Small Foamy White Spots

[Tiggy]

This is my first time making wine. Using a Master Vintener kit and doing a Winexpert Cali Trinity Red. I'm about 6 days into primary and woke up to these interesting little white spots on the top of the wine. They're not discs, rather tight little strands of white foam. I started with an OG of 1.086 and haven't checked since. I was going to check and rack to secondary tomorrow at 7 days. I thought I did really well cleaning and sanitizing. Any information is appreciate.

 

[Tiggy]

Another picture

 

[Natrix]

To me it's look like gas foam bubble. Don't think you have to be worried about it, but check your SG, it's the key.

 

[Tiggy]

Thanks Natrix. It's just that the bubbles in question are white and the foam around it is a color you would expect of a red wine thats got me scratching my head. I am going to check the SG tomorrow and report back here.

 

[stickman]

Did you sanitize with sulfite solution? If so, sulfite residue from the glass dripping down to the surface (maybe from condensation) can temporarily bleach the color causing the white foam. This is not a problem as the color loss is not permanent.

 

[cimbaliw]

The "white stuff" is not a problem whatever it is. Here is an irascible thread from a couple of years ago about the same subject. As you can read it quickly became a bit of a chat on head space. Regardless, the wine turned out well and continues to deliver.

BC

 

[Arne]

Wait til the s.g. is down around 1.010 or so before you rack. If you rack when it is too high, some rather interesting things can happen, especially if you are fermenting over nice flooring. Sometimes you can clean the ceiling too. And Welcome to the forum. Arne.

 

[StBlGT]

+1 to what arne said. I don't know why kits say 1.020....seems too active still. The 1.008-1.010 area is about perfect. I never had a problem in that range. I never tried 1.020 and probably never will.

As for the white spots, definitely not a problem.

 

[Tiggy]

First off, thanks to everyone for your feedback. I'm going to go with the idea that the white spots that I was seeing was from condensed sanitizing/sulfite solutions that weren't rinsed in the beginning of the process. I woke up today and they had completely moved to the sides of the fermenter if present at all. I took a gravity reading and it was 0.992, well below the max target of 1.010, and subsequently racked to a secondary carboy. I snuck a small taste and if I'm not mistaken, things are going well and it should be pretty good once all is said and done. Big thanks again to everyone for your responses.