another white ring

Dan Emerson 22 years ago

I have a white ring around the neck of my Cabernet. I've read the archives and the general consensus was to sulfite and top up. My cab has been topped up pretty well during it aging, about 1/2 below the bung. I just tested the so2 and pH, it is:

pH 3.17 SO2 40 ppm

This should be sufficient to protect it from mycoderma IMO. I don't know why I have this. Is it a problem?

I am going to cold stabilize this wine to drop some of the acid out. A bit tart right now. I've shock sterilized my carbuoys that I am using for cold stablization. Maybe the cold will knock it back.

What are your collective thoughts?

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Patrick McDonald 22 years ago

I had this affliction a few months ago. The consensus was that it was a film yeast (that is mycoderma, right?) and it generally went away with a couple rackings and has not reappeared. Of course, I did knock it back a few times by spritzing with a sulfite solution.

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Richard Kovach 22 years ago

Well, I'm nothing close to a really experienced winemaker compared to many on this ng ( I had this affliction a few months ago. The consensus was that it was a film

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J Dixon 22 years ago

Richard, I have had somewhat similar occurances sporadically with different wines. Last year I made a red Zinfandel that had a ring of white material that I decided was not Mycomderma. I still dont know what it was, but I do know that Mycoderma will spread acrossed the surface of the wine and look like soap scum on hard water that is linked together. I'm not sure what was in my wine, but I did not over react to it, and all turned out fine. My motto is to top up once fermentation is complete, and to sulphite to proper levels as soon as it is possible. (in that case after MLF) John Dixon

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