carboy corks popping

[Winolady]

Hi everyone! This is my third year making wine from grapes I bought from a vineyard. Mostly it's gone surprisingly well. But...

I have 25 gallons of Concord wine, and 10 gallons of apple wine in 5-gallon carboys in my root cellar. I re-racked all of them a month ago, put 1/4 tsp meta in all to stabilize, then put the solid rubber corks back on. Then most of them popped the corks out within a few days! I put airlocks on them, even though they should have been long-ago fermented to dryness. I had even done the extra MLF thing with the Concord wine last fall. They sat all winter and summer just fine with solid corks.

What has happened?? All my hydrometer measurements had showed no sugar left last fall. What /where is the pressure coming from?? I want to bottle this wine, but am afraid to have bottles blow up!

Help! Thanks!!

 

[dralarms]

Co2, your wine is not degassed.

 

[Thig]

Do you think maybe they were not degassed and the re-racking and kmeta released some CO2 that had no way to escape?

 

[seth8530]

Sounds like you have CO2 in solution and the changing temperature or barometric pressure changes could be forcing the bungs out. I tend to use airlocks up until I bottle.

 

[Thig]

Co2, your wine is not degassed.

You beat me to a response by 1 minute.

 

[Winolady]

Thanks for the replies! I'm a novice and find all the methods and recipes confusing and contradicting... When should I have degassed my wine? I just read somewhere that "time" will degas wine, but then you probably need an airlock the whole time?

I've had an airlock on most of my carboys for a month, since they popped the corks... do you think they'd be done degassing, and ready to bottle?

Thanks!

 

[djrockinsteve]

Atmospheric pressure can cause your bungs to pop as well as excess CO2. As the air pressure decreases outside and even in a root cellar, the extra pressure in carboy can cause it to pop.

Recently racking will have caused CO2 to be released. If your carboy was allowed to warm up. CO2 will dissipate a lot easier.

Put some in a small bottle or glass. Cover opening with thumb or palm of hand. Shake the release. You will hear if you have CO2 in your wine.

 

[djrockinsteve]

You should degass during racking to clear and or racking to age. Fully fermenting wine prior to racking is important. Less problems later.

 

[seth8530]

You should degass during racking to clear and or racking to age. Fully fermenting wine prior to racking is important. Less problems later.

I disagree, I believe that degassing during racking is an unnecessary step and that degassing should be done over time as the wine ages with the airlock on. CO2 provides an important barrier to prevent oxidation as the wine bulk ages. Forcefully removing it via forced degassing serves to diminish this barrier.

 

[djrockinsteve]

I disagree, I believe that degassing during racking is an unnecessary step and that degassing should be done over time as the wine ages with the airlock on. CO2 provides an important barrier to prevent oxidation as the wine bulk ages. Forcefully removing it via forced degassing serves to diminish this barrier.

And I disagree with your disagree so we can agree that we disagree.

By adding potassium metabisulfite to your wine that will adhere to oxygen molecules protecting the wine. You ultimately get some residual CO2 in the space between the wine and airlock.

Removing excess but not all CO2 you are helping to remove unwanted odors in the wine created during fermentation.

You will also allow the wine to clear faster as CO2 greatly slows sediment from falling out of the wine.

Excess CO2 will cause may give the illusion your wine is still fermenting. Even though a wines gravity may read .990 there is still sugar in the wine. Only a refraction enter can tell you exactly how much remains. How would you know if it's CO2 naturally escaping or fermenting?

If you speak to any professional commercial winery I'm sure they will tell you they filter out any remaining yeast, sediment and excess CO2 when their wine has finished fermenting.

You do have a point but I believe removing the excess CO2 upfront is more beneficial.

 

[Winolady]

Wow, interesting! I never degassed before, and never really noticed alot of bubbles in my bottled wine.... BUT, my wine is "thick", alot of sediment despite nearly a year of settling/aging. It leaves my lips purple!! Apparently because of all the CO2 keeping the sediment from settling?

Now, for this batch, could I degas, using the electric drill attachment I've just read about, then immediately bottle? Or does it need to relax a bit before bottling?

Thanks!

 

[dralarms]

If it ain't clear, then it ain't ready for bottling. Get it degassed let it set for a bitand let it settle out.

 

[Winolady]

Oh, and I drew some wine off into a clear bottle and shook it....LOTS of bubbles.

 

[Winolady]

I'm going to have a time issue... I need the carboys in a month. : (
But so far my wine has been tasty, and the purple lips have become my "signature" with the family! : )

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I would make sure your wine is degassed and then stay with airlocks due to temperature and atmospheric pressure differences

 

[Runningwolf]

I'm going to have a time issue... I need the carboys in a month. : (
But so far my wine has been tasty, and the purple lips have become my "signature" with the family! : )

There's no rule on the amount of carboys you're aloud to own!

 

[djrockinsteve]

Degassing with a drill will work by short back and forth quick spins. Be careful not to add air. After degassing it needs to rest.

Best way is to use a vacuum pump.

Stirring frequently during fermentation releases co2. Splash racking or vacuum pump transferring after fermentation is thru releases co2. These are steps you can do that will help you before bottling.

 

[Winolady]

There's no rule on the amount of carboys you're aloud to own!

haha! What I SHOULD do is start drinking it right off... the sample I just drew and shook is actually quite good the way it is....

 

[Winolady]

Degassing with a drill will work by short back and forth quick spins. Be careful not to add air. After degassing it needs to rest.

Best way is to use a vacuum pump.

Stirring frequently during fermentation releases co2. Splash racking or vacuum pump transferring after fermentation is thru releases co2. These are steps you can do that will help you before bottling.

Thanks!

I just ordered a "wine whip". Soon as it gets here, I'll degas, and let the carboys sit til I need them, sometime in October..

Then this year's batch I'll degas after it ferments, and hopefully not have any issues like this. I like the idea of leaving airlocks on all the time, but summer gets busy and likely I'll forget to keep them topped off. I really need to be more organized.

 

[Thig]

There's no rule on the amount of carboys you're aloud to own!

So true but you always seem to need one more than you have.