WineXpert Foaming in secondary

[jumby]

Racked a island mist kit out of the fermenter today. The SG was .996 so fermentation was nearly done. Noticed it had a heavy cap of foam in fermenter. Now that it's in the secondary it's continuing to foam and overflowing the air lock. Any ideas what's going on? This is a 1st for me. For now I removed the bung and air lock in hopes it will settle down.

 

[jumby]

Here's a pic of it after 8 hours in the secondary and returning the air lock and bung. It's still foaming/bubbling out of the air lock.

 

[DoctorCAD]

It wasnt ready to rack...

 

[jumby]

It wasnt ready to rack...

It's been in the primary for 7 days and the SG was .996. I thought the hydrometer was my friend. Lesson learned!

 

[Julie]

Hydrometer is your friend and to be honest, I don't think it should be foaming up like that at .996. Have you calibrated your hydrometer?

 

[jumby]

Hydrometer is your friend and to be honest, I don't think it should be foaming up like that at .996. Have you calibrated your hydrometer?

My thoughts exactly! I actually checked the SG with 2 different hydrometer's and got the same reading. That's why I'm thinking something has gone awry.

 

[bkisel]

Could you be getting some sort of vibration that is promoting a degassing?

 

[jumby]

Could you be getting some sort of vibration that is promoting a degassing?

It's definitely not that,,,,,,

 

[jgmann67]

I've had this happen a handful of times and attributed it to a naturally occurring aggressive degassing. I figure it's loaded with co2 and I just moved it to a closed vessel.... with only one direction to go. Don't know if that's right. But, in the 4 or so times it's happened, the wine turned out just fine without exception.

What I'd do: Remove about 750 ml into a bottle - give your wine a little room to burp out some of that co2. Cork the bottle and put it in the fridge. At your next racking, use it to top up.

 

[jumby]

I've had this happen a handful of times and attributed it to a naturally occurring aggressive degassing. I figure it's loaded with co2 and I just moved it to a closed vessel.... with only one direction to go. Don't know if that's right. But, in the 4 or so times it's happened, the wine turned out just fine without exception.

What I'd do: Remove about 750 ml into a bottle - give your wine a little room to burp out some of that co2. Cork the bottle and put it in the fridge. At your next racking, use it to top up.

That's what I was thinking and hoping. It seems to have slowed down some today. There's still a little blow back into the air lock, but nothing like yesterday. I think I'm going to leave it be for now and see how it progresses.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Putterrr]

I agree. you have very little room for the wine to release co2 after being agitated during racking. i always rack at 1.000 and always get 1 to 2 inches of foam for a couple days. if i filled my carboys to your level, i would always have foam in the airlock. your wine will be fine

cheers

 

[montanaWineGuy]

I find hydrometers hard to read. Also the difference between almost done and all done is miniscule. I once tried to use/read/record the SG and in the end concluded it is more trouble then it is worth. The ONLY benefit is determining the final ABV, but I can easily just make up a number and call it that.

 

[jumby]

It settled out after a few days. Yesterday I stabilized and cleared it. Everything appears to be normal.