# Forgot to put water in airlock...



## melbel505 (May 1, 2017)

I forgot to put water in the airlock ...
It's been about a week and a half. Should I just start a new batch? 

(I attached a picture of some white residue on the top of it.. not sure what that is)


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## rustbucket (May 1, 2017)

You didn't mention what phase of the wine making process you are in. If you are in the primary fermentation stage with active fermentation, you're most likely OK. The CO2 suspended in the wine will have precluded oxygenation. Just add water to the air lock and continue to the secondary phase. 

If you're beyond active fermentation, don't throw the batch out. Again, the suspended CO2 would have provided some protection. Rack the wine to another fermenting container to remove the wine from the residue floating on top, add a quarter teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite to the batch, and add an air lock with water in it. The Kmeta displaces any oxygenation that may have occurred.

Taste the wine before bottling. I think that you'll be surprised by the fact that you have a drinkable wine that you once thought of throwing away.


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## melbel505 (May 1, 2017)

Sorry, I'm in secondary. Thanks that was really helpful!


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## Noontime (May 1, 2017)

Agree with Ron completely. I'd go forward with it and see what happens. The airlock is there to help prevent bad stuff from happening, but just because it didn't have water in it doesn't mean something bad DID happen. And even if it did get some other yeast or bacteria in there, that doesn't necessarily mean it's ruined. You just don't know until it ages a little bit. I've screwed up a lot of stuff over the years making wine, and I've only dumped 2 batches... one was clearly infected after bugs got into the carboy, and the other was a really cheap kit from Amazon (got dumped after 3 years in the bottle because it was just not getting better). 

I'd rack off from the bottom (to get away from the white stuff on top just in case), and continue on. Good luck!


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## melbel505 (May 1, 2017)

Thanks for the advice! I thought I messed up bad


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## hounddawg (May 2, 2017)

I agree with all above add water and continue on.
Dawg


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## garymc (May 2, 2017)

I find that when I siphon the wine to a new carboy, any stuff floating on the surface clings to the side of the old carboy as the level of the wine goes down. So, the wine in the new carboy loses both the sediment in the bottom (or most of it) and the gunk floating on top.


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## melbel505 (May 2, 2017)

rustbucket said:


> You didn't mention what phase of the wine making process you are in. If you are in the primary fermentation stage with active fermentation, you're most likely OK. The CO2 suspended in the wine will have precluded oxygenation. Just add water to the air lock and continue to the secondary phase.
> 
> If you're beyond active fermentation, don't throw the batch out. Again, the suspended CO2 would have provided some protection. Rack the wine to another fermenting container to remove the wine from the residue floating on top, add a quarter teaspoon of potassium metabisulfite to the batch, and add an air lock with water in it. The Kmeta displaces any oxygenation that may have occurred.
> 
> Taste the wine before bottling. I think that you'll be surprised by the fact that you have a drinkable wine that you once thought of throwing away.



Hello, me again. Sorry for so many questions, but I did what you suggested (thank you again). I also tested the specific gravity just for the heck of it and it came out as 0.999 (started off at 1.085). Does this mean it is finished, or should I leave it and stop being anxious haha? 

Thank you!


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## Loghousewines (May 2, 2017)

you havent said what you got here yet. Typically it's done when your SG reads the same three days in a row.


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## melbel505 (May 2, 2017)

Strawberry wine. Used a receipe from a book at the library. I'm in secondary fermentation (around 1 and 1/2 weeks). Receipe said to leave it for 4 weeks. However, tested it today and it's around the gravity the receipe said it's suppose to be around. I guess I'll give it a few days and test again.


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## Loghousewines (May 3, 2017)

Do you want dry wine or sweeter wine? Are you going to back sweeten? Your ABV is 11.2 now...


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## melbel505 (May 3, 2017)

Loghousewines said:


> Do you want dry wine or sweeter wine? Are you going to back sweeten? Your ABV is 11.2 now...



Sweeter wine. I haven't tasted it. Is back sweetening common for strawberry wine?


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## barryjo (May 12, 2017)

Loghousewines said:


> you havent said what you got here yet. Typically it's done when your SG reads the same three days in a row.



For non-sparkling wine, I have been using a slight modification for checking if the wine is "done", I will pull a sample with the wine thief and hold it at an angle. If the wine is done, there will be no tiny bubbles rising along the tube. If I see bubbles, I will let it sit for another week. Otherwise, rack it to get it off the lees.


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## Noontime (May 17, 2017)

barryjo said:


> For non-sparkling wine, I have been using a slight modification for checking if the wine is "done", I will pull a sample with the wine thief and hold it at an angle. If the wine is done, there will be no tiny bubbles rising along the tube. If I see bubbles, I will let it sit for another week. Otherwise, rack it to get it off the lees.



Although it certainly can't hurt to have more information, checking for bubbles doesn't really provide anything dependable. The wine is saturated with CO2 by the end of fermentation, so it can still release that CO2 (via bubbles) for quite some time after fermentation is complete. The most dramatic example of this (which I was concerned with when I first started) is when you transfer to secondary container... it can be bubbling away looking like a strong fermentation, then you dump it into a carboy and it goes dead. The first time I saw that I thought I did something wrong and killed the fermentation, but it was already finished and just out-gassing.


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