What should I do?

[BlueRidgeBilly]

Several weeks ago I took off the airlocks off of three carboys filled to the neck with wine. It was about 6 months old and looking good. I plugged the carboys with rubber stoppers and really tried to put them in tight. My problem is that all three carboys look like they have lost about a full cup of wine out of each carboy. I checked the stoppers and they look like they have never moved. I am worried that I have ruined my wine by letting air get to it somehow and maybe the wine is evaporating. My only hope of this not happening is the fact that all three carboys did exactly the same thing. The carboys are plastic and the temp in the room has been consistant 65-70 degrees. What should I do?

 

[Julie]

Hi BlueridgeBilly,

I am sure your wines are fine for now but when you say plastic, are you saying Better Bottles?

And are you saying you put rubber stoppers and not airlocks on these carboys for six months?

 

[jswordy]

Several weeks ago I took off the airlocks off of three carboys filled to the neck with wine. It was about 6 months old and looking good. I plugged the carboys with rubber stoppers and really tried to put them in tight. My problem is that all three carboys look like they have lost about a full cup of wine out of each carboy. I checked the stoppers and they look like they have never moved. I am worried that I have ruined my wine by letting air get to it somehow and maybe the wine is evaporating. My only hope of this not happening is the fact that all three carboys did exactly the same thing. The carboys are plastic and the temp in the room has been consistant 65-70 degrees. What should I do?

Find out who's been sampling your wines?

Oh, and top them off with similar wine or water. I would reinstall airlocks after topping up. Really no need to stopper it as it ages.

 

[BlueRidgeBilly]

Julie. I racked them about 3 times while I had air locks on them. Just recently I took the air locks off and installed the rubber stoppers since all activity had long gone. They are Better Bottles.

 

[Julie]

Well Better Bottles are good, did you take a hydrometer reading? Put the airlocks back on and if the wine is just down a little from the neck you are fine. Are you planning on backsweetening these wines?

 

[Arne]

I will almost bet when you put the stoppers in you squeezed the bottles a bit. The the stopers let a small amount of air past and the level of the liquid went down. Get the right baremetric pressure come thru and the wines mite come back up again. Just a guess, Arne.

 

[BlueRidgeBilly]

Guess what! I just pulled the stoppers out of the carboys to put the airlocks back on and as I pulled each one out the level came back up to the necks of the carboys. What made it do that?

 

[Arne]

Kinda what I was tryin to say above. The sidewalls on the bottles flex a bit and am bettin that is letting your levels fluxuate.

 

[jswordy]

One word: GLASS!

 

[FrankieBones]

One word: GLASS!

I concur! Only glass in my cellar!

 

[ibglowin]

In the Spring and Fall when the temps are rising and or falling frequently you are going to see lots of changes in carboy levels be it glass or plastic. This is simply due to the expansion or contraction of the alcohol in the wine at different temps.

If the temps are rising the wine (alcohol) expands. If the temp falls it will contract and so will your level in the carboy. Solid stoppers are not a good thing to use especially in the Spring when temps are rising as you are basically creating a pressurized vessel which will find a way to release that pressure somehow, usually by ejecting the stopper at some point as well as some of your wine in the process.

 

[robie]

Guess what! I just pulled the stoppers out of the carboys to put the airlocks back on and as I pulled each one out the level came back up to the necks of the carboys. What made it do that?

Along with what Mike said, glass is not going to expand or contract when the pressure inside changes. All the expansion has to be handled in the air space above the wine. With a Better Bottle, this is not the case. The bottle itself can expand and contract.

Sounds like what happened was the bottle had sucked in some extra air earlier or had been filled when the pressure/temperature was down. Then the pressure changed and the air needed to be pushed out, but the bung was tight enough that the bottle just expanded, instead, leaving an extra large head of air above the wine. When the bung was removed, the pressure was released, allowing the wine level to come back up.

Don't be too hard on Better Bottles. They work fine. In this case, had it been a glass bottle instead, the bung would have been pushed out when the pressure went up. This would have left the wine exposed to air until you discovered it.

Both glass and Better Bottles have their advantages and disadvantages. In the end it is more a matter of personal preference than anything else.

I have more glass than Better Bottles, but I use both heavily and in situations which favor them specifically. I would not want to get rid of either kind.

 

[Arne]

I have a couple of better bottles. I have been using them for the secondary fermenters.. The reason being you can rack out of them with the vacuum, but it doesn't work very well to rack into them with the vacuum. They tend to contract. Never had a problem using the BB. but it is nice not lifting full carboys. Arne.

 

[robie]

BBottles are great for cold stabilizing. I do my cold stabilizing in my garage. I am always a little nervous about putting glass carboys of wine out in the cold. I worry - what IF it gets cold enough to freeze the wine, then crack the carboy? With the BB, that's not an issue, because it is so expandable.