Rookie disaster

[RkyMtnWine]

Prepping the Blueberry to bottle. Had two gallons of blueberry in 5 gal carboy on the floor... Degassed using vinvac... lifted up to countertop and bonked the bottom of the carboy on the edge of the counter.. cracked it on the bottom and air shot inside the carboy...

At least it didnt break completely.. was able to lay on side. Could hear the cracks continuing.. all i had was elec tape.. no duct tape. In my hast to clean a 1 gal jug to transfer... I broke that.. geeze. Finally got gallon jugs ready and was able to transfer to them.. Degassing the gallon jugs now. I know I got tons of oxygen in the wine.. those bubbles you see did not disipate during this process. Did I save the wine or is it a lost cause.

 

[grapeman]

Did you have 2 gallons in the 5 gallon carboy all along to get to the point where you wanted to degas? If so how long. That would leave a ton of headspace and gas above the blueberry. Hope it is ok, not even counting the incident breaking the carboy and then jug. All I can say is get it into something quickly, make sure you had enough campdens in them, top up well and let it finish clearing. Good luck.... I think somebody needs a little about now.

 

[RkyMtnWine]

they were in one gallon jugs.... I transferred the wine out of those to backsweeten... after that I degassed while still in the 5 gallon jug. they are in the gallon jugs now... degassing. I did add the campden and sorbate three days ago... do you think I need to add more camden because of this incident.

 

[Wade E]

Just to try and see what was going on as I might e reading this wrong. did you have 2 gallons of wine in a 5 gallon carboy and try degassing it with a vacuum in there with all that head space? If so you will need to degas again as thats almost impossible, you should have very minimal head space for degassing with a vacuum but lots of head space while whipping it with a drill mounted stirrer. @ carboys within 2 minutes, thats a new record and my wine makers flag is at 1/2 staff tonight!

 

[RkyMtnWine]

yeah.. used the vacvin on the 5 gal carboy with only 2 gallons of wine in it, puffin and pantin but got a good vac... when the sucker broke it sounded like a freight train running through it.. scared the bejeeses out of me. I did degass again once I got it back in gallon jugs, ... and the wine looks good.. nice and clear.

 

[hannabarn]

Sorry, but I couldn't help but laugh!!!!!!!! That is what I call a MESS!!!!!!!!! Been there, done that!!

 

[RkyMtnWine]

three year old grandaughter got a kick out of it also.. nicked my hand when the gallon carboy broke... she ran to the medicine cabinet and got me a couple of Spongebob bandaids

 

[Waldo]

Bummer Rky...Glad you did not get cut badly. Hopefully your wine will be fine

 

[RkyMtnWine]

naw... couple scratches.. certainly hurt my pride.. amazed that the carboy didnt shatter as soon as it hit the countertop.. that would have been a mess on the new hardwood floor.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Gads!!!!

One of the last carboys we bought has a rough seam....I worry about that one....Looks like a flaw.

 

[dfwwino]

Spongebob's blueberry wine?


When I first started, I had picked Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and obtained seven gallons. I had two gallons in one gallon jugs and five gallons in a carboy. My ex-wife knocked a bottle off a shelf in my closet and it fell like a torpedo bursting through the top of my carboy. I threw out the five gallons because I was concerned about glass chards, but if it were now, I would have racked to a new carboy a few times and filtered. Your wine should be fine. You were at least calm enough to save your wine and not make any hasty decisions like I did.

 

[RkyMtnWine]

Plan on doing a few transfers... just in case there would be any fine glass in it. Was short on carboys before this happened .. now two less. Have nothing to transfer my raspberry into.. Have to make a run to the wine store in Denver.. 40 mile trip.. Was going to bottle the Peach so I could use that carboy... but its a tad cloudy.. dont want to rush it and make another mistake.

 

[RkyMtnWine]

bottled the blueberry this morning... all looks well. Color is little off in this picure.. actually a little darker but very clear

Anyone have this issue with the vinebrite filter... Did this with my strawberry also. The cracks in the pad do not go completely through.. Unit was assembled properly.. soaked pad briefly in camden soulution followed up by 1/2 gallon water rinse through the filter.

Edited by: RkyMtnWine

 

[grapeman]

I would suspect that it is because you rushed it into the bottle. That is displaying a LOT of sediment left to be filtered out. The pad actually lays in the filter with a slight curve, so when it is removed, it shows cracking of the deposits. To me, it still looks a bit hazy, but that could just be the camera. Let us know in two months if it is clean in the bottle. I suspect you will get a bit of a deposit even though it was filtered. Six months even on blueberry would be rushing it to bottle.


Get some more jugs and let the next batch sit longer before bottling. Despite me saying all that, great job and I hope it tastes as good as it looks (it does look good, just not as brilliantly clear as it could).

 

[RkyMtnWine]

Yeah... I got camera issues... flash no worky.. had to use a program to lighten picture up ... Up close and personal it is quite clear. Did not have any sediment in the jugs when i syphoned out.Edited by: RkyMtnWine

 

[grapeman]

It does look tasty. Let us know how it is when you crack one open.

 

[Wade E]

Sure does look good RMW!

 

[mississippi mud]

The blueberry looks great how did it taste? I started to ask last year if any one had ever busted a carboy but was scared I'd get stonedor jinxed. I did have a pretty bad accident in the cellar a few months back. Was moving someempty bottles and one slipped took out 3 750French Chardonnay and a 1500 White Merlot. What ahorrific sound!!

 

[jcnoren]

To help prevent further mishapes when lifting your carboy, I find that placing it in a plastic milk crate not only makes lifting easier (good handles). The milk crate PROTECTS the sides from getting hit thus damaged.


JC