Gas Explosion? Help with Suds!

[JOESILVA401]

Racked my wines (fresh juice) from primary to secondary last night (buckets to carboys) topped up and airlocked them. Came home a few hours later only to find suds spraying out the airlocks. This only occurred in 2 carboys- I guess it's gas? Why is this happening, and how do I fix? Thanks!!

 

[JohnT]

In all likelyhood, you transferred to your secondary a little too early as the wine is most likely still fermenting. Temperature can be an enemy here in that when the outside temp cools down, fermentation slows, and when temps increase, fermentation can speed up. It can be easy to be misled.

Did you use a hydrometer to check how much sugar was left in your juice before transferring it to a secondary?

 

[Arne]

John T. is right. Also, you added oxygen to the wine when transfering. If you had yeast and sugar left, the extra oxygen will make the yeast go crazy trying to consume the sugar. Full of sugar and poop out the co2. Has to go somewhere, so up the chimney it goes. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[JOESILVA401]

Picture to showcase!

 

[joeswine]

eruptions do happen

volcanoes do happen,to early racking ,not checking sg,stuck fermentation,but, sg should show that,its all in the follow through of the process,trail and error ,the learning process,we've all been their...that's why i always work with plenty of towels they also shade the light....better to have the pressure release that way than explode...

 

[JohnT]

No too bad. Ive once seen the same thing from a 500 liter tank. NOW THAT WAS A MESS!!!!

I would clean the traps and jugs and hope that the fermentation finishes soon.

Another thought would be, if fermentation is still ongoing, to simply remove the trap, cover the tops with clean cloth soaked in k-meta, then cover all of your jugs under a plastic sheet (so the co2 can be trapped there).

 

[JOESILVA401]

Starting SG was 1.100 and when racking last night into 2ndary it was .998

 

[JohnT]

OK,

I would then just clean it all and you should be ok from here on in (provided your hydrometer is calibrated)

 

[robie]

Starting SG was 1.100 and when racking last night into 2ndary it was .998

If it was .998 when you transferred it, it was likely 99.9% finished fermenting, so it should not have given you a wine volcano. Did you add anything to the wine when you transferred it?

 

[wyntheef]

when racking to the secondary, you usually get some increased activity as was pointed out above. it's not necessary to top up at this point, so i always leave 4 inches or so open at the top of the receiving carboy so there is plenty of room for expansion. if the room created by leaving sediment behind in the primary isn't enough, you can put some into another small bottle.

 

[grapeman]

I keep the level down to between where you have it and the shoulder of the carboy. That gives a bit of foaming room until you are sure it is done vigorous fermentation. I keep the extra in a bottle or two and put it back in when the wine has settled down.

 

[ShepherdQ]

In this instance could you not just add stabilizers early? You'd interrupt secondary fermentation but it looks like that might be the goal in this context!

 

[Arne]

A little trick I use to help with this is put a big garbage bag around the fermenter. Set it inside and just kinda make a dam around the fermenter. I don't do this when downstairs as I can wash any mess down the drain, but if fermenting where the mess is a problem, i do this. Or you could use a large container like a basket or whatever to catch any overflows. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[robie]

In this instance could you not just add stabilizers early? You'd interrupt secondary fermentation but it looks like that might be the goal in this context!

In a home wine making environment, it is never a good idea to try to stop a fermentation. Even stabilizing won't do it with any guaranty.

Commercial wineries have sophisticated sterile filtration systems, which can do the job quite well by removing all the yeast; home wineries lack the expensive equipment to do this.

If one wants a sweet wine, let the wine ferment to completely dry, stabilize with Kmeta (sulfites) and sorbate, then add sugar to taste.

 

[ShepherdQ]

I see robie. My thought was more to do with stopping the foam overflowing, but if it would risk spoiling the batch I guess it's better to just let it ferment and clean up the mess.

I have a follow up question, though: if the SG was down to 0.998 why did the must keep fermenting? That's the level at which most kit instructions tell you to rack. Is there much more sugar in fresh juice?

Hey, JOESILVA, what kind of yeast were you using?

 

[JOESILVA401]

Hello - I used Pasteur yeast and followed fresh juice instructions. (See Attached photo).

 

[ShepherdQ]

So my next question is whether Pasteur yeast is particularly vigorous? I've heard than Lalvin EC-1118 can be very vigorous when it gets going, for example, but I'm just spitballing.

 

[wildfruity]

Racked my wines (fresh juice) from primary to secondary last night (buckets to carboys) topped up and airlocked them. Came home a few hours later only to find suds spraying out the airlocks. This only occurred in 2 carboys- I guess it's gas? Why is this happening, and how do I fix? Thanks!!

This is a bit off topic but your title 'gas explosion' reminded me of an incident I had a few days ago while cutting out some old water pipes with a grinder and made such a loud explosion I thought something serious had happened next-door, I thought the wall was going to collapse. I had not realised that what I presume to have been natural yeasts working on old stale water [for heating] in the thick steel pipes over a sealed length of about forty feet or more for many years which had produced what I presume to have been hydrogen judging by the noise of ingnition triggered by the sparks. I am no scientist so open to better informed answers. There were more lesser explosions afterwards as I cut the pipe further along. It is likely an example how powerful chemical reactions can be when yeast or bacteria are involved, as to a lesser extent, though more messy, you have had here.

 

[CowboyPhil]

The good news is that the wine is most likely fine, just clean up, check SG in a few days, re-top when it has stopped and wait.