Hi,
This may be a simple question, but google and Jack's website and this
newsgroup doesn't seem to have an answer (or I'm a little slow on my
searches).

I bottled a gallon of Welch's Concord too early, because it is cloudy. I
had followed Jack's recipe, and stablized it, etc. It looked ok, until I
put it into 350ml clear bottles, then I could tell it was a bit cloudy.

So 7 days after bottling, I got up my nerve and I uncorked the bottles
and put the wine back into a carboy and added 1/2 teaspoon of
sparkolloid (after desolving in 1/2 cup of cold water, per instructions).
Then I realized I don't have any spare airlocks - so the question is, if
I seal the top -- is that ok?

The carboy has a screw top - so I put it on and have started a cold
treatment on the wine. there is less then 1/2 inch air on top.

So, if the wine is stablized, and done. Can I just seal the 2 weeks
while the sparkolloid does it's magic, or am I doing something to it by
not having an airlock?

DAve
p.s. Besides the airlock missing, am I nutz for uncorking and trying to
move it forward again? After I found out I should wait up to a year to
drink , I thought - man, oh, man, wait a year KNOWING it's cloudy. stupid.

Dave,

You could fold up a piece of plastic food wrap and use a rubber band.
Combining the Sparkaloid and cold stabilization might do the trick.

Mike MTM

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Ah. Good idea.
But I am still puzzled how an airlock, or a screwtop seal is different.
But I will do what you suggest. Great idea.


Mike McGeough wrote:
> Dave,
>
> You could fold up a piece of plastic food wrap and use a rubber band.
> Combining the Sparkaloid and cold stabilization might do the trick.
>
> Mike MTM
>
> Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
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> ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
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DAve Allison wrote:
> Ah. Good idea.
> But I am still puzzled how an airlock, or a screwtop seal is different.
> But I will do what you suggest. Great idea.
Dave,
An airlock _probably_ works better at preventing O2 from entering the
carboy, but the rubber banded Saran wrap works fine, even for weeks on
end, in my experience. A screw cap makes an airtight seat, and an
excessive pressure change (gas pressure, partial freezing, etc) could
result in a bursting carboy. Also, dissolved CO2 can gradually escape
thru the airlock or Saran cover.

--
Mike MTM, Cokesbury, NJ, USA

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The airlock just compensates for pressure change, that's all. Use a
couple layers of Saran or screw the cap tight and check it once in a
while to make sure you have no pressure.

Concord won't improve much with age; you can drink it earlier than dry
wines. It's made sweet because of the foxy taste.

Joe

Hi Dave,

The problem I have with Sparkalloid is that you can very easily end up with
lots of "floaty bits" in the bottle even though the wine looks perfectly
clear in the carboy (and in the bottle at first). Unless you are going to
filter the wine, I recommend letting it bulk age in the carboy for 4 to 6
months after fining with Sparkalloid. You could try to fine with something
else, like betoninte, as a "topping" for the Sparkalloid, but that will
create lots of fluffly lees to rack off of. If you've got a red wine, maybe
the sparkalloid "floaty bits" won't be as bothersome.

For most red wines, bulk aging and racking go a long way to clarify the wine
all by themselves, along with a light fining with betonite, gelatin, or egg
whites.

Jon
[Check out my winemaking homepage
http://users.rcn.com/jcgilliam/Southeast_PA_Winemaker/!]

"DAve Allison" > wrote in message
...
> So 7 days after bottling, I got up my nerve and I uncorked the bottles and
> put the wine back into a carboy and added 1/2 teaspoon of sparkolloid
> (after desolving in 1/2 cup of cold water, per instructions).
> Then I realized I don't have any spare airlocks - so the question is, if I
> seal the top -- is that ok?
>
> The carboy has a screw top - so I put it on and have started a cold
> treatment on the wine. there is less then 1/2 inch air on top.
>
> So, if the wine is stablized, and done. Can I just seal the 2 weeks while
> the sparkolloid does it's magic, or am I doing something to it by not
> having an airlock?