What is in my carboy?

[hobbyiswine]

Any ideas what this grey-ish stuff is inside my carboy? It showed up the day after I racked it to the secondary. It is a WE Mezza Luna kit. Temp was high upstairs where I had it so I have moved it downstairs. Temp is in upper 70s now but was in upper 80s before. It went from 1.090 to under 1.000 in about 4 days then I had racked it to the secondary.I took off the airlock to give it a sniff and it doesn't smell like mold. Maybe some yeasties? Should I rack it now or let it sit a few more days without harm? I'm sure someone has seen this before so any info would be great.

 

[wvbrewer]

It maybe residue from a violent fermentation since the temps were rather high, but lets see what a few others say.

 

[cindy]

bump bump bump

 

[BobF]

Yeast frequently clings to the inside of carboys. This just a guess, but it looks like the bottom edge of the 'stuff' stops where a previous level of wine was in the carboy.

Still guessing, but it looks to me like yeast is clinging to the part of the carboy that still had stuff/film on the inside from a previous batch.

Like I said, I'm guessing ... but that clean edge on the lower extent of the stuff looks suspicious to me!

I would go ahead and rack it another, CLEAN carboy and continue the normal process from there.

 

[cindy]

my apologies for hijacking, I haven't been able to get answers on my own thread...
Thanks

 

[Chateau Joe]

I agree it sounds like a violent fermentation. Rack it to a clean carboy and clean that carboy well.

Does your wine smell of sulfur?

 

[BobF]

Cindy ... relax. Take a deep breath ... hold it ... exhale.

If your wine is still actively fermenting, you're OK until it slows. If not, you need to top it up. There are several options for topping up. Some use a similar wine from a previous batch they've made. Others use a similar commercial wine. Some even use sanitized marbles to raise the level.

You want to get the level up to within an inch or so of the bung. Yes, oxidation is the result of not topping up. Oxidation can be as simple as off-color and flavor, or you can end up with vinegar.

You have a day or two to figure out how you want to deal with it, but I wouldn't wait too long.

 

[BobF]

It looks to me like the level is up into the neck ...

 

[tonyandkory]

I have had the same thing on a couple of our carboys... but to a little lesser degree and it usually dropped out after racking when in liquid but it took awhile.
Our strawberry wine that is in secondary has a little right on top.

 

[ibglowin]

Greyish stuff makes me think it might be some bentonite (clay) that stuck to the walls.

 

[rjb222]

I would agree with ibglowin. With temperatures in the 80 deg mark the ferment would have been quite violent.

 

[RCGoodin]

Fermentation in higher temperatures does make the yeast more active. Racking after four days, even if the SG is below 1.000 seems a little soon. It looks like the yeast isn't finished.

Most kits state to check the SG for three days in a row, which means it's stable and the fermentation is complete, before going to secondary. I think you're seeing more fermentation, and that's ok. It would have happened in the primary, you just wouldn't have seen it like you do in a carboy.

I hope my predictions are correct. Please keep us informed.

 

[hobbyiswine]

Thanks for all the feedback. For those that were thinking it was from a violent ferment that is not the case. It had been moved from the primary at an SG of 1.000 and there hasnt been a lot of activity in the carboy. I had stirred it in the carboy after racking just to get off some CO2 and stir up any yeast to push off some gas and fill the head space with CO2 between the wine and airlock.

My best guess is that the wine got kinda washed up along the top of the carboy during racking and the quick stir and that it is a little yeast residue. I racked it off to be on the safe side into another carboy.

 

[hobbyiswine]

I tasted this batch today. I racked it into clean carboys and topped up about 10 days ago. All is fine. Whatever I had going on in the secondary carboy that looked dirty from post number one doesn't seem to have had any negative effects on the wine. Going to let it sit for another week or so then rack it off again and have it sit on some oak cubes for a couple months.