spiced apple-cinnamon explosion

[FTC Wines]

I have making Spiced Apple wine for 5 yrs. & never had this happen before. After 2nd racking & stabilizing, I usually add the the spices, well I opened a new jar of cinnamon sticks broke them into pieces & dropped them into the gal. carboy & the wine instantly started to explode into what looked like a RAPID fermentation! After 15 min. it settled down. Never seen this before. Any comments? Roy

 

[Runningwolf]

I also use cinnamon sticks and never had that happen. Sounds like you need to degas.

 

[FTC Wines]

Dan, I vac-degassed, 30 days previous, & when I racked yesterday it seemed gassy so I had held 18" for 15 min. But this time temps. were too low [65]for de-gassing, so not sure it did much good, bubbles were being pulled out though. I'll bring the temp. up & de-gas again in a few weeks. Roy

 

[Runningwolf]

Roy I was only pulling strings when I mentioned that but like you I can't think of anything else either. Keep us posted.

 

[Wade E]

Yeah, it does sound like a degassing problem. You really need to degas at 75* or above to get the job done right. If you try at 70* you can degas all day and still not touch the trapped C02 at all!

 

[FTC Wines]

Just seemed STRANGE, the second I dropped the cinnamon stick in it started to bubble up. Like dropping Mentos into Coke! Well almost, Roy

 

[Flem]

Just for the heck of it, why don't you drop one of the "new" cinnamon sticks into a glass of water. Maybe try it with a coke or pepsi too. Maybe it's something in the stick.

 

[Wade E]

In a soda which is loaded with co2 youshould get the same reactionif its at a warmer temp.

 

[Duster]

Roy, Like others, I too have used cinnamon sticks in wine before with no problem. So I don't have much of an answer ether.
However if you don't mind sharing, what recipe are you using? I have made apple wine in the past out of frozen juice and wasn't impressed. I'm just curious if adding a few spices may live'n it up a bit.

 

[FTC Wines]

Duster, A few spices do LIVEN it up. I make 15 gals.of Apple Wine from bushels of apples each year. I also make 3-4 gals. of "spiced" Apple wine each year, but I make my "spiced" from Flash Pasteurized apple cider from a local orchard. In Ga. they can't sell non pasteurized cider. [they say it's a Federal law] so I use 1 Gal. of cider, sugar to 1.085, nutrient, acid, etc. etc. It would be a weak apple wine by it self, I've tried it, but "spiced' it's GREAT! When my Apple Wine [from real apples] is only 9-12 months old I blend 1 bottle of "spiced" to 8 bottles of my new young Apple wine. what a difference it makes. My wife wants me to always blend the spiced with my apple! It's that GOOD. Oh, my "spiced" is 1 clove, 3 cinnamon sticks, 1/3 tsp. ginger to 1 gal. of apple wine. I add spice after 2nd or 3rd racking & leave in for 2-3 mo. hope that helps, Roy

 

[FTC Wines]

Flem, I'm sorry I forgot to mention I used all 9 sticks of cinnamon from the new bottle, so none left to experiment with. It was WEIRD how it erupted, never seen anything like that! Roy

 

[Sacalait]

I had the same thing happen but instead of cinnamon sticks I was adding nutrient. It took off like a volcano but settled down rapidly. It's a degassing thing but at the time I thought MAN this is some powerful nutrient.