Thanks for all the follow-up. I am in process of evaluating for microbial contamination - microscopic evaluation tomorrow and pending aerobic cultures. Other responses to questions in the discussion:
- The bungs are 6.5 - could be a little too large for the 1 gal jug, should be fine for the 5 gal carboy?
- Wine is stored in a MN basement - some fluctuation, although as stable a temp as I have anywhere. This occurred in the last 3-4 months (through heat(?) of summer, although it is Minnesota and it is a basement - more likely humidity changes
- no reason at all to store in carboy beyond 1 year - the good wine (a FWK Super Tuscan) was right at a year and "life" got in the way of bottling. Substituted the vented bung just to try it and thinking about potential fluctuations. The gal jug of 3+ year old wine was never bottled because it was never good enough to drink. A juice bucket that was just meh despite all my efforts. Could have used a solid bung, just didn't.
- The bungs had not been removed since being inserted 3 months earlier - they both had a slight but definite negative pressure seal when removed (fluctuation of temps?)
The ST has been racked and had K-meta added - will watch to see how it develops. The gal of "meh" is what I am "diagnosing" and may get tossed just because i have been messing with that batch for too many years and have plenty of it bottled/saved for cooking wine and other efforts. Will probably try the silicone bungs again at some point while also sticking to my standard plan of aging a year with airlocks, then bottling.
