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where are these bubbles coming from?

I need help figuring out what is happening with a batch of Viognier. My problem, in a nutshell, is that it's still sending up tiny bubbles after almost

3 months.

I started with a bach of frozen juice from Brehm. The pH and TA were out of whack, so I had to add a fair amount of tartaric. I also added lysozyme at the onset.

After all of the adjustments, the pH was respectable at 3.6 and the TA was about .55. I fermented at 55 degrees with Premier Cuvee yeast and after about

6 weeks, my SG was down to 0.995. At that point there was still an occasional bubble. By the way, I've maintained the SO2 at 50 ppm all along. After about 8 weeks, still occasional tiny bubbles and the wine was turbid. I fined with Bentonite without much of a result, and after another 2 weeks, I added some isinglass. Both before and after the isinglass, as a stirred the wine, I created ENORMOUS amounts of carbonation with the wine bubbling up and over the top of the carboy...to the point of a layer of foam of about 3 inches. It's still bubbling pretty vigorously. The SG is 0.992 so I'm sure everything is fermented. At this pH, I boosted the SO2 to as high as 70 ppm.

Any suggestions? I'm now about 11 weeks and it's still really bubbly....looks like champagne.

Thanks,

Lee

Reply to
LG1111
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bubbly....looks

Sounds like it's going ML on you, despite your efforts to prevent that. It's pretty difficult to prevent ML in high pH wines. Do a chromatography on it to be sure.

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

Lee,

Have you continued to keep the wine in the 55 degree space? I think that at low temps the CO2 from fermentation will remain dissolved in the wine and you'll only get it to degas completely by bringing the temp up. That happened to me with a Chard that I fermented at 57 degrees - it took quite a while, weeks, to get rid of all the CO2 once I brought it up to room temp (about 70 degrees).

Ed

bubbly....looks

Reply to
Ed Marks

Thanks for your help. It's been at about 65-68 degrees for about 3 weeks, and this is when the bubbling started again. I'm not sure what it is. Tom's suggestion that it might be MLF is possible (I can't disprove it) but with my MLF's, the bubbles seems to creep up the sides of the carboys. These bubbles are just coming up the center of the carboy, like CO2, so I think this is the better possibility. One way or another, I suspect that the only course of action at this point is to wait. It's sulfate protected, so no harm can happen (famous last words).

This was the first year that I fermented my whites at 55 degrees. For those who haven't done it, I think (it's hard to compare one year to another), that the wines are MUCH fruitier and deeper in bouquet and flavor. It took about

6-8 weeks for the primary to be done, but I think it's worth it.

Lee

Reply to
LG1111

Lee,

I'd agree on the positive results of a low temperature ferment given my experience with Chardonnay at low temps. Raising the temp could allow an MLF to start, but if you're wine is adequately sulfited, then it's most likely CO2 coming out and not a MLF. After mine warmed, every day or so I would give my carboy a shake (but didn't open it) and this seemed to help get the CO2 moving - LOTS of bubbles came up when I did that (also different from my experience with a MLF).

Hope it turns out great!

Ed

Reply to
Ed Marks

I know what you mean. The best wine I've made yet was an accident. I pitched a kit Shiraz, and then realized we were leaving in 3 days for a week vacation in Florida. MAJOR brain cramp, and I thought I was going to lose the batch. But I cranked the AC down to 60 and left the primary. When I got back, it was ALMOST ready to rack to secondary, and all my friends agree it was the best tasting wine I've every made.

Usually, I ferment at room temperature, 70 - 75. Cold is better, but my wife would kill me if I tried to keep the house that cold.

Reply to
Matthew Givens

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