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Starter kit fizzes, but no bubbles through airlock

Hi, As a complete beginner to brewing wine my girlfriend has been attempting to use a kit for white wine. We followed the instructions given by the guy in the shop and also the instructions which came with the kit.

After not very long the solution started to fizz and push bubbles of air through the air lock quite steadily, but unfortunately this stopped after only a few hours. Since then the wine has been fizzing slowly, but not pushing bubbles through the airlock.

My dad suggested giving the whole demijon a bit of a swirl to ensure that the yeast has been properly mixed. We tried this a couple of days ago but nothing has happened since.

Has our brew gone wrong as we think it has? Is there a chance it can be restarted?

The instructions said that the solution should be kept at just above 20 degrees celcius, and no colder. We have been keeping it at about

22/23, is this perhaps too hot?
Reply to
Paul Richards
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Reply to
STEPHEN PEEK

Actually we suspected the same thing, but the water levels on the two sides of the airlock aren't level. There must be some pressure in there, just not enough to push through a bubble.

Reply to
Paul Richards

Yes, it sounds like a leak at either where the airlock goes into the stopper, or the stopper into the demijohn. If the wine is still fizzing (which is a good sign!), give everything another push together, trying to get a better seal. That should help. There was someone else within the past 2-3 weeks on here with exactly the same problem, and that was their answer as well.

Good luck

Rob

Reply to
Rob

Actually Stephen it turns out that you are correct. We tried wriggling the stopper a little further into the demijon and we now have a regular stream of bubbles flowing through the airlock.

Thanks. :)

We hope that this hasn't spoiled the wine. Though even if it has this is only our first shot.

Can I ask, does this newsgroup have a FAQ?

Reply to
Paul Richards

You did not damage your wine...

Faq at

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Later A.J.

Reply to
A. J. Rawls

POP the airlock off real quick, dunk the whole thing in water and pop it back on. You may be leaking through because it's not making good contact with the glass.

Reply to
Bob

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