White Spots😬

[welshcookie]

Hi! I made 2 gallons of Dragons Blood which has been racked into two demijohns, I used Campden tablets and stabilised. They have been sitting for a week now. One has been acting differently, there are tiny bubbles still rising (which I assume is just degassing) and today I noticed small white spots on the neck surface. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo but I did a gentle swirl and they washed away quickly. Having fermented vegetables on a regular basis I'm aware of Kahm yeast but I wasn't expecting that this would be a thing in wine making and not sure if it's harmful to the wine.
Of course, the most disturbing thing is this is only happening in one of the vessels which makes me worry that I did something bad.
Any thoughts and advice most welcome...even if it is to put it down the drain! I need a free demi anyway

 

[BigDaveK]

Another vegetable fermenter here and I'm very familiar with Kahm yeast.
My experience was that a gentle swirl breaks it up but it still wants to stay on the surface. From your description it doesn't sound like Kahm yeast but I can't see what you're seeing.

Each batch of wine is different and spots and floaters can be caused by so many things.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[welshcookie]

Another vegetable fermenter here and I'm very familiar with Kahm yeast.
My experience was that a gentle swirl breaks it up but it still wants to stay on the surface. From your description it doesn't sound like Kahm yeast but I can't see what you're seeing.

Each batch of wine is different and spots and floaters can be caused by so many things.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Thank you for the prompt response! I will observe what happens over the next few days. If something bad is happening I'm sure it will grow back.

 

[BigDaveK]

If it helps, I do a lot of vegetables and I make wine. I've never had Kahm yeast in any wine container. As you know, if it's Kahn it will probably be back. At least with vegetables the yeast isn't harmful and you can wash it off.

 

[Rice_Guy]

You say that your kitchen also ferments vegetables. You have an increased risk of having a strain/ culture get inoculated from one food to another. In a food factory we try to separate equipment used on one culture from equipment used on other cultures. ,,, I have not dealt with Kahn so I can’t suggest what conditions it likes to grow in/ how to skew the food system to encourage Saccharomyces.

Food safety; there is little risk of food poisoning organisms when you are over 5% alcohol and the pH is below 4 and you have low headspace (ie anaerobic) and there is free SO2, ,,, wine is a very safe food. Wine is a preservative system. The normal wine issues are off flavor related.

 

[BigDaveK]

You say that your kitchen also ferments vegetables. You have an increased risk of having a strain/ culture get inoculated from one food to another. In a food factory we try to separate equipment used on one culture from equipment used on other cultures. ,,, I have not dealt with Kahn so I can’t suggest what conditions it likes to grow in/ how to skew the food system to encourage Saccharomyces.

Anaerobic, surface growth, pH below 4.0. Doesn't affect the flavor of the vegetable ferments. If left unchecked it gets colorful as bacteria join the party.

I sterilize everything for canning and veg ferments but even with precautions I've had it a couple times over the years. Fortunately it's just annoying...for vegetable ferments.

 

[welshcookie]

So I decided just to rack it into another clean demi and add a Campden tablet, the PH level was OK. On the plus side it smelled and tasted pretty good for only being 3 weeks old!
Fingers crossed it will be OK, thanks for the comments