I hope someone can help. I recently bottled a batch of Brunello that I
fermented from wine juice. I thought I did everything correct. Racked
using clean carboys, measured all the sulfites correctly and tested
the alcohol level throughout fermenting, even sampled along the way
being very pleased. The wine was bottled about 6 weeks (fermented and
aged in carboys for about 11 months). I opened a bottle the other
night to sample and low and behold the top popped almost like a
champagne bottle and the wine tasted carbonated. What went wrong? Is
it lost? Tom

The wine could still be fermenting.
Did you measure SG before bottling ??

Sulphite will not stop fermentation
it may stun yeast temporarily.

Luc

wrote:

> I hope someone can help. I recently bottled a batch of Brunello that I
> fermented from wine juice. I thought I did everything correct. Racked
> using clean carboys, measured all the sulfites correctly and tested
> the alcohol level throughout fermenting, even sampled along the way
> being very pleased. The wine was bottled about 6 weeks (fermented and
> aged in carboys for about 11 months). I opened a bottle the other
> night to sample and low and behold the top popped almost like a
> champagne bottle and the wine tasted carbonated. What went wrong? Is
> it lost? Tom

--
http://www.wijnmaker.blogspot.com/

In article >, wrote:
>The wine could still be fermenting.
>Did you measure SG before bottling ??

He said he bulk-aged it for 11 months. Hard to imagine there would be anything
left to ferment...
>
>Sulphite will not stop fermentation
>it may stun yeast temporarily.
>
>Luc
>
wrote:
>
>> I hope someone can help. I recently bottled a batch of Brunello that I
>> fermented from wine juice. I thought I did everything correct. Racked
>> using clean carboys, measured all the sulfites correctly and tested
>> the alcohol level throughout fermenting, even sampled along the way
>> being very pleased. The wine was bottled about 6 weeks (fermented and
>> aged in carboys for about 11 months). I opened a bottle the other
>> night to sample and low and behold the top popped almost like a
>> champagne bottle and the wine tasted carbonated. What went wrong? Is
>> it lost? Tom
>

In article >, wrote:
>I hope someone can help. I recently bottled a batch of Brunello that I
>fermented from wine juice. I thought I did everything correct. Racked
>using clean carboys, measured all the sulfites correctly and tested
>the alcohol level throughout fermenting, even sampled along the way
>being very pleased. The wine was bottled about 6 weeks (fermented and
>aged in carboys for about 11 months). I opened a bottle the other
>night to sample and low and behold the top popped almost like a
>champagne bottle and the wine tasted carbonated. What went wrong? Is
>it lost? Tom

How many times did you rack it during the 11 months it was bulk-aging in the
carboys? Did you ever stir it? Did you have the carboys tightly stoppered, or
fitted with airlocks?

No, it's not lost. Your corks are, though. Open every bottle, and pour them
back into a carboy. Add sulfite. Stir the wine vigorously -- you'll see a lot
of foam. Stir it again. Repeat until it stops foaming. Re-bottle.

On Oct 19, 6:18*pm, wrote:
> I hope someone can help. I recently bottled a batch of Brunello that I
> fermented from wine juice. I thought I did everything correct. Racked
> using clean carboys, measured all the sulfites correctly and tested
> the alcohol level throughout fermenting, even sampled along the way
> being very pleased. The wine was bottled about 6 weeks (fermented and
> aged in carboys for about 11 months). I opened a bottle the other
> night to sample and low and behold the top popped almost like a
> champagne bottle and the wine tasted carbonated. What went wrong? Is
> it lost? Tom


The most common causes of opening a bottle and finding that is has
some carbonation are generally that it was not de-gassed prior to
bottling, or that it re-fermented in the bottle.

Since you bulk-aged for 11 months, there shouldn't have been any
residual carbon dioxide dissolved in the wine, although if you kept it
very cool and didn't rack at least a couple of times (or once
vigorously prior to bottling), then it's possible.

