My wine tried to kill me - seriously

[JeffZ]

Not poisoning - but shooting at me. Last nite, I stirred a primary in my wine room - and just when i left, there was a loud "shot" sound from my wine rack. Seems like a bottle had shot out it's cork with such velocity - like a bullet - and soaked the room. The cork was on the other side of the room - at head level.

Background - I bought a juice pail of sauvignon blanc from Corrado's in NJ. Did everything right and bulk aged for 4 months. Tasted it and it was great and clear.

But 2 months later, I've been seeing some white sludge (not tartrate crystals). Seems like yeast. Tried a bottle and it tasted a bit carbonated. Now the assassination attempt!

Why? After 5 months, the fermentation should have been complete. I'm guessing the yeast didn't do it's job - and fermentation continued, building up pressure till the bottle exploded. All the bottles have the white sludge, so I'm guessing something messed up. And I should throw out or duck when i enter.

Could the yeast have been bad? Was the temperature in the room too hot - this summer it reached 80. Because I bulk aged, I never bothered to take a final SG. Maybe that would have told me there was a problem.
I've done about 15 varities with no similar occurance - so not a total newbie. Thanks.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Nope, the yeast was perfectly healthy, as can be seen by the restarted fermentation. It happens. Conditions became just right, why? Well, thats anyones guess, but one thing that could have prevented restarting was correct application of k-meta and sorbate before bottling. Do you know what your pre-bottling SG was?

 

[roger80465]

Not poisoning - but shooting at me. Last nite, I stirred a primary in my wine room - and just when i left, there was a loud "shot" sound from my wine rack. Seems like a bottle had shot out it's cork with such velocity - like a bullet - and soaked the room. The cork was on the other side of the room - at head level.

Background - I bought a juice pail of sauvignon blanc from Corrado's in NJ. Did everything right and bulk aged for 4 months. Tasted it and it was great and clear.

But 2 months later, I've been seeing some white sludge (not tartrate crystals). Seems like yeast. Tried a bottle and it tasted a bit carbonated. Now the assassination attempt!

Why? After 5 months, the fermentation should have been complete. I'm guessing the yeast didn't do it's job - and fermentation continued, building up pressure till the bottle exploded. All the bottles have the white sludge, so I'm guessing something messed up. And I should throw out or duck when i enter.

Could the yeast have been bad? Was the temperature in the room too hot - this summer it reached 80. Because I bulk aged, I never bothered to take a final SG. Maybe that would have told me there was a problem.
I've done about 15 varities with no similar occurance - so not a total newbie. Thanks.

Just a guess on my part but a couple things come to mind. Without a final SG, it is hard to tell if fermentation was complete. I would guess the yeast went dormant from the warmth and reactivated after cooling. Did you add kms and or sorbate before bottling?

Second thought would be some sort of wild yeast contamination - maybe a bottle or a cork that might not have been completely clean.

I would open another bottle or 2 to see if they are carbonated and if so, open the batch, degass, add kms and sorbate and rebottle in a week or so. If there is no CO2, you probably had a bad bottle.

 

[Floandgary]

That's why we use the hydrometer and check that SG. has not changed for 3 days or so. Unless you filter or use a clearing/fining agent, 4 months (with no rackovers) is not quite enough for everything to settle out. I'm with Roger,,,, pop a couple and check 'em out. OR print a disclaimer on the label!! LOL

 

[Runningwolf]

Ok Not to beat you up, but the yeast was fine and healthy. The wine needed more time to ferment. Kmeta was probably added too early after fermentation. Did you have a week of unchanged hydrometer readings below 1.0? Reading a hydrometer (which blows me away that there are winemakers that don't even own one) is not enough to determine a completed fermentation. You also need to taste it for the fuzziness of a ferment (you might have to degass a small sample to try it first). If you still suspect an incomplete fermentation do a clinitest.
Let the wine properly age, use fresh chemicals, stabilize the wine if back sweetening and practice complete sanitation all the way to corking the bottle.

Taste one more bottle. If it is fizzy, I would dump the entire batch back into a carboy, properly topped up and let it sit for 4-6 months in a room that is not too cool.

 

[JohnT]

One question... After bottling the wine, was the wine stored in a warmer place? If you are in my area, did the warm spell we have been having warm the wine up a bit?

I am pretty sure of the following...

- that the sludge you describe is yeast.
- The fizziness you describe is definitely caused by fermentation.
- you MUST have had residual sugar in your wine
- if the wine has warmed up, this could explain why fermentation kicked off again

All is not lost. I would open each bottle (carefully) and empty into a carboy. Let the wine clear and settle, then rebottle in 5 or 6 months.

BTW, I am a huge fan of Corrado's. ...

 

[JeffZ]

Thanks everyone for the valuable information. Yes - I learned a few valuable lessons.
#1 - even though you bulk age for many months, you still must read the SG, because sh-t does happen.
#2 Storing wine can't be causual. I don't have a basement so keep about my bottles in a side bedroom. I do let the temperature rise to about 80ish before i turn on the AC.
#3 Corks? I never treat my corks. They come in a sealed plastic bag and I just use them. Maybe I should put them in a starsan solution or wash down, in case of wild yeast.

Most important - I am very surprised to learn that the wine might still be saveable. I'll throw it in a carboy, degas, add Kmeta, let clear - and hope.

Lessons learned. I can now take off my helmet from ballistic corks. Thanks again.

 

[sour_grapes]

#3 Corks? I never treat my corks. They come in a sealed plastic bag and I just use them. Maybe I should put them in a starsan solution or wash down, in case of wild yeast.

No! The consensus is that you should NOT wash your corks in a liquid solution. It is too likely to degrade the cork and/or prevent a good seal.

Many people here use a "Corkidor." They put their corks in a sealed bucket with a bottle or other open vessel containing strong k-meta solution. The SO2 gas takes care of any nasties.

Also, most people here say that using corks right from the bag is a fine thing to do.

 

[JohnT]

So, Sourgrapes is trying to say that he is not a big fan of soaking cork..

Here is the instructional video.....

https://screen.yahoo.com/cork-soakers-000000587.html

 

[cmason1957]

Every time I watch that, I still giggle at it. It has to be one of the best skits of all time.

 

[JimmyT]

So, Sourgrapes is trying to say that he is not a big fan of soaking cork..

Here is the instructional video.....

https://screen.yahoo.com/cork-soakers-000000587.html

Now that's hilarious!!!!