WOW! (Again0

[hannabarn]

My pretty strawberry rhubarb wine had to go down the drain!! It got so I was afraid to walk by my wine rack because every time I went into the basement wine room, another bottle of it had exploded! I got tired of mopping the floor. I finally looked back at my wine logs and discovered that I hadn't put any sorbate in!! DUMB MISTAKE!!! I had even put shrink caps on them and believe it or not, on 1 bottle, instead of blowing the cork it broke the bottle, leaving the cork still sealed in the neck. Unbelievable!! My wife said,"I'm not drinking that stuff!!!!!

 

[Waldo]

Thats amazing..and tragic hanna....what was your beginning and ending sg on it?

 

[grapeman]

Tragic, simply tragic!


You could have uncorked what was left into a bucket to see how much was left and then added a bit more k-meta and sorbate, degas, let stand a few days and rebottle. It is a lot of extra work, but would have probably saved the wine.


At least that should be the end of the exploding fizz-bombs.

 

[nursejohn]

Hannabarn, Ican sympathize with you. I made a "hillbilly wine" once and made the same mistake; no K+ sorbate; and was watching TV one night when I heard the explosion. Only made two 1.5 L bottles and while cleaning up the mess from bottle #1, bottle # 2 exploded. I call that a lifetime lesson

.

 

[hannabarn]

The beginning s.g. was 1.085 and fermented to dry (.096). I back sweetened it to 1.000. It's a shame because the little bit I salvaged tastes really good for only about 2 months old! Rich, I don't think I could have salvaged much. I uncorked them in the laundry tub and had to almost turn my back as I uncorked them!! Lots of fizz and foam. Basement smells nice tho!!!!!

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Several years ago I bottled my first Belgian-style beer too early and I had the same problem (only beer bottles are thinner so they tend to explode). I came home one evening and thought, "Why does my house smell like a party?" It was so very sad.


I managed to save the rest of the beer by throwing it into the coldest drawer of my fridge so the fermentation stopped. It was still over-carbonated but I just named it, "Exploding Ale" and made sure I poured it into a pitcher first and waited a while for the foam to go down before I served it.


Sorry about your wine. It sounds so delicious too - I love strawberry-rhubarb jam and have been thinking about making that type of wine.

 

[Wade E]

Hanna, I had the same problem with my Plumb wine but id as Appleman said to you as there was no way Im throwing anything out that tastes good. I manged to salvage 2 gallons by letting it ferment dry again and resweeten. I did drink one bottle sparkled and brought another bottle over to a neighbor who seemed to be having a bad day and I offered it to her and she was like "Give me that bottle of sparkling Plumb"! I opened it for her just to be sure I wasnt handing her a bottle bomb but all the corks were being held on by the shrink wraps literally! The wine still turned out good after all and I still have 1 or 2 bottles left which is for special occasoin like a member of this forum coming over.

 

[xanxer82]

My condolences. :/

 

[hannabarn]

It does make feel a little better knowing it has happened to the experts on this forum. At least I know where I made my mistake and it won't happen again. I was able to save about 1 bottle which I am consuming. It is good enough that I will make it again next year when the rhubarb and strawberries are in season. Thanks for the condolences!!!!!!!