Mememe wrote:
>
> Help! Now what?

First, take a breath. It's a carboy of wine. You don't have to stress
so much (although we all do in the beginning).

>
> Do we have to syphon the wine back out into a new carboy, or do we just buy
> a new fermentation lock and let the sterilized rubber stopper lie at the
> bottom of the carboy until we syphon the wine out for the stabilization
> step?

Just buy a new one and put it on. The wine should still be producing
plenty of CO2 which will protect the wine in the interm. You may want
to look at a stopper that's a little bigger. They come in half sizes.

>
> Any help/advice would be very much appreciated--I'm really dreading going
> back to our local wine-making store and having to confess my sins to the
> Nils Crane behind the till.

If Nils Crane is behind the counter, time to find a new shop. This is
supposed to be fun.

Andy