Question:
Last year I made rhubarb wine with a touch of strawberry. I stabilized it and let it sit over the winter. Because it was so dry I added a bit of wine conditioner and it tasted wonderful. So I bottled it. Today, I was checking my winerack and noticed one of the rhubarb wine bottles’ corks was partially exposed and some wine was dripping out. No wanting to waste any I immediately put it in the fridge to chill. I opened the bottle a few minutes ago. When I pulled the cork there was a "pop" and when I poured the wine into the glass there was obvious carbonation! I have made rhubarb champagne and have no idea how it got that way or if any of the other bottles have the same state. Can anyone offer any explantation. The wine is fizzy, tastes good and I don’t know why!
Response:
thier allotted 5 minutes at Arecibo: Last year I made rhubarb wine with a touch of strawberry. I stabilized it and let it sit over the winter. Because it was so dry I added a bit of wine conditioner and it tasted wonderful. So I bottled it. Today, I was checking my winerack and noticed one of the rhubarb wine bottles’ corks was partially exposed and some wine was dripping out. No wanting to waste any I immediately put it in the fridge to chill. I opened the bottle a few minutes ago. When I pulled the cork there was a "pop" and when I poured the wine into the glass there was obvious carbonation! I have made rhubarb champagne and have no idea how it got that way or if any of the other bottles have the same state. Can anyone offer any explantation. The wine is fizzy, tastes good and I don’t know why!
Wine conditioner, if I am not mistaken, contains sweetener. The only logical explanation I can see for your champagne effect is a continued or restarted fermentation. Did you take an SG test prior to bottling? If I am right, you should show a drop in SG from the moment of bottling time till now, with the sugar spent into small amounts of CO2 and alcohol. I’m unclear whether other types of fermentation (malolactic, acetobacterial, fungual, etc) will cause a positive pressure output, but althoguh it is possible, I would put my money on a simple yeast fermentation restart. I suppose you are lucky the cork just didn’t blow right out of the bottle while you were elsewhere! 
Enjoy the wine, and consider it a special, unexpected treat - NR "We are George Ohm of Borg, resistance is voltage devided by current." Proud Student of All, Master of None University NightRunner’s Pages (well… *I* care!) Tweaker of genes and coder of agents! C3 Agentmaking Script Numbers 41700-41750 Reserved. http://web.infoave.net/~missy1/osiris http://web.infoave.net/~missy1/nukenorn http://members.xoom.com/Nite417 <–under reconstruction http://niter417.virtualave.net/ <–under construction
Response:
The wine tastes good because rhubarb makes an excellent wine, whether still or sparkling. You got a sparkling wine because either you only thought you stabilized it but in reality did not, or the wine had a large amount of absorbed CO2 and should havew been degassed before bottling. Adding stabilizing chemicals to a wine is no guarantee that the wine will stabilize. I like to rack my wines every 30 to 60 days until they go 30 days without laying down even a hint of dust. By then they may have been still from any sign of fermentation for several months. That is when I stabilze them, and the act of stirring in the stabilizing chemicals degasses the wine. Then I wait at LEAST another 10 days before bottling to see if the stirring rekindled any yeast activity. I very rarely get an unexpected sparkling wine. Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page, http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/1172/ Before you buy.
