My common wine problem

[Blackhawksfan98]

Ok, I'm new at wine making. I've tried three batches.... And just tried the third and can say I have three failures. All with the same problem. Vinegar flavor.

The first two batches and used only Idophor as a sanitizer. I'd fill half the carboy/primary fermenter and shake it up for awhile.

The third and currently clearing 4th batch I used one step to clean and then filled both vessals full with an Idophor solution and left to santize. When the 3rd batch went to bottle it tingled the tongue. What I now think to was trapped gas. When I opened one of the bottles covered the top and shook it up I got a lot of gas out. But other than that in between the tingling on the tongue it tasted like wine. When I bottled, I just opened the cork plastic bag and off I went. I used my primary fermentor full of the idophor solution and dipped each bottle in and left it for 2-5 minutes. Removed the bottle and filled it with the wine and corked it. I since have read to soak the corks in a K-meta solution for 24 hours before corking. Is this how I ruined the 3rd batch?

I will be re-degassing my 4th batch this week. I don't want to fail again. This also the first batch that all the water I've added was boiled and recooled before adding to the must. It is also the first batch that was not a kit.

Any thoughts or ideas is appreciated.

 

[Julie]

I'm not sure if you did ruin your wine. What kind of wine were you trying to make and can you please post your recipe and the steps you have taken? Without this info it is hard to help you out.

I use idophor as a sanitizer and I have never had any problem and I put my corks at the bottom of my bottle tree with the sanitizer in it to sanitize my corks.

Post more info

Thanks

 

[djrockinsteve]

Julies right, we can guess all day but having your recipe and steps can narrow it down faster. Is your wine very dry. That can give your wine a vinegar taste as well as not degassing and having that tingly taste.

 

[Tom]

We need details of every step.
kinda like telling the Doctor you hurt and not say why or where.

 

[Dugger]

It sounds like your first 3 wines were from kits - if you followed the directions for them, the wine should have been okay; although it sounds like you didn't degas enough, and that is a very common problem.
First, are you new to wine drinking as well as wine making. If so, the "vinegar" taste may actually just be mistaken for the taste of a very dry wine, as mentioned.
Second, corks do not have to be soaked for 24 hours; they can be dipped in Kmeta if you wish, some just use them dry as long as they are taken from a sealed bag.
Lastly, if the 4th wine is from fruit or grapes, there are some additional things to do; listing what you have done will allow others more familiar with that process to assist you.

 

[Blackhawksfan98]

Ok sorry for the delay. I had to get all the info requested in order. I have been drinking the dryer red wines for 4 years, but by no means do I consider myself an expert. I'm used to the wine taste followed by the dryness. What I'm experiencing now is not the same and its right when you put the wine in your mouth.

The third batch was a pinot noir kit from VINTNERS RESERVE. I followed the directions, to the best of my understanding. I know I did not out gas properly since I joined these forums about 2 weeks ago. Here is the info on the the third batch.

Pinot Noir
I found the directions for the kit at link below.
http://www.winexpert.com/pdfs/kit-instructions/vintnersreserve-instructions.pdf

Start date April
SG started at 1.072. Temp was around 74 F.
5 days later SG was 1.005. Temp was 68 F.
Cleaned and trasnfered to carboy.
Left for 2 weeks. SG was at .995, Temp was 66 F and holding. Add components in direction and tried to degass.
Left for 4 weeks.

At the end I did what they recommended if concerned about disturbing the sediment. I transferred the wine to my sanitized primary fermenter and then to bottle. I wanted to leave as much sediment as possible behind before bottling.
Opened a sealed new bag of corks
Sanitized all my bottles with idophor. Sanitized autosiphon and bottling attachment.
Bottled late May.
Filled bottles and and corked.
Opened first bottle This week.

 

[Torch404]

Is it just one bottle that smells like vinegar? Did you sterilize your corks even though they were in a fresh bag?

