Hi,

I need help, my two recent batches (strawberry and calabrese) wine has become carbonated! After one
year I popped corks on several bottles of both wines and both come out like champaigne with a funny
off taste. What could be causing this anomaly?

I was certain that the primary fermentation has been completed by checking the SG and then waiting
an additional 5 months prior to bottling them.

Any suggestion would help.

On 3/20/04 10:11 AM, in article ,
" > wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I need help, my two recent batches (strawberry and calabrese) wine has become
> carbonated! After one
> year I popped corks on several bottles of both wines and both come out like
> champaigne with a funny
> off taste. What could be causing this anomaly?
>
> I was certain that the primary fermentation has been completed by checking the
> SG and then waiting
> an additional 5 months prior to bottling them.
>
> Any suggestion would help.

Can you provide any more details? What was the SG at the time of bottling?
Where they completely dry? Was all the dissolved CO2 gone? I have found that
wine, even though it has been still for months, can begin fermentation again
if there is any sugar left.

--
Greg Cook
http://homepage.mac.com/gregcook/Wine

(remove spamblocker from my email)

Well, the wines SG was below 1.0 and was filtered. There was no activity in the airlock on the
carboy. Prior to filling the bottles, they were washed in a m-sulfide solution. The corks were
soaked in warm m-sulfide solution. The m-sulfide solution was about 5% in strength.

On Sat, 20 Mar 2004 23:47:47 GMT, Greg Cook > wrote:

>On 3/20/04 10:11 AM, in article ,
" > wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I need help, my two recent batches (strawberry and calabrese) wine has become
>> carbonated! After one
>> year I popped corks on several bottles of both wines and both come out like
>> champaigne with a funny
>> off taste. What could be causing this anomaly?
>>
>> I was certain that the primary fermentation has been completed by checking the
>> SG and then waiting
>> an additional 5 months prior to bottling them.
>>
>> Any suggestion would help.
>
>Can you provide any more details? What was the SG at the time of bottling?
>Where they completely dry? Was all the dissolved CO2 gone? I have found that
>wine, even though it has been still for months, can begin fermentation again
>if there is any sugar left.

On 3/21/04 6:20 AM, in article ,
" > wrote:

> Well, the wines SG was below 1.0 and was filtered. There was no activity in
> the airlock on the
> carboy. Prior to filling the bottles, they were washed in a m-sulfide
> solution. The corks were
> soaked in warm m-sulfide solution. The m-sulfide solution was about 5% in
> strength.
>
> On Sat, 20 Mar 2004 23:47:47 GMT, Greg Cook >
> wrote:
>
>> On 3/20/04 10:11 AM, in article ,
>> " > wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I need help, my two recent batches (strawberry and calabrese) wine has
>>> become
>>> carbonated! After one
>>> year I popped corks on several bottles of both wines and both come out like
>>> champaigne with a funny
>>> off taste. What could be causing this anomaly?
>>>
>>> I was certain that the primary fermentation has been completed by checking
>>> the
>>> SG and then waiting
>>> an additional 5 months prior to bottling them.
>>>
>>> Any suggestion would help.
>>
>> Can you provide any more details? What was the SG at the time of bottling?
>> Where they completely dry? Was all the dissolved CO2 gone? I have found that
>> wine, even though it has been still for months, can begin fermentation again
>> if there is any sugar left.
>


Ok - a couple more thoughts. Sugar - unless the SG is really down there
(0.995 or lower) you probably have some residual sugar left. If that is not
the case, you may still have dissolved CO2 in your wine. If the wine was
bulk aged in a cool environment it is likely that the CO2 would not be
completely dissipated during bulk aging. In these cases, you may want to get
one of those wine degassing wands to stir your wine vigorously to let the
CO2 escape before bottling. If you search this newsgroup on "degassing" you
should find lots of discussion on the matter.

--
Greg Cook
http://homepage.mac.com/gregcook/Wine

(remove spamblocker from my email)

> wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> I need help, my two recent batches (strawberry and calabrese) wine has
become carbonated! After one
> year I popped corks on several bottles of both wines and both come out
like champaigne with a funny
> off taste. What could be causing this anomaly?
>
> I was certain that the primary fermentation has been completed by checking
the SG and then waiting
> an additional 5 months prior to bottling them.

