# Change in status....



## sour_grapes (Apr 10, 2016)

I have read that there are two kinds of winemakers: Those who have experienced a wine volcano, and those that will.

I just changed categories.... 

(It wasn't too bad, actually. First of all, it was a white wine, and it was in my basement on an epoxied concrete floor. I only lost maybe 2-3 glasses worth.)


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## ceeaton (Apr 10, 2016)

sour_grapes said:


> I have read that there are two kinds of winemakers: Those who have experienced a wine volcano, and those that will.
> 
> I just changed categories....
> 
> (It wasn't too bad, actually. First of all, it was a white wine, and it was in my basement on an epoxied concrete floor. I only lost maybe 2-3 glasses worth.)



Welcome to the club. Amazed it has taken that long to become a club member.

I needed some more of the stoppers with the hole in it you need for a better bottle type carboy, so I couldn't rack a a few wines last week. So I took a 1/4 tsp of Kmeta and slowly dropped it in the two carboys....letting it foam up a bit, then adding more. Obviously I learned very little when I wasted a bottle or two of wine with my first volcano.

My middle name is "dangerous".


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## AZMDTed (Apr 10, 2016)

Welcome to the club, consider it a good start at degassing  I did mine while it was still in a waterbath tub so there was no damage, other than a little lost wine.


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## Johnd (Apr 10, 2016)

I've never experienced the first status, I had my volcano on my first batch, got it out of the way early on.


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## Julie (Apr 10, 2016)

Lol wait until you have five gallons of wine in a fermenting bucket and the bottom cracks! I lost 2 gallons when that happen


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## bakervinyard (Apr 10, 2016)

What club is it when you don't pay attention, over fill your bottle, try and cork it, and the bottle shatters ? Bakervinyard


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## barbiek (Apr 10, 2016)

bakervinyard said:


> What club is it when you don't pay attention, over fill your bottle, try and cork it, and the bottle shatters ? Bakervinyard



That would be the oops club


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 11, 2016)

There are also those wine makers who have broken a hydrometer, and those who will.


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## Johnd (Apr 11, 2016)

Boatboy24 said:


> There are also those wine makers who have broken a hydrometer, and those who will.



Knock on wood, I'm not in that one yet......................


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## sour_grapes (Apr 11, 2016)

Boatboy24 said:


> There are also those wine makers who have broken a hydrometer, and those who will.



My status on that club will never change.  (But only once. I bought TWO replacements, and that seems to have done the trick!)


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## RevA (Apr 11, 2016)

Boatboy24 said:


> There are also those wine makers who have broken a hydrometer, and those who will.


Had that happen after volcano, just checked beer's fg and didn't want to walk to put hydrometer away and back downstairs to winery/brewery. When it exploded I dropped my hydrometer...


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## sour_grapes (Apr 11, 2016)

RevA said:


> Had that happen after volcano, just checked beer's fg and didn't want to walk to put hydrometer away and back downstairs to winery/brewery. When it exploded I dropped my hydrometer...



A twofer!!  Maybe it is just as well you got them both out of the way at the same time.


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## dcbrown73 (Apr 11, 2016)

Maybe I should stop making wine in my apt. That definitely would not be a good thing.


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## RevA (Apr 12, 2016)

dcbrown73 said:


> Maybe I should stop making wine in my apt. That definitely would not be a good thing.


It only happens once then you make sure it doesn't happen easliy or at all


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## dcbrown73 (Apr 12, 2016)

RevA said:


> It only happens once then you make sure it doesn't happen easliy or at all



I suppose I should ask what it is that generally leads to the volcano. I read something about k-meta. This can cause it? I've read about stirring too fast causing bubbles or something to come pouring out too.

Knowing the main causes might help me prevent it from happening.


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## cintipam (Apr 12, 2016)

Whenever there is still a good amount of gas in a young wine anything at all that you add into the mix can and will cause a volcano. Every grain of energizer, nutrient, kmeta, whatever becomes a point of nucleation and lots of trapped gas gloms onto it. All that gas glomming onto each grain makes that light grain likely to go airborne, especially if the wine is in a carboy which forces everything thru the narrow neck opening. 

