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Rdbakerdvm

Junior
Joined
Jun 26, 2022
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Location
Lagunitas
Hi, new member here. Hope I’m doing this right. I make about 20 gallons of Pinot yearly from my backyard vines in Northern California. Some years the wine has a little spritz to it even tho I bottle in mid summer usually. Is there a technique to prevent this? Thanks!
 
The wine is either not fully fermented out or it's still degassing. Do you have a hydrometer? If so, what is the SG at bottling time? If not, get one -- it's the one thing 99% of the membership agrees is necessary.
 
Where in Nor Cal? @winemaker81 said it, it was bottled with residual sugar and refermented, CO2 still in solution or perhaps mlf in the bottle.

I worked at a major CPU company and when we found a bug, we called it a feature: Sparking Pinot !
 
The wine is either not fully fermented out or it's still degassing. Do you have a hydrometer? If so, what is the SG at bottling time? If not, get one -- it's the one thing 99% of the membership agrees is necessary.
Yes I have one, and it always less than 1.0. It doesn’t happen every year, but maybe every third year, and it’s pretty slight…can decant it out. I usually bottle mid summer as my little barn gets a bit warm by July
i was wondering if there was an additive to prevent in bottle fermentation, ml or otherwise
 
Where in Nor Cal? @winemaker81 said it, it was bottled with residual sugar and refermented, CO2 still in solution or perhaps mlf in the bottle.

I worked at a major CPU company and when we found a bug, we called it a feature: Sparking Pinot !
Great idea!…I don’t really mind it too much. We are in Lagunitas, marin county.
 
BTW, welcome to WMT!

Yes I have one, and it always less than 1.0. It doesn’t happen every year, but maybe every third year, and it’s pretty slight…can decant it out. I usually bottle mid summer as my little barn gets a bit warm by July
i was wondering if there was an additive to prevent in bottle fermentation, ml or otherwise
You can add potassium sorbate + K-meta at bottling time to stabilize -- the combination is birth control for yeast and is the recommended method for backsweetening. However, in your situation I'd try other techniques.

One thought is to manually degas after fermentation is complete. Some kit instructions call for heavy stirring, but it's not necessary. Stir for 30 seconds in one direction, then 30 seconds in the other, then bulk age as normal. Note: There is no need to whip the wine, just get it flowing. This does not expel all CO2, it simply jumpstarts the process.

SG below 1.000 doesn't mean the wine is done; 0.996 or lower I'd call done. If you're bulk aging in a cooler area, you may be sticking the ferment, and it re-ignites when the wine warms up in July. What are your storage conditions?
 
This year I stirred the carboys a few times and added 1/4 tsp meta / 6 gal…we‘ll see how it turns out. I store in a basement area which is consistently cool.
 
I Think I was worried that the new wine in carboys would suffer from the temp fluctuations in the summer, hence bottling in June. I’ll try letting it go
a month or two longer next year. Thanks!
The temperature difference doesn't make any difference if it's in carboy or bottle.

A few years back I had a second run stop at 1.000 in Nov. Nothing I did (new yeast, nutrient, etc) kicked it back in gear. After the first of the year the bung on the barrel blew 3 days in a row, and when I checked the SG had dropped. The yeast decided it was time to get back in gear, and it did.
 

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