Howdy Everyone,

My 1st batch is now in 2ndary ferment in a 6gal. glass carboy.
It looks like a lot of purple yummy with a good "head" of fine
bubble on top. OK for that. What I'd like to know is this: There's
a thin line of milky film along about 3 or so inches of the top of
the bubbles and up againest the glass. Not much at all. But
only in that one spot.

Is this yeast ? Maybe precipitate from bisulfite?
It worries me a little because if it's bacteria I'm in trouble, right?
If it's yeast should I tip the carboy a little to try to work in down
into the juice or let it lie ?

Andrew

Andrew -

You are (understandably) obsessing over insignificant nuances of your
fermenting liquid. We have all done this when beginning winemaking. Truth
is, it is actually fairly hard to totally screw up a wine if you follow
basic cleanliness guidelines. The stuff you are seeing is probably just
yeast. It does tend to gum up on the walls of the carboy near the surface
*sometimes* and it does no harm. Usually as a ferment gets near its end I
will agitate the carboy a bit to stir up the lees and possibly encourage
them to eat a bit more sugar. If there's yeast 'film' on the glass then
I'll try to get it to go back into the liquid. But it's of no consequence
if it does not.

If the wine was sulfited, and is still fermenting with a reasonable head of
CO2 (take a sniff!), you have little to worry about in terms of spoilage of
this new wine. The ferment itself is actually the safest phase for wine; it
is protected by CO2 which tends to ward off oxygen and the outgassing via
the airlock presents a constant pressure away from the liquid. Things are
much more critical when the wine is aging, and is still. That's when you
need to take care to have the right amount of free SO2 and keep it topped
up.

Roger
Quinta do Placer

Andrew -

You are (understandably) obsessing over insignificant nuances of your
fermenting liquid. We have all done this when beginning winemaking. Truth
is, it is actually fairly hard to totally screw up a wine if you follow
basic cleanliness guidelines. The stuff you are seeing is probably just
yeast. It does tend to gum up on the walls of the carboy near the surface
*sometimes* and it does no harm. Usually as a ferment gets near its end I
will agitate the carboy a bit to stir up the lees and possibly encourage
them to eat a bit more sugar. If there's yeast 'film' on the glass then
I'll try to get it to go back into the liquid. But it's of no consequence
if it does not.

If the wine was sulfited, and is still fermenting with a reasonable head of
CO2 (take a sniff!), you have little to worry about in terms of spoilage of
this new wine. The ferment itself is actually the safest phase for wine; it
is protected by CO2 which tends to ward off oxygen and the outgassing via
the airlock presents a constant pressure away from the liquid. Things are
much more critical when the wine is aging, and is still. That's when you
need to take care to have the right amount of free SO2 and keep it topped
up.

Roger
Quinta do Placer

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 21:05:24 -0400, "Roger D. Placer"
> wrote:

>Andrew -
>
>You are (understandably) obsessing over insignificant nuances of your
>fermenting liquid.
<snip>
Right again.
Thx. for helping,

Andrew

>
>Roger
>Quinta do Placer
>

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 21:05:24 -0400, "Roger D. Placer"
> wrote:

>Andrew -
>
>You are (understandably) obsessing over insignificant nuances of your
>fermenting liquid.
<snip>
Right again.
Thx. for helping,

Andrew

>
>Roger
>Quinta do Placer
>

Andrew,
I agree with Roger to a point, but here is another thought. 'White'
is odd. Yeast debris in a red is usually pink, tan in a white wine.
If you added something to the wine maybe that's what it is.

With all that CO2 in there it's hard to imagine any bacterial
infection but I can't think of anything that 'should' be white in a
wine.

I would wipe it out, or if it's a film on top, just top up to
overflowing and let it get rid of itself. Then get some wine back out
if necessary and shake the carboy to fill the headspace back up with
CO2.

Joe

Andrew,
I agree with Roger to a point, but here is another thought. 'White'
is odd. Yeast debris in a red is usually pink, tan in a white wine.
If you added something to the wine maybe that's what it is.

With all that CO2 in there it's hard to imagine any bacterial
infection but I can't think of anything that 'should' be white in a
wine.

I would wipe it out, or if it's a film on top, just top up to
overflowing and let it get rid of itself. Then get some wine back out
if necessary and shake the carboy to fill the headspace back up with
CO2.

Joe