What stops volcanoes is before adding anything to a young wine do a gentle small stir to release gas. Sometimes even that small stir will foam up a LOT. So keep doing gentle stirs til you don't get any reaction from the wine. At that point it should be safe to slowly add your chosen product a bit at a time to make sure it doesn't go airborne.

HTH

Pam in cinti


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## dcbrown73 (Apr 12, 2016)

cintipam said:


> Whenever there is still a good amount of gas in a young wine anything at all that you add into the mix can and will cause a volcano. Every grain of energizer, nutrient, kmeta, whatever becomes a point of nucleation and lots of trapped gas gloms onto it. All that gas glomming onto each grain makes that light grain likely to go airborne, especially if the wine is in a carboy which forces everything thru the narrow neck opening.
> 
> What stops volcanoes is before adding anything to a young wine do a gentle small stir to release gas. Sometimes even that small stir will foam up a LOT. So keep doing gentle stirs til you don't get any reaction from the wine. At that point it should be safe to slowly add your chosen product a bit at a time to make sure it doesn't go airborne.
> 
> ...



Thank you, that is good information for me.


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## Mismost (Apr 12, 2016)

Julie said:


> Lol wait until you have five gallons of wine in a fermenting bucket and the bottom cracks! I lost 2 gallons when that happen



TWICE NOW! The problem I have is WHY does it happen? The bucket has just been sitting there not doing squat...no banging around , getting slammed down, or mistreated. Next day it's leaking! I have had two buckets that's happened to now. They are cheap enough to replace, it's just a PITA.


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## Julie (Apr 12, 2016)

Mismost said:


> TWICE NOW! The problem I have is WHY does it happen? The bucket has just been sitting there not doing squat...no banging around , getting slammed down, or mistreated. Next day it's leaking! I have had two buckets that's happened to now. They are cheap enough to replace, it's just a PITA.



Look around at the base for any hairline cracks.


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## dcbrown73 (Apr 12, 2016)

Ugh... Going to have to buy a 6+ gallon drip tray. hah


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## jswordy (Apr 13, 2016)

Never had this happen yet, hope I never do.


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## sour_grapes (Apr 13, 2016)

dcbrown73 said:


> I suppose I should ask what it is that generally leads to the volcano.





cintipam said:


> What stops volcanoes is before adding anything to a young wine do a gentle small stir to release gas.



Another thing that helps is to dissolve the additive in a small amount of water before adding to the carboy. This eliminates (for soluble things) or reduces (for not-quite-soluble things) the nucleation sites.


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## Arne (Apr 14, 2016)

jswordy said:


> Never had this happen yet, hope I never do.



You forgot to knock on wood. Probably in for it now. LOLOL. Arne.::


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## cintipam (Apr 14, 2016)

Paul, you make an excellent point. About a month ago I racked several diff carboys, adding sorbate to one in need. While I did use water, sorbate doesn't seem to mix with water very well. I figured it was good enough, so tossed it in. Later that sorbated wine developed weird patchy floating spots. Fearing Flowers of Wine, I reracked leaving the top couple inches behind and doubled up on the kmeta. I filled those carboys to the absolute max as research told me that this infection needs oxygen to live, so no available oxygen will kill it fairly quickly. At this point that wine is sitting quietly with no reappearance of floaties. I don't know for sure what it was, but I know for sure I will mix sorbate a LOT more thoroughly than I did last time as I did NOT enjoy that stress. 

Pam in cinti


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## WineYooper (Apr 19, 2016)

Have not had a problem adding sorbate or K-meta, as I usually add when I'm racking so there is usually lots of headspace. Thought about another hydrometer when I was at store, passed, but I think I will get a spare when I pick up my juice tomorrow. Cheap price compared to the distance I would have to drive if I do break my original. Knock on wood, it's been about 6 years since I started.


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## jswordy (Apr 24, 2016)

Yer amateurs!!!  In Brazil, they know how to do such things!

https://www.facebook.com/guilherme.m.demattos/videos/10208624853837229/


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