Although it _could_ be residual sugar that fermented in vitro, it could also
be due to spontaneous ML fermentation - especially if the free SO2 was on
the low side. Did you use acid blend in the making of these wines? That
contains malic acid.

Tom S

A friend had this problem, and we decided that it was a secondary
fermentation. In addition to the champange and off-taste symptoms, we
found a filmy sediment at the "bottom" (actually on ths side - they
were stored lying down) of the bottle.

There was likely a little residual sugar and we may not have been as
clean as we should have been filling the bottles. The sediment we
decided were actually a very light collection of lees. Check the
bottom of the bottles for this "sediment".

Our lesson - be cleaner, be "drier", and consider filtering, just in
case we brought something over from the carboys.

Rob

> Well, the wines SG was below 1.0 and was filtered. There was no
> activity in the airlock on the carboy. Prior to filling the bottles,
> they were washed in a m-sulfide solution. The corks were
> soaked in warm m-sulfide solution. The m-sulfide solution w
> as about 5% in strength.

While using the sulfide solution on the corks and bottles
is a good thing from other aspects I don't think it's going
to affect the fizz. Same goes with the filtering unless it's
sterile filtered. The only items that will affect it are the
amount of residual sugar, de-gassing and the amount of potassium
meta and/or potassium sorbate you add. It could be an ML
as well.

Don

"Rob" > wrote in message
m...
> A friend had this problem, and we decided that it was a secondary
> fermentation. In addition to the champange and off-taste symptoms, we
> found a filmy sediment at the "bottom" (actually on ths side - they
> were stored lying down) of the bottle.
>
> There was likely a little residual sugar and we may not have been as
> clean as we should have been filling the bottles. The sediment we
> decided were actually a very light collection of lees. Check the
> bottom of the bottles for this "sediment".
>
> Our lesson - be cleaner, be "drier", and consider filtering, just in
> case we brought something over from the carboys.

Filtration won't get you off the hook unless you _sterile_ filter through a
0.45µ absolute membrane. Nominal filters aren't good enough.

Sterile filtration isn't really that hard to do, but the filter cartridges
are expen$ive, and if you don't get the wine quite clear before sterile
filtration you'll quickly load up the media and find yourself having a
_very_ bad day indeed..

Tom S

ML fermentation, what is it? How do I prevent it in the future. I take it I now have to destroy
these two batches... I did use some acid in the strawberry wine, but nothing in the calabrese.

Thanks,

On 22 Mar 2004 03:20:24 -0800, (Don S) wrote:

>> Well, the wines SG was below 1.0 and was filtered. There was no
>> activity in the airlock on the carboy. Prior to filling the bottles,
>> they were washed in a m-sulfide solution. The corks were
>> soaked in warm m-sulfide solution. The m-sulfide solution w
>> as about 5% in strength.
>
>While using the sulfide solution on the corks and bottles
>is a good thing from other aspects I don't think it's going
>to affect the fizz. Same goes with the filtering unless it's
>sterile filtered. The only items that will affect it are the
>amount of residual sugar, de-gassing and the amount of potassium
>meta and/or potassium sorbate you add. It could be an ML
>as well.
>
>Don

What is the calabrese wine made of?

> wrote in message
...
> ML fermentation, what is it? How do I prevent it in the future. I take
it I now have to destroy
> these two batches... I did use some acid in the strawberry wine, but
nothing in the calabrese.
>
> Thanks,
>
> On 22 Mar 2004 03:20:24 -0800, (Don S) wrote:
>
> >> Well, the wines SG was below 1.0 and was filtered. There was no
> >> activity in the airlock on the carboy. Prior to filling the bottles,
> >> they were washed in a m-sulfide solution. The corks were
> >> soaked in warm m-sulfide solution. The m-sulfide solution w
> >> as about 5% in strength.
> >
> >While using the sulfide solution on the corks and bottles
> >is a good thing from other aspects I don't think it's going
> >to affect the fizz. Same goes with the filtering unless it's
> >sterile filtered. The only items that will affect it are the
> >amount of residual sugar, de-gassing and the amount of potassium
> >meta and/or potassium sorbate you add. It could be an ML
> >as well.
> >
> >Don
>