Strange ferment

[dodahman]

Hello everyone. I have been making wine for years, from kits and crushed grapes I picked or bought. One area where I never compromised was yeast and yeast nutrient. I have not made any in the last few years but bought a 5 gal frozen juice pail and have 5gal of a nice merlot going. When I got the pail, I had no yeast but a friend gave me a packet off red star montrachet. I added some table sugar to 23 brix and away it went. That initial ferment began back in late October. By Thanksgiving, I racked it over to glass carboy and it is STILL fermenting! Slow but still bubbles. Could it just be gassing off? Could it be a malolactic ferment going on? Should I rack again, stir vigorously and apply some metabisulfite? I am afraid that if I just let it keep going that it could turn to vinegar.
I am thinking of just dropping the hydrometer in the carboy and stirring in a little yeast nutrient. What suggestion or thoughts might you folks have?

 

[Ohio Bob]

Step,1 is see what the SG is. It’s probably done, I say probably. It also could be CO2 off gassing. If your SG is close to 1.000, give or take, it’s done.

Give it some good stirs, or splash rack (let the wine fall from the siphon tube into the carboy, not letting the siphon tube be in the wine). Add some Kmeta, top off so you have very little headspace. Rack again in 3 months.

 

[vinny]

Mine was a kit, bit I recently had a similar situation. I made five 6 gallon kits at the same time, they all got the same treatment. Fermented down to .996 or lower and vacuum transferred to secondary. Typical to the norm all over the others fermented out with no obvious off gassing, but one ramped right back up and was in full ferment mode. Bubbles running up the side of the carboy. Finally after a month or so I took another readying and it might have dropper 2 points, but it depends on how a guy reads the hydrometer on any given day.

Anyway it was in the .994 range, so I degassed with vacuum and that seemed to be the end of it. I'd take an SG reading and do the same if it is finished.

 

[dodahman]

Step,1 is see what the SG is. It’s probably done, I say probably. It also could be CO2 off gassing. If your SG is close to 1.000, give or take, it’s done.

Give it some good stirs, or splash rack (let the wine fall from the siphon tube into the carboy, not letting the siphon tube be in the wine). Add some Kmeta, top off so you have very little headspace. Rack again in 3 months.

Thanks! I will work it off tomorrow and top it up. I have a splasher that goes on the end of the racking tube. I am going to drop the hm in tonight to check.

 

[dodahman]

Mine was a kit, bit I recently had a similar situation. I made five 6 gallon kits at the same time, they all got the same treatment. Fermented down to .996 or lower and vacuum transferred to secondary. Typical to the norm all over the others fermented out with no obvious off gassing, but one ramped right back up and was in full ferment mode. Bubbles running up the side of the carboy. Finally after a month or so I took another readying and it might have dropper 2 points, but it depends on how a guy reads the hydrometer on any given day.

Anyway it was in the .994 range, so I degassed with vacuum and that seemed to be the end of it. I'd take an SG reading and do the same if it is finished.

Wow, you have a big project! Thanks for the advice.

 

[BigDaveK]

I'd give the carboy a good shake and see if the bubbles increase. And measure the SG.

I recently had a couple batches bubbling like crazy. I thought they were an unusually long ferment because surely off gassing wouldn't be so incredibly active. They were off gassing and I was shocked! Live and learn!

 

[winemaker81]

Thanks! I will work it off tomorrow and top it up. I have a splasher that goes on the end of the racking tube. I am going to drop the hm in tonight to check.

Check the SG before you top up. If the SG > 0.998, don't top up, unless you want to experience a purple volcano.

 

[dodahman]

I'd give the carboy a good shake and see if the bubbles increase. And measure the SG.

I recently had a couple batches bubbling like crazy. I thought they were an unusually long ferment because surely off gassing wouldn't be so incredibly active. They were off gassing and I was shocked! Live and learn!

The bubbles look different than a ferment so it might be degasing. I plan to just drop the hydrometer in and leave it there. I always wondered why I did not use that tactic to begin with as I only did one ferment at a time.

 

[dodahman]

Check the SG before you top up. If the SG > 0.998, don't top up, unless you want to experience a purple volcano.

Thanks for the warning.

 

[ChuckD]

Check the SG before you top up. If the SG > 0.998, don't top up, unless you want to experience a purple volcano.

You’re no fun at all! Everyone should experience the purple volcano at least once.

 

[vinny]

You’re no fun at all! Everyone should experience the purple volcano at least once.

If you are as smart as I am, you will put your hand over it to ensure it sprays all over the walls, too.

Only once!

 

[dodahman]

Hello everybody. I took your advice and racked it off today to a bucket and gave it a good stir ... wow what foam! I gave it a few good stirs, put in some potassium metabisulfite, racked back over to clean sanatized glass and topped it off. The SG was something like .098, well below 1.0 so I think its done. I filled up the bubbler with vodka but when it stops gassing off, should I just cork it and store for a few months to bulk age? Do I need to worry about sulphite levels while it is aging? Thanks everyone. Also I used the vinometer and it say about 14% alcohol. Just what I wanted.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Did you mean 0.998? A lot of foam would suggest it is not done. Racking to the carboy was correct. Leave it for 3 months, then rack and sulphite. Never use a cork, or solid bung. It’s too easy to pop off with continued off gassing, or even with slight temperature/pressure changes. Hopefully the sulphite will only stall the fermentation but not stop it. I suspect the fermentation was not truly done. Keep an eye on wine filling the airlock. If that happens, I personally would rack and sulphite as soon as I see it. I done like wine in my airlocks. Could be a source of bacteria infection. That’s why we use vodka/Everclear in air locks.

 

[dodahman]

Did you mean 0.998? A lot of foam would suggest it is not done. Racking to the carboy was correct. Leave it for 3 months, then rack and sulphite. Never use a cork, or solid bung. It’s too easy to pop off with continued off gassing, or even with slight temperature/pressure changes. Hopefully the sulphite will only stall the fermentation but not stop it. I suspect the fermentation was not truly done. Keep an eye on wine filling the airlock. If that happens, I personally would rack and sulphite as soon as I see it. I done like wine in my airlocks. Could be a source of bacteria infection. That’s why we use vodka/Everclear in air locks.

Thanks. In the past I would use sulphited water in the airlock but I used vodka this time. Its looking quite stable now. Not a bubble to be seen. When I racked it over I did some tasting and its going to be decent, nothing great though. It had that "newish" raw zippy taste.