 

[Blackhawksfan98]

I have only opened one bottle.
No I did not do anything with the corks. Straight out of the sealed bag.

 

[Torch404]

I'd open another bottle and see if it was just that one. The corks might not be sterile in the bag.

If this has happened on 4 batches I would suspect you have a piece of equipment that is dirty. Is your primary scratched up from mixing with a metal spoon? Is there some seal you might have missed cleaning? Some tube you forget to sterilize?

 

[wyntheef]

I'm wondering the same as torch. You talked about sanitizing the jugs but didn't mention any other cleaning of anything else.
In other words, anything that comes in contact with the wine needs to be sterile. Like...spoons, tubes, hydrometer, etc.


hth

 

[Blackhawksfan98]

I've been pretty consistant in sanitizing even the pot I boiled water in and the measurement items for ingrediants like teaspoons. I also clean everything with one step, then rinse and the sanitize everything in idophor. My mix of Idophor errors to the heavy side just incase.

My primary was new 4 batchs ago. All the marks inside(very few) are supperfical. Barely feel them with a finger nail. So no deep scratchs.

 

[Dugger]

It might be a good idea for you to take a bottle to your local brew supply store, preferably the one where you bought your kits, and let them try it. If this is not possible, try a friend who makes wine and get their opinion.
Not sure where you are located - Chicago?

 

[Noontime]

How old are these bottles you have tried? Young wines can have ALL KINDS of funky flavors and aromas depending on how much SO2 and CO2 there is. I wouldn't give it a second thought unless they're at least 6 months old...and most of my wines havn't settled down until 9 months to a year.

Good luck!

 

[Blackhawksfan98]

The wine is young, and I don't know anyone personnaly where I can take a bottle to. The bottles were purchased for bottling that batch. I know I have a so2/co2 issue.
Should I pop the cork on all the bottles and redegas them?
Do a SO2 check and add campden tablets if neccesary?
Rebottle with sanitized corks?


Not Chicago, but in IL. Peoria area.

 

[kegmeister]

The vinegar beasties are pretty insidious, I don't make wine in the kitchen because I use alot of vinegar to cook and I'm just that paranoid. I'd say that once a plastic bucket or carboy has made vinegar i'd pitch it. I would heat sanitize any glass implements, put all your siphon parts, hydrometer, etc in a large pot of boiling water for a few minutes, then fill your glass carboys with boiling water.

 

[umbrellalady]

Do you have MiniJet electric filter? Did you clean and run sterilizer through it as well before putting it away? I forgot to do that once and it killed a batch of wine.

 

[Noontime]

Again...I'm not sure there is a problem. Young wines can taste funky and my wife and I have both had wines that we thought were a bit "vinegary" (when the other one didn't) and there was nothing wrong with the batch as a whole. K-meta in my opinion can especially tatse like vinegar. Wait till it's a year old at least. And I wouldn't open anything just to degas it...you can do that when you open it to consume just by decanting a bit. Actully that's something you can try...decant one of these bottles for an hour and see if you still get the vinegar flavor. It's not conclusive but it will certainly give yopu more info to go on.

 

[Blackhawksfan98]

Ok, Thanks for all the advise. Sounds like, other than the corks, that I've been following good standards. I'll give it some more time, and pay paticular attention the the batch currently running.

Again thank you all for the ideas and help.

 

[Lurker]

Wyntheef and all the others are right. Vinegar bacteria are almost all over and they are very good travelers. If anything in your wine area touched vinegar, the bacteria will float through the air and find your wine. If a bottle of vinegar was in the area, that will do it. You said you used only new corks, otherwise, I would say that corks are the first things to look at. Everything in the area must be sanitized.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

sounds to me like you have been sanitary conscience, but what about keeping sulfite (k-meta) high enough or not sealing the secondaries. there seems to be one mistake you are making somewhere and it only needs to be a small one to make a big difference.

as said. sanitize everything, including the area well.