# "There She Blows" SOB



## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

All this talk of bottle bombs you guys jinxed me. I went down in the basement and saw a wet spot and sure enough on the top rack was a bottle without a cork or shrink wrap. This was my Country Apple, one of my favorite wines. 

Quick check of the rest of the bottles showed all corks were fine or slightly recessed in the bottle. 

The wine left in the bottled appeared to be very cloudy. Quick check of the other bottles and they are crystal clear.

There was about 1/3 of the wine left in the bottle. I shook it up like a coke bottle and released my thumb. It was full of carbonation. Opened a new bottle and cork came out normal. Shooked the crap out of it and no gas.

Was I sabotaged. Did someone sneak an Alika seltzer in it. Did Julie really mean it when she said something about paybacks? All bottles were sanitized prior to bottling. WTF.


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## ibglowin (Mar 23, 2011)

Any residual sugar? Any sorbate added?


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> Any residual sugar? Any sorbate added?



Completley stabilized including sorbate, degassed, aged and filtered. Did I mention this is my favorite.


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## Julie (Mar 23, 2011)

Well I tried to tell you and you wouldn't listen. ::

Actually, if you remember I had the same thing happen to me last summer. I had a bottle of elderberry pop it's cork, spilled wine all over the place and all other bottles were fine. And they stayed fine. I watched them for 6 months and nothing ever happen to the rest. At the time we were having some severe thunderstorms. I always wonder if it was pressure from the storm but really have no idea.


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

Well the good news is; This happened in the regular part of the basement on one of my over flow racks and not in the wine cellar. I found the shrink capsule but still haven't found the cork.


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## ibglowin (Mar 23, 2011)

Sounds like it was just a case of premature ecorkulation. 

I have heard it happens to some inexperienced winemakers. Have not personally experienced it myself......


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## djrockinsteve (Mar 23, 2011)

Runningwolf said:


> still haven't found the cork.



Good thing you wern't down there bent over when it blew. You'd have found the cork real quick!


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## ffemt128 (Mar 23, 2011)

What a shame, hopefully the rest don't develop the same symptoms.


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> Sounds like it was just a case of premature ecorkulation.
> 
> I have heard it happens to some inexperienced winemakers. Have not personally experienced it myself......


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## djrockinsteve (Mar 23, 2011)

Quick get Dan a towel!


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

djrockinsteve said:


> Good thing you wern't down there bent over when it blew. You'd have found the cork real quick!



It was a good cork even the dog was licking it earlier.


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## Flem (Mar 23, 2011)

"Inquiring Minds Want To Know"---Why would one bottle out of the entire batch pop the cork?


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

Mike there is always a first cork to go and I fully expected to see the rest ready to go for what ever reason. But as I posted earlier there are no signs of further pops. Back to your question this is the answer we are looking for. It happened to Julie last year.


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## Lurker (Mar 23, 2011)

Now is a good time for all of us to check all bottles and carboys. As the temp goes up, the wine will expand and probably pop corks or send wine up into air locks. Dan, maybe this bottle was just a little too full, it is an omen to check things out. I was forced to taste wine from a full carboy yesterday, I really hate that forced tasting, oh yeh. The Malbec is really good.


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## Arne (Mar 23, 2011)

Seems like this happens with apple more often than the others. I had it happen with apple and blamed it on either bad sorbate or no sorbate. It was written down in my notes that I added it, but who knows. I had 3 bottles let loose, its been over a year and still have only found one of the corks. Course I do not have a nice wine making room, just cleaned out a spot in the junk filled basement. Corks are there somewhere, maybe the kids will find em years from now when they have our auction. That will probably be the only way the basement gets cleaned out. lol, Arne.


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## Love_in_Texas (Mar 23, 2011)

*sad fish-face*

But, ELLEMAYO @ Premature Ecorkulation. Can I use that in Scrabble?


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## wyntheef (Mar 23, 2011)

maybe this is what happened. of course it would explain the missing cork.


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

wyntheef said:


> maybe this is what happened. of course it would explain the missing cork.



ibglowin ain't goin to be happy. He's a bin looken fer her. He even wrote a song and a skit.


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

Love_in_Texas said:


> *sad fish-face*
> 
> But, ELLEMAYO @ Premature Ecorkulation. Can I use that in Scrabble?



Is that your email address? [email protected]_Ecorkulation.Can


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## Love_in_Texas (Mar 23, 2011)

Only if SOB really means you're cryin


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## almargita (Mar 23, 2011)

Currently sipping some of your country Apple now & it doesn't have any CO2, taste great! need to know how many cininmon stix & what ever else you added & for how long. Will definetly plan on making some this fall when the fresh apple juice is being pressed........ Wish I would have spiced my Apple instead just making the basic Apple wine..... 
Al


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

I only used three cinnamon sticks and two pieces of cloves.


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## grapeman (Mar 23, 2011)

It probably lost just enough S02 after a while that a single ml bacteria was able to gain a foothold. Because that works slowly it went unnoticed until - thar she blew!


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## Julie (Mar 23, 2011)

grapeman said:


> It probably lost just enough S02 after a while that a single ml bacteria was able to gain a foothold. Because that works slowly it went unnoticed until - thar she blew!



Grapeman, would that happen in just one or two bottles out of that batch?


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## grapeman (Mar 23, 2011)

That would be the likely cause. Dan had a good sanitation program and stabilized the wine. All it takes is one bacteria......... If one happened to get by everything, it could eat and multiply, slowly at first, but as the numbers picked up, so would the activity until all the malic acid was gone- which would take a while in the apple. Can we ever absolutely guarantee we will never have it happen - not under normal home winemaking or even commercial operations.

