Irene,

Reasonable levels of sulfur dioxide will not kill yeast. It only stuns wild
yeasts for a few hours. (See Zoecklein, "Wine Analysis and Production,"
page 283-286).

Adding sulfur dioxide to an ongoing fermentation is seldom desirable.
Acetaldehyde is produced in the next to last step of the fermentation
process, and the added SO2 will quickly combine with the acetaldehyde
leaving excessive amounts of acetaldehyde in the finished wine. (See
Margalit, "Concepts in Wine Chemistry," page 267.

Regards,
lum

"Irene" > wrote in message
m...
> Hi Rick,
>
> Did you use a wine yeast? If not, this is some wild strain that has
> got off to a normal start for its initial low concentration.
>
> To control the foam, stir the heck out of the must once a day (leave
> the spoon in batch in between and use a plastic bag instead of the
> lid). You should notice on the second or third day that the cap drops
> as for a normal batch of wine. Rack soon after that.
>
> I would also use a little extra bisulfite to make sure that all wild
> strains are dead in stabilizing this batch. If you are very lucky you
> will have a SUPER wine (that you will never reproduce because of those
> particular yeasts). If this one tastes good at six months keep it for
> yourself.
>
> --Irene
>
> "Rick Vanderwal" > wrote in message
>...
> > Hi,
> > started a batch of concord wine.
> > first two days were ok...
> >
> > There was a decent cap for the first 2-3 days - a very mushy cap.
> > After I removed it, then came.....THE FOAM!
> > When I kept the lid on, the foam would build and push the lid up, aside
a
> > bit,
> > and then spill out of the primary onto the floor.
> > Ugh, what a mess.......it's been doing that for 2-3 days....the way to
> > control the foam buildup is to keep the lid partly off, but then there
are
> > fruitflies.
> >

Rick,
Not that it matters now, but antifoam may have helped there. It's a
silicone oil emulsion. I like the bigger primary idea too, or just
use a carboy to reduce the volume in the primary.

I would not sulfite now as Lum mentioned, let it have at it and go
from there.
Regards,
Joe

"Lum" > wrote in message >...
> Irene,
>
> Reasonable levels of sulfur dioxide will not kill yeast. It only stuns wild
> yeasts for a few hours. (See Zoecklein, "Wine Analysis and Production,"
> page 283-286).
>
> Adding sulfur dioxide to an ongoing fermentation is seldom desirable.
> Acetaldehyde is produced in the next to last step of the fermentation
> process, and the added SO2 will quickly combine with the acetaldehyde
> leaving excessive amounts of acetaldehyde in the finished wine. (See
> Margalit, "Concepts in Wine Chemistry," page 267.
>
> Regards,
> lum
>

I didn't mean to add the metabisulfite right away, eh?

I meant, at the time when you would normally stabilize, you would use
a little extra, as insurance, since the wild strains have a different
tolerance to alcohol and other factors. I lost my first batch of kit
wine to wild yeasts because I was not told by Brew King that their
final SO2 is 25ppm...

Irene

"Lum" > wrote in message >...
> Irene,
>
> Reasonable levels of sulfur dioxide will not kill yeast. It only stuns wild
> yeasts for a few hours. (See Zoecklein, "Wine Analysis and Production,"
> page 283-286).
>
> > I would also use a little extra bisulfite to make sure that all wild
> > strains are dead in stabilizing this batch. If you are very lucky you
> > will have a SUPER wine (that you will never reproduce because of those
> > particular yeasts). If this one tastes good at six months keep it for
> > yourself.
> >
> > --Irene
> >

"Irene" > wrote in message
om...
> I didn't mean to add the metabisulfite right away, eh?
>
> I meant, at the time when you would normally stabilize, you would use
> a little extra, as insurance, since the wild strains have a different
> tolerance to alcohol and other factors. I lost my first batch of kit
> wine to wild yeasts because I was not told by Brew King that their
> final SO2 is 25ppm...
>
> Irene

Irene,
SO2 is quite effective in controlling wine bacteria. But, even high levels
(~100 ppm) of SO2 will not kill most types of yeast, so I am confused (not
unusual these days).
lum

"Irene" > wrote in message
om...
> I lost my first batch of kit
> wine to wild yeasts because I was not told by Brew King that their
> final SO2 is 25ppm...

I suspect that you lost that first kit to airspace in the carboy above wine
that was insufficiently sulfited, which allowed film yeast to
propagate/thrive.

Headspace is the enemy of wine. So is low SO2.

So also is SO2 that is too _high_. Maybe bugs won't grow in it, but _you_
won't be able to drink it either.

Tom S