Question:
Did you check the SG before you bottled?
Yes, I checked it the last time it was racked, about six months ago. Both batches were around .990 then and it tasted very dry. pli
Response:
pavel, Invert the bottles after corking to wet the corks so that they swell. Corking compresses the headspace and that compressed air will push back before the cork has had a chance to recover from the being squeezed by the corking tool. A good test for a spritz in your wine, and an all around good thing to have when drinking wine, is a VacuVin or similar vacuum cork. when you pull the vacuum to seal the partially drank bottle, any residual gas will boil up. Regards, Glen – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Last night, I bottled the white and Delaware batches, finishing up at about 11:00 P.M. The 30 bottles were left standing upright on a shelf. Around Noon today, I went into the cellar and stepped on a cork lying in the middle of the floor. I checked the bottles and found that one of the whites had popped it out. I recorked that bottle anc checked the rest. The corks in most of them are anywhere from 1/8" to 3/8" above the tops of the bottles.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have a problem which you might have just answered. My problem is explained in detail below; any comments are appreciated. I made four batches of wine in late August/early September of 1999. They were each racked two or three times, to the point of clarity. I didn’t add bisulfite to the batches, wanting to see if I could make chemical-free wine. The three-gallon carboys then sat in the wine cellar, undisturbed, for about seven months. There was no noticeable action in the airlocks in all that time. Last night, I bottled the white and Delaware batches, finishing up at about 11:00 P.M. The 30 bottles were left standing upright on a shelf. Around Noon today, I went into the cellar and stepped on a cork lying in the middle of the floor. I checked the bottles and found that one of the whites had popped it out. I recorked that bottle anc checked the rest. The corks in most of them are anywhere from 1/8" to 3/8" above the tops of the bottles. Question 1: Do you think this is caused by renewed fermentation or the release of pent-up CO2? I would have thought that the CO2 would have had time to dissipate over the aging period. Also, we noticed no bubbles in either wine when we test-tasted last night.
Hi Paul: This is a real puzzler. Since you detected no fizz in the wine & the wines were almost 1 year old, I doubt that there was excessive CO2. Additionally, even there was excessive CO2, it is unlikely that just the residual CO2 could pop corks. Also, after all this time, unless your aging area is quite cool, it is very doubtful that the wines contained any residual sugar. What size cork are you using? 8 or 9? A #8 cork, inserted moist in a 750 ml wine bottle might be susceptible to extraction by residual CO2. More likely, though, since you did not add SO2, is the possibility that the wine was stimulated by the racking action of the bottling into a spontaneous malo-lactic fermentation. Question 2: Should I stir the carboys every couple of month during bulk-aging to release any residual CO2?
I like to stir mine only once…just after the first racking (done right after the end of the primary fermentation) when adding SO2 & finings (if applicable). A vigorous stirring at this time is very safe due to the excessive amount of CO2 which is in the wine just after fermentation. Question 3: My feeling is that I shouldn’t bother to recork if the corks are tight and not protruding too far. Does that sound right?
Re-corking is a hassle. Particularly if you have not added SO2, as the pouring/racking will doubtlessly incorporate large amounts of O2 into the wine. If you can live with the spritz, and you don
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