Tiny bubbles in wine glass

A few batches of my blackberry wine have lots of tiny bubbles that cling to wine glass. I've added meta at crushing , and 2 campden per 5 gal carboy at 2nd and 3rd racking . plus wine sorbate at bottling . I did'nt notice these bubbles in while the wine was in the bottles but after un corking and poring into glasses they appear . My friends say the wine taste great but they don't hold glass up to the light to see the bubbles . -- Help !

Reply to
Frederick
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I've never made blackberry wine before, but it kinda sounds like "petiance." If grapes were involved, I'd say that it's an incomplete malolactic fermentation. In that case, it might just disipate in the bottle over time, or not. If anyone out there has experience w/ Bberry wines, I yield to their experience... In my limited experience, once it's in the bottle, there's not a whole lot to be done; next batch, google blackberry wines & malolactic fermentation and, if appropriate, add a store bought malo culture during fermentation. It sounds like you've proceeded with appropriate chemical measures to ensure a stable product. But, what I've done at times when I've noticed shortcomings in my product ( like you indicate,) is to wait until someone raises the issue, then dazzle them with my limited "expert" assesment followed by an assurance as to HOW I'll take steps to avoid that problem in the future... In the quest for a superior bottle, you may well be ( a lot of us are) your harshest critic. HTH, regards, bob

"Frederick" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@e2g2000vbe.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
bobdrob

It is very possible that the wine has undergone spontaneous malo- lactic fermentation. A good bacteria converts the malic acid into lactic acid, which has a slightly higher pH and lower acidity than the malic acid. This serendipitous occurance should soften the acidity of the wine, increase the mouthfeel and make it effervescent as it ages. Keep the bottles cool in the summer or you may begin to lose some corks prematurely. Enjoy it.

Reply to
Gammagal

degas ?? whats that ... my wine books don't mention that .

Reply to
Frederick

I would suspect that the bubbles are not from MLF since it is difficult for natural MLF to occur when the wine has been properly sulfited as it was in this case. Since you never heard of degassing wine, it is most likely trapped CO2. I deal with this problem quite a bit and work hard to get the gas out before bottling. A drill mounted stirring rod works fairly well and I used that for several years. I found that whipping the wine in the carboy with that for a few minutes, then replacing the airlock, then tipping the carboy on edge and swirling the carboy in a circular motion works pretty good to get the gas out. You should perform this step multiple times (alowing the carboy to settle in between for 15-30 minutes). It can be a problem for a fully topped up carboy becuase the mechanical stirring tends to create a vortex in the wine and it can spill out the top. If there is a lot of CO2 in the wine, the rapid stirring can cause foaming that erupts out of the carboy.

The best way to degass is with vacuum. I used a mechanics brake bleeder tool a couple years ago but it was too time consuming and difficult to create enough vacuum by hand pumping. I recently found a great solution - an electric handheld vacuum sealer for food. I found one at Ollies Discount for $12.99. It has a small rubber cone tip that fits perfectly in the hole of the rubber bung in the carboy. Simply remove the airlock, press the vacuum sealer tip into the hole of the bung, press down and turn it on. The CO2 will come out of the wine very easily and it only takes a minute or so. Then put the airlock back in and do it again later, or the next day, etc. I continue to do this over time until the vacuum does not cause any bubbles to rise to the top of the carboy.

The >When you make wine yeast consume sugar and convert it in

Reply to
tdg

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