IMO the more likely scenario is that you had a malo-lactic
fermentation in the bottle

If you kept sulfite levels relatively high during the fermentation and
aging stages, but didn't re-sulfite prior to bottling, then your
initial sulfite might have been "used up" over time. If you racked
before bottling, but didn't re-sulfite at that time, then whatever
sulfite was left might have reacted with oxygen during this stage, and
set the conditions for MLF to occur.

If it has only been 6 weeks since bottling, it's possible that it's
still ongoing. If that's the case, then de-gassing and re-bottling
will just lead to the wine becoming carbonated again, or even worse
corks popping.

If the plan is to drink the wine in 6 to 12 months, then you can
probably get away with simply opening the bottles, putting them in a
bulk vessel, stirring vigorously to de-gas, add enough sulfite to
definitely inhibit MLF (check some resources to see what level you
need based on your wine's pH, alcohol, etc), and then re-bottle.

If you are planning on aging your wine for years, then eventually the
sulfite will get used up again and you will experience this problem
again. In this case you need to determine if the MLF is completed or
not (probably using a paper chromatography kit), and if not then you
need to take careful steps to let it finish in bulk, while protecting
it from other contaminants, and only then re-bottle.

Note that if the location of the bottles is even slightly warmer than
the location where you bulk-aged, this is even more likely to occur as
a sudden increase in temperature can spur on the start of re-
fermentation.

Chris.

Is there some way to release the extra gas in the bottles, like with a
needle through the cork?

Or simply pulling the corks and letting them breathe momentarily and
recorking?

Pouring the wine out and going through a whole re-bottling seems
unnecessary.

Put then I don't use sulfites.

Jaimes Beam

jaimesbeam wrote:
> Is there some way to release the extra gas in the bottles, like with a
> needle through the cork?
>
> Or simply pulling the corks and letting them breathe momentarily and
> recorking?
>
> Pouring the wine out and going through a whole re-bottling seems
> unnecessary.
>
> Put then I don't use sulfites.
>
> Jaimes Beam


If they're red wines, just let them sit a year or more and the CO2 will
have dissipated through the cork.

Momentary breathing of the wine may not do enough; most of the CO2 will
stay dissolved in solution in the wine. I don't know how long you'd
have to let it breathe, but more than a couple of minutes.

If you're in a hurry, removing the cork, then shaking the wine in the
bottle will force some CO2 from the wine. The tricky part is holding
your thumb over the opening so the wine doesn't splash out while you are
shaking it. This is definitely a YMMV process. It can be messy.

If the wine is undergoing malolactic fermentation in the bottle, more
CO2 will be created after your degassing, so make sure MLF is finished
before degassing.

Did you sulfite right after fermentation was complete?? If so it could
be MLF completing. Did you sulfite before bottling?? If not, it's even
more likeley MLF is the cause if you sulfited right after fermentation
was done. Residual CO2 doesn't cause the cork to explode out of the
bottle.

Bob

On Oct 19, 5:18*pm, wrote:
> I hope someone can help. I recently bottled a batch of Brunello that I
> fermented from wine juice. I thought I did everything correct. Racked
> using clean carboys, measured all the sulfites correctly and tested
> the alcohol level throughout fermenting, even sampled along the way
> being very pleased. The wine was bottled about 6 weeks (fermented and
> aged in carboys for about 11 months). I opened a bottle the other
> night to sample and low and behold the top popped almost like a
> champagne bottle and the wine tasted carbonated. What went wrong? Is
> it lost? Tom

One more thing. Sulfiting after fermentation but not before bottling
could cause residual sugar to re-ferment again. The SO2 will keep
yeast and MLF bacteria at bay. So the sulfite after fermentation would
discourage both fermentations but then as you bottle the SO2 decreases
and if not supplemented will become low enough to not be strong enough
to inhibit both from re-occuring.

