WineXpert World Vineyard Chilean Merlot Problem

[burningalive]

I have a friend who just did a World Vineyard Chilean Merlot and when he got to the third step (degassing, additives) he experienced something I have never seen. After a while it got this large amount of foamy sediment sitting on top of the wine...... we ended up hitting it with the drill mixer again to break it up with hopes that it would fall to the bottom. It seemed to do that for the most part but there is still a bit on top. Has anyone ever seen this before? I've done many reds and whites and I have never encountered this. Thanks!

 

[Wade E]

Sounds like it was still gassy and hitting it with the drill mixer took some of the excess gas out of it. What does he use to degas and what was the temp when he degassed? The only time Ive seen that happen was to me when I was learning and tried fining while holding a vacuum on it which made all of the sediment stay at the top due to the vacuum.

 

[burningalive]

He used a drill mixer (stainless steel with plastic flippers) and it was around 70 degrees. I wasen't there when he actually did the degassing but I think he just followed the instructions in the usual add, degass for 2 min, add degass 2 min sorta way.

 

[PAwinedude]

No Worries,

The instructions can be deceiving...If he used a whip stir for two minutes straight, then the must/wine will foam.

He introduced a huge amount of air into the must....the result a clash with the excess CO2 and of course foam....

Many folks here (who use the whip stir) start off in one direction for approx 20 sec and then reverse the whip stir in the opposite direction. This really assists in the degassing.

no worries....let the foam die down and then have him do the degassing in shorter bursts as described above.

Also, you can do a search on "splash racking" and have him use this technique to reduce the CO2 as well....

 

[burningalive]

Thanks!

 

[salmo1]

I had this happen on a Pinot Grigio/Chardonay blend. Tons of foam when degassing and adding the fining agents. It ended up with 'floaties' on the top. After about a week, they all ended up on the bottom. If you have any left, run through a filter prior to bottling.