear), gave the wine a good stir, put back the lid (tightly this time) and put on an airlock. Within an hour, the airlock is now filled with wine and it's fermenting, well, rather vigorously. I think I may need to siphon out a gallon or so of the wine and ferment it separately. Any other ideas to keep this from happening again? Is this typical of a big cab?

Thanks,
Ann

how many gallons is your kit???....brand???...and what is the size of your primary???....for a 6 gallon kit, you should use like a 7.5-7.9 gallon bucket as your primary....was your primary filled past the 6 gallon mark?...

 

[TheNautiGals]

Do you mean I should actually read the box? It's a 6 gallon WE kit, and my fermenter was filled to the 23-liter mark. But now I see that the instructions call for a 30-liter (8 gallon) fermenter. So I guess that my fermenter's just too small. Any suggestions on managing this one? I have a few carboys but only 1 fermenter bucket.

 

[REDBOATNY]

Put half in a carboy, cover with a coffee filter and rubber band. When it calms down, rack the bucket must into the carboy. Thats what do and it works fine.

 

[JohnT]

For primary fermentation, for the first 4 or 5 days, try simply covering the bucket with either a cloth or some sheet plastic. The fermentation is very vigorous and produces a lot of CO2. This CO2 acts as a "blanket" that prevents air from comming in contact with your fermenting wine. Once the fermentation starts to "calm down", then lid and lock the wine.

 

[TheNautiGals]

Thanks all for the help. I racked half of the wine to a carboy and tried to grab a good amount of the must. I cleaned up mess #2. Fermentation looks pretty active in both.

 

[ffemt128]

As previously said. A 6 gallon kit needs a 7-8 gallon primary. Hopefully the mess wasn't to bad. Now you need to get a 5 gallon carboy, a 1 gallon and a half gallon jug so you have smaller vessels to rack into after fementation is complete.

 

[robie]

Do you mean I should actually read the box? It's a 6 gallon WE kit, and my fermenter was filled to the 23-liter mark. But now I see that the instructions call for a 30-liter (8 gallon) fermenter. So I guess that my fermenter's just too small. Any suggestions on managing this one? I have a few carboys but only 1 fermenter bucket.

I am not sure there actually is an 8-gallon fermenter. The standard size used for kits is a 7.9 gallon. You have a very active wine kit, there. For that reason, you do need to get that bigger fermenter bucket or get another food grade bucket from Home Depot. Or a free one at Target's or Wal-Mart's bakery department; they generally have 1, 2, 3 and 5 gallon sizes they will give you.

Good luck!

 

[TheNautiGals]

Outstanding. Will do, and thanks!

 

[Arne]

One little trick that I have used is to get a big garbage bag and set the primary bucket in it. Kinda pull the bag up a few inches on the sides of the bucket. If it becomes a volcano, most if not all of the mess is contained with the garbage bag. Arne.

 

[robie]

One little trick that I have used is to get a big garbage bag and set the primary bucket in it. Kinda pull the bag up a few inches on the sides of the bucket. If it becomes a volcano, most if not all of the mess is contained with the garbage bag. Arne.

That works. I use a small plastic tube, which is a couple of inches bigger in diameter.Just anything to catch volcanoes and racking spills.

 

[pioneergirl]

Do you mean I should actually read the box? It's a 6 gallon WE kit, and my fermenter was filled to the 23-liter mark. But now I see that the instructions call for a 30-liter (8 gallon) fermenter. So I guess that my fermenter's just too small. Any suggestions on managing this one? I have a few carboys but only 1 fermenter bucket.

LOL!
This happened to me recently with the 2nd kit - red zin from williams brewing - and I changed out the yeast on it - the kit was a 5 gal kit too; but I am only alotted one 6 gal. of the many buckets in the house for my wine (others for beer). I too had quite a mess -- hard to find bigger buckets where I live; but I'm now on a quest, especially if I am to attempt a kit with skins, etc... Mine bubbled like crazy for 2 days then settled down and stayed within the bucket.

 

[robie]

LOL!
This happened to me recently with the 2nd kit - red zin from williams brewing - and I changed out the yeast on it - the kit was a 5 gal kit too; but I am only alotted one 6 gal. of the many buckets in the house for my wine (others for beer). I too had quite a mess -- hard to find bigger buckets where I live; but I'm now on a quest, especially if I am to attempt a kit with skins, etc... Mine bubbled like crazy for 2 days then settled down and stayed within the bucket.

You have likely read it before, but Target and Wal-Mart bakeries will give you nice food grade buckets and lids free, so they won't have to fill their dumpster with them. They have 1, 2, and 5 gallon sizes that I know of. Ask for the lids that match them.

 

[Geronimo]

I've been using 6.5 gallon glass carboys as primaries (from my beer brewing days). I find that I can fill them to 5.5 gallons, let the initial fermentation start and add the other 1/2 gallon of water once it starts to settle in a bit (2-3 days). This leaves enough head space to avoid a blow out like that. My last 3 batches are the WE Cab Sav, the WE Merlot and the CC Barbera. All 3 are awesome! Best red wines I've ever tasted, and the aromas are incredible. No harm at all using this method, so I'm sure it would work for you with your bucket as well.