Gassy Apple Wine

I noticed that fizzy taste with some of my wines. Then, I read somewhere that you should really agitate your wine in the carboy before bottling to disperse any carbon dioxide which has dissolved in the wine. You do this by racking half of the wine into another carboy so you have two carboys half full - then agitate the wine until it gets fizzy, which usually doesn't take too long. Since I started to do that, I don't have the fizzy taste. On the other hand, I did get a fizzy bubbly taste with a wine which had started to ferment in the bottle again (this was before I used a stabilizer) - that wine was like a Champaign. Darlene Wisconsin

Apples have a LOT of Malic acid. Probability is that the bottled wine is undergoing a malo-lactic fermentation. Be careful, there could be enough pressure build up to burst your bottles or more likely - pop your corks.

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I can think of 3 things that may have happened.

1. The wine was not well stabilized and has started fermenting in bottle. If the wine was completely dry or if you used a proper sorbate/sulfite treatment then this should not be the problem. Did you measure the sorbate/sulfite yourself or did you use a commercially available conditioner with sweetener, sorbate, and sulfite already blended? If you used the latter, they may not work the way you think. However, if this is your problem and fermentation continues, you can be generating hand grenades that can start going off or at least blowing their corks and making a real mess. 2. The wine was not properly degassed and CO2 was in solution when you bottled. This could have been prevented by degassing the wine or by allowing it more time to age in bulk before bottling. I would not recommend rebottling. You might just open it a little before drinking and pour it into a carafe, stirring it vigorously to remove the CO2. 3. Malolactic fermentation has started in the bottle. If ML has hit an apple wine it is going to go very flat. The ML is going to eat up the majority of the acid in the wine. If this is the problem, about the only thing you can do is pour it back into a carboy and treat with a good dose of sulfite to end the ML. You may well have to add acid to bring the wine's brightness back. Let it bulk age a few months, stir vigorously to get rid of all degas, then rebottle. You can test for ML with chromatography or you can try to wait it out and trust to luck.

All three of these indicate the wine was bottled too soon. Maybe someone else can think of some other possibilities.

Good luck.

Ray

I used a commercially available conditioner with sweetener, sorbate, and sulfite already blended. It was added to the wine after it had gone through cold aging and bulked aged at lease 9 months. I don't know about the ML, but the wine does seem to be much more bland that previous batches I have made. I guess I can try doing one gallon applying you option 3. Will let you know the results. Thanks

That sounds like ML. With sorbate, there has to be certain concentration for it to be effective - sources vary on how much, but

200ppm is often quoted. The wine conditioners I've seen listed a minimum amount one has to add to the wine - this is because of the minimum sorbate amount. Is it possible you've added less?

This is the main reason I don't use conditioners and prefer to make my own - that way I know exactly how much sorbate I'm adding and can sweeten by taste without worrying about minimum conditioner amounts (which might be too sweet for the wine).

Pp

How and what type and how much acid should I use to bring the wine's brightness back?

This is something you will have to experiment with. It is generally associated with the acidity. Draw off a given amount of wine and try adding some acid to it. Stir it in and see if it improves the wine. I would use tartaric as ML will not effect it. Then determine how much you need to add to the entire batch. Do not try do add it all at once as it will blend in differently over time that it does immediately. At 3/4 of what you think you need. Put it back for at least a month or two and try it again. Then do a final adjustment. You might want to experiment with tannin as well. Do it the same way as the acid.

This is where you are really crafting your wine to your personal taste. Consider this part of the fun of making wine! Now you are not just following a recipe, you are becoming a REAL winemaker. At least you can convince your self that you are.

Ray

wine's

Thanks again. This is all great information.