# Al was right! (you just can't take off!)



## ibglowin (May 25, 2010)

So I made my annual pilgrimage to visit my folks down in San Antonio over the weekend. Good visit but God awful hot and humid down there. I am just not equipped to deal with that anymore. Nor do I wish to try. I'll take thin dry air any day over a steam bath.....






So what happened while I was away from the winery for a few days? Well, I get home last night and after hugging my SWMBO and the Golden Retriever I went out to check on my babies and when I opened the door I immediately smelled wine........ "Ruh-roh" as Scobby-Doo used to say. Scanned the wine racks and all was well, went over to the carboys and immediately saw the problem........

If you recall, earlier this Spring I replaced ALL my airlocks with stoppers. Well, it was a very warm day on Sunday and my CC Showcase Merlot carboy stopper exploded out of the top. I have wine on the ceiling for goodness sakes...... Anyway the SWMBO is not real sure when this happened but she thinks she heard a "pop" on Sunday sometime so it appears to have been without a stopper for 24 hours........

I had around 2" room when these were topped off this Winter but I guess the gradual heating expansion caused the wine to swell to a point that the top finally blew off one of them. All the rest of the carboys were still sealed but there was ZERO headspace. I immediately cracked them all and drained a few inches and replaced the stoppers so I think I am OK.

What should I do now as far as the Merlot goes? Is it a total loss? Obviously not much headspace but it was open for a day (or more perhaps). I am going to give it a good stir and check the free SO2 levels and probably add another insurance dose at the minimum.

Anyone else ever have a top explode like this or is this just a dangerous byproduct of replacing the airlocks with stoppers..........???

To top it off, we dropped down to 32 degrees this AM!





I have a freeze alarm set for 34 degrees and it went off at 3:59AM so I knew there was no way it would hold till sunrise. Got up and gathered all the hanging baskets and threw blankets on top of everything. Got wash towels and covered all the baby grape vines.............

Its almost the end of May! Our last frost is usually May 7th so this is really, really out of the ordinary but its been a super cool/cold Spring here the whole time.

Anyways , I think your were right Al, you just can't leave the vineyard or winery safely till Winter!


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## grapeman (May 25, 2010)

That is the reason why I don't do stoppers for carboys. I tried it and the same thing happened to me- without a big mess since I was around. The carboy should be fine as it was totally full at that point so minimal exposure. I would put airlocks in place and keep them filled with a sulfite solution. Worse that happens with them is the wine expands into the airlock.


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## vcasey (May 25, 2010)

I also think your merot is fine. But I gotta tell you I was thinking "oh boy" when you said you were replacing the airlocks with stoppers. Over the summer here and especially when ever there are storms I've seen the wine expand into the airlock.


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## ibglowin (May 25, 2010)

Yea, we are going back to airlocks tonight I think! 

I'll give the merlot a swirl and taste just to make sure.

May need that little AC unit after all. Looks like the carboy temps spiked up to 70 degrees while I was away. They are way back down currently due to the low temps we had this AM but looks like it will be warming back up after today.

I don't want no mo drama........


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## Runningwolf (May 25, 2010)

Mike, it only happans when you're gone. Anyways thanks for the lesson and being the example for years to come



. I'm sure the wine will be fine and glad you were home to take care of your babies.


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## ibglowin (May 25, 2010)

We are headed to Washington state later this Summer for 2 weeks (winery tours and more!). Very happy it happened now rather than then with it being open for a couple of weeks or even worse come home to se all of them popped.........


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## fivebk (May 25, 2010)

Mike, Hope everything turns out ok !! I'm sure it will " but " just in case There is a little saying my wife and some of my close friends use whenever things don't exactly go right They just shrug their shoulders and say " BOB DID IT " !!!!!!!











I know from years of experience that it will make you feel better


BOB


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## AlFulchino (May 25, 2010)

i have dissected the issue....found the root issue....

"....So what happened while I was away from the winery for a few days? Well,
I get home last night and after hugging my SWMBO and the Golden 
Retriever I went out to check on my babies...."

Your order events is wrong......corrective cure....is to take that last item and place it first....i cant say for sure.....but i bet while you were hugging that the wine senses something....dont ask me about my diagnosis...or how i know these things...i just do....that spillage occurred during your hugging and also

dont leave your vines...or your wine


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## xanxer82 (May 25, 2010)

LOL Al! Sorry about your loss Mike. Airlocks seem like a good bet.


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## Wade E (May 25, 2010)

Your wine will be fine Im sure. Ive had wine come up into my airlocks during a few storms and with warm temps even when there was what I thought plenty of room so I would have never let you do that if Id had known and warned you of it. Ive never had a mess on the ceiling though and this thread is worthless with out pics dangnam it!


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## AlFulchino (May 25, 2010)

yes...but what pic? i dont want to see the wine mess...i want to see Mike's face when he saw it!!!!  now that is priceless


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## ibglowin (May 25, 2010)

Face looked something like this I think!






I cleaned up the mess tonight. Semi-gloss paint is the way to go in the winery for sure!





Your right Al, I bet they got jealous and I left them alone for a few days so one of em threw a "hissy fit"!

Its all good now. Ran a Free SO2 test, came back 28ppm. Did a taste test, YUM (Its gonna be really good by next year) Added another 1/4 tsp of K-Meta for a little insurance.

REPLACED ALL STOPPERS WITH AIRLOCKS!


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## AlFulchino (May 25, 2010)

look at it this way.....when you average out what oxygen will be hitting that wine by bottling time...it has been micro-oxygenated! 

by the way...nice picture....


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## grapeman (May 26, 2010)

ibglowin said:


> Face looked something like this I think!
> 
> 
> 
> ...














Does anybody remember this thread?
http://forum.finevinewines.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9782&amp;KW=solid+stoppers&amp;PN=1


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## ibglowin (May 26, 2010)

I sure do!

I am sure they work, you just need to make sure they are added with enough room to spare once the weather warms up!


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## Runningwolf (May 26, 2010)

YIKES!






Needless to say I am going to immediately start testing the free SO2 levels in all my carboys that I have bulk aging AND I am going to get rid of the airlock after 3 months and replace it with a solid stopper so that it basically becomes a sealed 6 gallon bottle of wine. You need the airlock for a few months to help let any residual CO2 escape that you may have not gotten rid of when you degassed but beyond that your just basically letting air in and out of the carboy each time a cool front or a storm blows in.













LMAO...sure glad to see someone else on the post this time instead of myself. Not a problem Mike as were not the kind of group to bring something back up!


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## grapeman (May 26, 2010)

Good way to sum it up. They will work great, just compensate for temperature changes with adequate headspace.


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## AlFulchino (May 26, 2010)

speaking of warming up....i had a cork push up a bit because i had too much wine in the bottle and it was taken from the winery which is cooler than the 95 degrees we had the last coupla days.....gotta make sure no one gets 760 ml


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## ibglowin (May 27, 2010)

Sell you some of these to help that situation!


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## Bartman (May 27, 2010)

So Mike, do you think you might try the stoppers again if the temp is nearest its highest when you "stopper" the carboys? That way, it won't be able to expand any more than it already has, and excess headspace when it cools down will not expose the wine to any more O2 (since you are using the solid stoppers, of course).
Would that make sense?


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## ibglowin (May 27, 2010)

In theory that should work, in theory.......

All my top offs were done when the carboys were ~58 degrees. Today they are averaging ~70 degrees. Since I took off an inch or two the other night they still look OK so stoppers should work again, in theory.........


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## AlFulchino (May 27, 2010)

Mike i thijnk i need the champagne thingies to hold the cork in


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