Pinot still fermenting?

[zadvocate]

My Pinot a week and a half ago still had some H2S Smell to it so I added Redules I racked out after 72 hours which was on November 8. Yesterday and today I noticed that it is bubbling away. I have a 5 gallon carboy a 1 gallon carboy and a half gallon carboy. I measured my SG back on November 8 and it was at .996.. I took the sample from my 1 gallon carboy for that measurement. Could it be possible that the larger car boy still had sugar and is still fermenting? It smells fine and I tasted it yesterday which was pretty good. My initial reading when I got the grapes was rather high at around 28 bricks I had added water to bring it down to 25. I just measured my SG again and it was .997. I added Kmeta a month ago also.

 

[sour_grapes]

I suspect it is just outgassing, i.e., giving off dissolved CO2.

 

[MDH]

What was the pH and PPM of your wine?

 

[zadvocate]

3.46 for PH I’m not sure what you mean PPM, so2? I don’t know. My accuvin malic acid test suggests ppm for malic is 30. It’s still bubbling away, looks like a lot of bubbles flowing up to the surface like you see with MLF. If it’s still doing this come Thanksgiving day, I will hit it with 50 ppm So2. It just seems like a lot of bubbles got out gassing and it’s been doing this for 3-4 days

 

[Boatboy24]

Has there been any change in temperature where the wine is stored?

 

[zadvocate]

It may have gotten colder by a few degrees. It’s aboug 66-67 degrees in that room

 

[Boatboy24]

It may have gotten colder by a few degrees. It’s aboug 66-67 degrees in that room

OK. I was thinking a warm up would encourage off-gassing. But a slight drop wouldn't really do much of anything.

 

[zadvocate]

I read that a drop in barometric pressure can cause CO2 outgassing. This has been almost a week of steady outgassing, my only worry is if it is some bacteria. I dont smell anything bad though. There was a decent drop a few time this past week.

 

[Ajmassa]

I read that a drop in barometric pressure can cause CO2 outgassing. This has been almost a week of steady outgassing, my only worry is if it is some bacteria. I dont smell anything bad though. There was a decent drop a few time this past week.

Any big storms in your area recently? I read similar things about pressure affecting the wine. Aside from checking the recent local readings there is a visual clue to look for.
The level of the wine would/could rise as pressure drops. You could have 1.5” to the bung. Big ass storm rolls through and end up with wine at the bung. (Even up through the airlock) as well as outgas.

 

[sour_grapes]

The level of the wine would/could rise as pressure drops. You could have 1.5” to the bung. Big ass storm rolls through and end up with wine at the bung. (Even up through the airlock) as well as outgas.

I don't believe that is true. The volume of wine is not affected to any measurable degree by the ambient pressure. The temperature, on the other hand, can cause wine to expand and contract.

If you were to double the ambient pressure, the wine would contract by about 0.005% in volume.

 

[Ajmassa]

I don't believe that is true. The volume of wine is not affected to any measurable degree by the ambient pressure. The temperature, on the other hand, can cause wine to expand and contract.

If you were to double the ambient pressure, the wine would contract by about 0.005% in volume.

I’ll take your word. I couldn’t argue any which way on this topic. Tho I do find it interesting, and have read along with the few threads relating Don’t know what’s up with the ‘search’ function now, because I couldn’t find anything.
But I definitely remember a post where a drop pressure was thought to have caused the volume to rise. And another more detailed thread where someone was monitoring a ferment while noting changes in pressure and how it was effected.

 

[sour_grapes]

Just to set the scale, if the pressure dropped from normal ambient to the pressure you get in the eye of a hurricane (biggest pressure change I can think of), the 6-gal. carboy would expand by 1 ml. If the temperature warmed up by 20*F, the 6-gal carboy would expand by 55 ml. I think the former would not be perceptible, but the latter could bring the wine level up into the airlock.

 

[zadvocate]

There’s an article on Wine Making magazine website regarding the effect of barometric pressure on CO2 in wine. Just to be safe I added 50 ppm kmeta last night this morning it still bubbling away. When I added the kmeta A lot of bubbles came right up. I’m guessing it is just CO2 outgassing.

 

[stickman]

Are you sure you're not still fermenting sugar? Did the sg get lower than .996 that you reported earlier?

 

[zadvocate]

Are you sure you're not still fermenting sugar? Did the sg get lower than .996 that you reported earlier?

I checked that initially and it was about the same. 996. . 997 in that range. I also just checked right now a week later and it is still at .996-.997. At this point I think it has to be outgassing.

 

[stickman]

I agree, it may just be out-gassing, but I get a little concerned with a must that has been lowered from 28 brix. Even after lowering, they can still be difficult to ferment dry due to nutrient deficiencies etc. The fact that you had some H2S indicates some stress. You should be fine, the sulfite will take care of most bacteria, but yeast may continue to ferment if there is sugar present(which is good).

 

[sdelli]

It may have gotten colder by a few degrees. It’s aboug 66-67 degrees in that room

Pretty warm for finished wine storage. How cold is it outside by you now? Put it outside for a week or two. I doubt it is fermenting but a good dose of cold stabilization won’t hurt.

 

[zadvocate]

That is the best temp I can achieve. it is the in the basement by the garage. It has been cold outside over the last few weeks, in the 30-40s but last 2 days it has warmed up some to 50s- low 60s. As of yesterday it was still bubbling.

 

[sdelli]

Sounds like it just needs to be cold stabilized to calm it down. Wait until winter sets in then put them in your garage for a month. I bet if you set that carboy in a big sink with some ice it would stop right now.

 

[stickman]

Why would you want to stop fermentation? If there is sugar present, why not let it finish, if it ferments later you'll be sorry.