Good to hear it's cleared so well.

So it looks like it's temperature that causes it, pressumably acting on dissolved gases. If it were the fluid itself
reacting you'd imagine the tendancy would be towards expansion when cooling and contraction when warmer (like freezing
and melting wouldn't you?

Cheers for the observation.

Jim

"Casey Wilson" > wrote in message news:IP9yh.9804$MH2.8224@trnddc03...
>
> "jim" > wrote in message ...
>
>> I thought before discussing it that it was due to the sugar being broken down and gas being released reducing the
>> overall level in my carboy. But with my friends testimony added into the equation, I now believe the change in
>> apparent volume must have been down to temperature as my friends wine rose as he added a brew-belt to avoid cold (and
>> on reflection mine fell as ambient temperatures fell slightly).
>>
>> I pressume the change in volume is down to the volume of the bubbles in the wine at given points and think that the
>> bubbles must be bigger in warmer drinks (lowered viscosity of the fluid perhaps).
>>
>> Can anyone confirm this or set me straight?
>>
>> Jim
>
> I can only add an observation of my pomegranate wine now undergoing cold stabilization. Well, almost cold -- it
> varies between 40 and 50F while I'm waiting for the desert nights to drop back into the 20s. When I set the jugs out
> in the garage at about 35 degrees F, I put enough fluid in the gas lock to match the two lines. When the ambient
> temperature dropped to just under 30, the fluid pulled mostly into the jug side and at 45, it mostly all into the
> atmosphere side. With all that said, you have to remember that ambient atmospheric pressure will also have some
> effect. I can't tell you the barometric pressure then, but I am going to track it for a while... as soon as the
> temperature drops... I hope, I hope, I hope....
>
> By the way, the wine is beautifully clear now. An HeNe laser pointer shows hardly any more scattering than I would
> expect from the glass on both sides. That's not scientific, but what the heck, it's my subjective appraisal.
>