Dan does a great job, but it can happen to all of us eventually.


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

Thanks Rich. I am not sure exactly when it happened, as it could have been any time in the last 2-3 days. The wine that was left in the bottle did not look good. It looked very cloudy, not sure if thats from sitting open for a day or three, or from the chemical reaction like you were talking about. I opened one up today and had some for dinner and it was very good.


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## Julie (Mar 23, 2011)

Mine was an elderberry and I can't remember if it was cloudy or not but I did taste what was left in the bottle and it tasted fine. Never gave it a thought about a single bacteria getting into one or two botles. This is very interesting.


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## Wade E (Mar 23, 2011)

Just keep an eye on that batch. I had this happen withaPlum wine a few years back. I walked into the cellar and was getting a very fine mist on me. It was so fine tyat it was actually hard to find the culprit but when I did find it I was feeling lucky that didnt lose an eye as the cork was right on the edge being held in only by the shrink wrap. On closer inspection there were a few more bulging and the rest of the bottles were cloudy. I remember clearly what happened with this batch though. I was interupted by a screaming kid during dealing with this batch. Im not sur if I wrote down that sorbate was added and actually never added it due to the screaming as I ran upstairs or if I actualy added the sorbate and it was past its expiration date. I had tpo put it all back in the carboy let it ferment again and clear it again. I still hve this batch down there, havent opened a botle in awhile as the abv was higher and needed to chill out for ahile. I shold open a bottle soon.


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## grapeman (Mar 23, 2011)

I don't think they really get into it, but were ones missed when even sterile filtered. Bacteria are opportunists and can survive a great deal They just don't grow under hostile conditions like properly sulfited wine or very acidic wine. That is why it can happen after a year or two out of the blue. For whatever reason - like a small air leak in a cork, the sulfite levels can go down gradually. When the level gets low enough- bam- they start to grow and multiply.

Of course this is all conjecture as to what happened this time.....................


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## AlFulchino (Mar 23, 2011)

somewhere in this topic Rich L (Lurker) brought something up that may actually contain the real missing link in this mystery...temperature change possibly coupled with something I see from time to time when using a floor corker.....you grab a bottle and press down on the spring of the corker to get your bottle into place....sometimes the wine in the bottle will splash up against the interior of the bottle neck during the jostling of getting the bottle into position...then when you apply / insert the cork the neck is wet and that means that your cork is all lubed up on its sides .....all looks fine because mostly you are just looking to see if it was inserted to proper depth ...the bottle gets put away...temperature changes will start a sliding out of the cork...any liquid/wine on the cork side and interior neck of bottle gets exposed to the outside world and then all kinds of things occur

i would find it hard to believe something was wrong w the wine in general when first bottled unless i saw a problem w more bottles

adding this in...also when using a floor corker you can jostle things a bit much and wine splashes into the floor corker head itself ( in the iris area ) now you got a hidden sanitation issue despite your efforts....things happen and if you dont catch it then this too can cause an issue


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## Runningwolf (Mar 23, 2011)

Thanks Al, between you and Rich These are both examples of things that could of happened that I never thought of. Just another example of how we all learn something new on this forum continuously.


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## Wade E (Mar 23, 2011)

I clean my corker pretty often, well at least the jaws and the interior. know the feet thats another story!!


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## AlFulchino (Mar 23, 2011)

also keep an eye out for signs that your corker is wearing out...esp the portuguese floor corker w the nylon iris...it starts to wear and not squeeze the cork right and it damages the cork just prior to being inserted...sometime it even scores the cork as it leaves the iris area and scrapes along the metal of the corker prior to going in the bottle


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## Wade E (Mar 23, 2011)

I will say its getting time to replace my iris now. Getting corks it it has started to take a sliver out of the beginning of the cork even though the cork has a slight taper at the very ends.


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## AlFulchino (Mar 23, 2011)

and it only gets worse Wade..yourcorks will start breaking and dropping into your wine......i had a portuguese go bad on me and will fix it some day...but for now i plan on using my italian corker


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## Rock (Mar 23, 2011)

AlFulchino said:


> and it only gets worse Wade..yourcorks will start breaking and dropping into your wine......i had a portuguese go bad on me and will fix it some day...but for now i plan on using my italian corker



Yep,me too!!!


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## stdkls28 (Mar 24, 2011)

Wade E said:


> Im not sur if I wrote down that sorbate was added and actually never added it due to the screaming as I ran upstairs or if I actualy added the sorbate and it was past its expiration date.



For how long is Sorbate good before it expires?


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## Runningwolf (Mar 24, 2011)

I would replace it after one year.


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## Wade E (Mar 24, 2011)

I know there is a expiratio date for it but dont know myself. I guess maybe if it were kept in the perfect environment it might stay good but I know it absorbs moisture pretty easily and the vessels they sell them in arent very good at keeping them sealed once theyve been opened.


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## Daisy317 (Mar 25, 2011)

Julie said:


> *Well I tried to tell you and you wouldn't listen. ::*
> 
> Actually, if you remember I had the same thing happen to me last summer. I had a bottle of elderberry pop it's cork, spilled wine all over the place and all other bottles were fine. And they stayed fine. I watched them for 6 months and nothing ever happen to the rest. At the time we were having some severe thunderstorms. I always wonder if it was pressure from the storm but really have no idea.



Remember... He is a "he"...


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