Response:
Wine conditioner also usually contains enough sorbate and bisulfite to stop a train. Me thinks a story left untold.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – thier allotted 5 minutes at Arecibo: Last year I made rhubarb wine with a touch of strawberry. I stabilized it and let it sit over the winter. Because it was so dry I added a bit of wine conditioner and it tasted wonderful. So I bottled it. Today, I was checking my winerack and noticed one of the rhubarb wine bottles’ corks was partially exposed and some wine was dripping out. No wanting to waste any I immediately put it in the fridge to chill. I opened the bottle a few minutes ago. When I pulled the cork there was a "pop" and when I poured the wine into the glass there was obvious carbonation! I have made rhubarb champagne and have no idea how it got that way or if any of the other bottles have the same state. Can anyone offer any explantation. The wine is fizzy, tastes good and I don’t know why! Wine conditioner, if I am not mistaken, contains sweetener. The only logical explanation I can see for your champagne effect is a continued or restarted fermentation. Did you take an SG test prior to bottling? If I am right, you should show a drop in SG from the moment of bottling time till now, with the sugar spent into small amounts of CO2 and alcohol. I’m unclear whether other types of fermentation (malolactic, acetobacterial, fungual, etc) will cause a positive pressure output, but althoguh it is possible, I would put my money on a simple yeast fermentation restart. I suppose you are lucky the cork just didn’t blow right out of the bottle while you were elsewhere! Enjoy the wine, and consider it a special, unexpected treat - NR "We are George Ohm of Borg, resistance is voltage devided by current." Proud Student of All, Master of None University NightRunner’s Pages (well… *I* care!) Tweaker of genes and coder of agents! C3 Agentmaking Script Numbers 41700-41750 Reserved. http://web.infoave.net/~missy1/osiris http://web.infoave.net/~missy1/nukenorn http://members.xoom.com/Nite417 <–under reconstruction http://niter417.virtualave.net/ <–under construction
Response:
Wrong Jack
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Wine conditioner also usually contains enough sorbate and bisulfite to stop a train. Me thinks a story left untold. thier allotted 5 minutes at Arecibo: Last year I made rhubarb wine with a touch of strawberry. I stabilized it and let it sit over the winter. Because it was so dry I added a bit of wine conditioner and it tasted wonderful. So I bottled it. Today, I was checking my winerack and noticed one of the rhubarb wine bottles’ corks was partially exposed and some wine was dripping out. No wanting to waste any I immediately put it in the fridge to chill. I opened the bottle a few minutes ago. When I pulled the cork there was a "pop" and when I poured the wine into the glass there was obvious carbonation! I have made rhubarb champagne and have no idea how it got that way or if any of the other bottles have the same state. Can anyone offer any explantation. The wine is fizzy, tastes good and I don’t know why! Wine conditioner, if I am not mistaken, contains sweetener. The only logical explanation I can see for your champagne effect is a continued or restarted fermentation. Did you take an SG test prior to bottling? If I am right, you should show a drop in SG from the moment of bottling time till now, with the sugar spent into small amounts of CO2 and alcohol. I’m unclear whether other types of fermentation (malolactic, acetobacterial, fungual, etc) will cause a positive pressure output, but althoguh it is possible, I would put my money on a simple yeast fermentation restart. I suppose you are lucky the cork just didn’t blow right out of the bottle while you were elsewhere! Enjoy the wine, and consider it a special, unexpected treat - NR "We are George Ohm of Borg, resistance is voltage devided by current." Proud Student of All, Master of None University NightRunner’s Pages (well… *I* care!) Tweaker of genes and coder of agents! C3 Agentmaking Script Numbers 41700-41750 Reserved. http://web.infoave.net/~missy1/osiris http://web.infoave.net/~missy1/nukenorn http://members.xoom.com/Nite417 <–under reconstruction http://niter417.virtualave.net/ <–under construction
Response:
Wrong Jack
So what is the right Jack?
Response:
during thier allotted 5 minutes at Arecibo: Wine conditioner also usually contains enough sorbate and bisulfite to stop a train. Me thinks a story left untold.
That’s what I was thinking too, but he could have bottled it full of viable yeasts… in which case the fermentation would have ground on for a bit. Just the same, you may indeed be right. - NR "We are George Ohm of Borg, resistance is voltage devided by current." Proud Student of All, Master of None University NightRunner’s Pages (well… *I* care!) Tweaker of genes and coder of agents! C3 Agentmaking Script Numbers 41700-41750 Reserved. http://web.infoave.net/~missy1/osiris http://web.infoave.net/~missy1/nukenorn http://members.xoom.com/Nite417 <–under reconstruction http://niter417.virtualave.net/ <–under construction
Response:
The sorbate in Wine Conditioner only handles the amount of WC you add. This is fact based on about 30 years of wine making. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Wrong Jack So what is the right Jack?
Response:
..but he could have bottled it full of viable yeasts… in which case the fermentation would have ground on for a bit. That makes sense… Sorbate does not stop fermentation, it inhibits reproduction. That is probably what is going on, the active yeast has got going. I would put the rest in the refrigerator or break the bottles back down. Is there a hint of sediment now that was not there before? Joe Got questions? Get answers over the phone at Keen.com. Up to 100 minutes free! http://www.keen.com
If you like this post and would like to receive updates from this blog, please subscribe our feed.