What a mess!

[Poormanfarm]

This is the fifth batch of wine that I have made since embarking on this venture of wine making. I just made a 5 gal batch of Blackberry and after fermenting for 7 days I racked it into a carboy. Today when I went out to check on my wine, I was totally surprised to see blackberry wine and foam had filled the airlock and had been running down the side of the carboy. When I racked it into the carboy my sg was 1.000. I thought that it had almost finished working that hard and was ready to go into the secondary.The only thing that I did was to take the air lock off and put a clean on back on and see what happens. What do you think caused this and what should I have done differently? Thanks for your help

 

[Wade E]

I ferment all my wines to dry in the primary for this reason and also for ease of degassing. The main reason this happened is because at time of transfer your wine was loaded with C02 and even at that low of an sg it still had enough aggression to foam up and clog the airlock. Try fermenting to dry in the buclet next time. At about 1.020 put the lid and airlock on it and check it in a few days. The trapped C02 from fermentation will create a blanket and protect your wine.

 

[Poormanfarm]

How many days does it usually stay in the fermenter bucket Wade? Average?

 

[Wade E]

I almost always have it in there for 2 weeks but remove fruit after typically 10 -12 days.

 

[dangerdave]

I ferment all my wines to dry in the primary for this reason and also for ease of degassing. The main reason this happened is because at time of transfer your wine was loaded with C02 and even at that low of an sg it still had enough aggression to foam up and clog the airlock. Try fermenting to dry in the buclet next time. At about 1.020 put the lid and airlock on it and check it in a few days. The trapped C02 from fermentation will create a blanket and protect your wine.

I'm with Wade. I always ferment to dry in the primary, even if I'm doing a kit that says otherwise.

 

[Lopez]

I've never really had issues with foam, BUT I am in the primary with a batch of blackberries. I picked about 30 lbs on my property and for some reason this batch has foamed like crazy in the primary. I had enough for around 10 gallons and actually divided it up into 4 buckets because of the foaming. I've not had another type of wine do this. Usually my grape wines will foam up when I stir them during primary, but this batch foams constantly.

Overall I'm digging the smell and what's going on so far. Good luck with that batch Poorman!

 

[UBB]

I'm with Wade. I always ferment to dry in the primary, even if I'm doing a kit that says otherwise.

Add me to the list of folks who do it this way as well.

 

[edv]

Add me to the list of folks who do it this way as well.

Me, too. Agreed with above.

 

[tonyandkory]

Oh no way not me ... I like my wine on the ceiling :>

 

[Arne]

Oh no way not me ... I like my wine on the ceiling :>

LOL, winemaking 1, interior decorating. Arne.

 

[tonyandkory]

LOL ya Arne. I think at some point we've all done some redecorating of one kind or another lol