Snow Showers In My Carboyz..???

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Xdriver

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I topped off 2 one of my welches concentrate wines with the same juice and added 1/2 tsp p-sorbate and after a 1 day I noticed white tiny little looking balls of something shooting to the top of both carboys and then disappearing as it falls from the top of the liquid..

It looked like upside down Snow Showers inside my carboys..lol..

What Could this be..? THX
 
I've seen the same in a couple of mine. I *think* it's small chunks of yeasty-goop from whats settled in the bottom that are hitching a co2 ride to the top.

Ended up being nothing to worry about in my case.
 
Hey BobF... LOL.. nicely put thank you..

Leanne.. I started with sg of 1.093 @ 72F. in the 1 gallon glass primary. I didn't add campden because it's all ready pasteurized, then when sg got down to 1.020 I racked into a secondary glass carboy, fit airlock, and added a little concentrate to give it a little less head space.

I waited 10 days and the sg was at .990 with the airlocker water levels level.. Then I added 1/2 tsp of potassium sorbate and used my drill to stir.. After stirring well to degas, I topped off with the same concentrate about 2 inches from bottom of bung..

About a day later I've notice the white showers of fireworks going on..

Could it be the p-sorbate reacting to the yeast..? or what do you guys think..? Thx..
 
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There was a discusiion in here not to long back about this exact same thing. I tried to find the thread relating to it but couldn't come up with it.

I do know it isn't a huge problem and you can sleep easy tonight.

Hang tough! I know one of the senior makers will be along to help you find a resolve. Don't sweat it, It'll be fine.

I don't have the expertise to advise you any further, but please don't assume you have a major problem. Let it do its thing and we all hope you get the answer soon.

Troy
:b
 
Did you add sulfite before adding sorbate? you should because not doing so can let your wine start a malo lactic fermentation and also stun the yeast so nthat the sorbate can work. You could be experiencing another fermentation with the little bit of extar concentrate you added. Did you dissolve the sorbate cause if not that could be the snow you talk of. Always dissove the sorbate and sulfite in a small amount of water or wine before adding to your wine first.
 
XD, here is a thread I came up with not sure if it relevant in your case. But take a look and be patient. But take a look at this and see if you can relate to it.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4512&highlight=crystals

I went to the SEARCH in here and typed in "crystals". Try that and see if any of the threads that come up are relevant to your situation. If I find anything more I will sure post and let you know.

Troy
 
Did you add sulfite before adding sorbate? you should because not doing so can let your wine start a malo lactic fermentation and also stun the yeast so nthat the sorbate can work. You could be experiencing another fermentation with the little bit of extar concentrate you added. Did you dissolve the sorbate cause if not that could be the snow you talk of. Always dissove the sorbate and sulfite in a small amount of water or wine before adding to your wine first.

I did dissolved the sorbate before adding to wine..

I've hered of that before.. Melo Lactic fermentation and I hered I can get Geranium or a rotten fish odor.

Does this happen in every case when sulfites aren't used with sorbates..?

The Welches Concentrate is pasteurized so I figured it would be ok not to add the (sulfite) campden in the beginning and waiting the 24 hrs. before adding yeast..

I'm over kill when it comes to sterilizing my tools and carboys and I hope because of that, I wont have any problems with this 1 gallon batch of wine..

Thx..
 
You are ok with not addin g the sulfites in the beginning but when your wine is done fermenting it sould be added to make sure a Malo fermentation does not start and to protect your wine from Oxidation. Sulfites are an anti-oxiadnt along with being a yeast inhibitor and killing off micro organisms that are present in our wines.
 
I thank you guy's for helping me and what I came up with is, I have four 1 gallon batches going..

I have a grape, white grape, straw.kiwi.bana., and two 1 gallon apple.kiwi.straw.. One of the apple.kiwi.straw is one I'm adding sugar when sg drops to .990.. I,m using Lav. 1118 yeast in just this one gallon to see what 18% is like.. Its neat watching the fermentaion start back up.. I'm keeping records of it so I'll no when to stop adding..

My point is I'm not going to add the campden to the grape or the white grape cause I topped them off already.

I will add campden along with p-sorbate to the others when I go to top off.. I'm not going to bulk age, unless I have to. Its just a frozen concentrate. It should be ok to drink after 2-3 months in the cayboys I hope.. Then if any of them should turn out good then I'll make a 5 gallon batch..

I'll keep you guy's updated.. Thx again..
 
Update: I went ahead and added the campden to my 1 gallon carboys, even though I was 11 days late adding it..

As I was pouring the wine into the measuring cup to mix the cruched campden it started fizzing so I took my spoon and stirred it good trying not to disturb the settlement.. It foamed up a lot..

After adding the campden and degassing I noticed about an hour later and through the next morning there was no signs of the Snow Showers..

Could it of been because when the 1st. time I degassed I didn't do it enough or was it because I added the campden..?
 
Sounds like you still had a lot of co2. Degassing has always helped mine clear.

I doubt campden had anything to do with it.
 

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