Bob

On Dec 17, 6:54*pm, wrote:
> Did you sulfite right after fermentation was complete?? If so it could
> be MLF completing. Did you sulfite before bottling?? If not, it's even
> more likeley MLF is the cause if you sulfited right after fermentation
> was done. Residual CO2 doesn't cause the cork to explode out of the
> bottle.
>
> Bob
>
> On Oct 19, 5:18*pm, wrote:
>
> > I hope someone can help. I recently bottled a batch of Brunello that I
> > fermented from wine juice. I thought I did everything correct. Racked
> > using clean carboys, measured all the sulfites correctly and tested
> > the alcohol level throughout fermenting, even sampled along the way
> > being very pleased. The wine was bottled about 6 weeks (fermented and
> > aged in carboys for about 11 months). I opened a bottle the other
> > night to sample and low and behold the top popped almost like a
> > champagne bottle and the wine tasted carbonated. What went wrong? Is
> > it lost? Tom

One more thing. Sulfite does not kill bacteria like yeast or MLF
bacteria. It puts them in a suspended animation state. Once the SO@
levels drop to a level where the certain bacteria are comfortable,
they will resume activity.

Bob

On Dec 17, 7:00*pm, wrote:
> One more thing. Sulfiting after fermentation but not before bottling
> could cause residual sugar to re-ferment again. The SO2 will keep
> yeast and MLF bacteria at bay. So the sulfite after fermentation would
> discourage both fermentations but then as you bottle the SO2 decreases
> and if not supplemented will become low enough to not be strong enough
> to inhibit both from re-occuring.
>
> Bob
>
> On Dec 17, 6:54*pm, wrote:
>
> > Did you sulfite right after fermentation was complete?? If so it could
> > be MLF completing. Did you sulfite before bottling?? If not, it's even
> > more likeley MLF is the cause if you sulfited right after fermentation
> > was done. Residual CO2 doesn't cause the cork to explode out of the
> > bottle.
>
> > Bob
>
> > On Oct 19, 5:18*pm, wrote:
>
> > > I hope someone can help. I recently bottled a batch of Brunello that I
> > > fermented from wine juice. I thought I did everything correct. Racked
> > > using clean carboys, measured all the sulfites correctly and tested
> > > the alcohol level throughout fermenting, even sampled along the way
> > > being very pleased. The wine was bottled about 6 weeks (fermented and
> > > aged in carboys for about 11 months). I opened a bottle the other
> > > night to sample and low and behold the top popped almost like a
> > > champagne bottle and the wine tasted carbonated. What went wrong? Is
> > > it lost? Tom

On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:25:46 -0800 (PST), jaimesbeam
> wrote:

>Is there some way to release the extra gas in the bottles, like with a
>needle through the cork?
>
>Or simply pulling the corks and letting them breathe momentarily and
>recorking?
>
>Pouring the wine out and going through a whole re-bottling seems
>unnecessary.
>
>Put then I don't use sulfites.

To prevent refermentation, potassium sorbate is used to prevent the
yeast from budding, hence suspending it from further fermentation. If
it can't reproduce, it won't cause problems.

Some use sulfite only, but it isn't foolproof for this purpose. Some
yeasts will continue working after sulfite is added at 60 ppm, the
usual dose (1/16th teaspoon metabisulfite per gallon or 1 Campden
tablet).

I only use sorbate, no sulfite, after fermentation has begun, because
my wife has a sulfite sensitivity and it causes bad headaches. I have
asthma, and I seem to have some sensitivity to it also, but not so bad
that I need to have ER treatment if I drink some wine with S02 in it.

For new winemakers, I don't recommend avoiding sulfites unless someone
who will be drinking your wine has a serious problem with it. It's
good "insurance" at bottling time.

The recommended approach is to use both sulfite and sorbate,
especially if you sweeten your wines. You can get by without sorbate
if your wine will be dry with no sweetening added and if it is fully
fermented.

Don