wierd floating stuff

alien 21 years ago

I have some Elderberry wine that I started early september. I maxed the alcohol out on the yeast (about 18%) and it's turning into quite a nice port style wine.

A few days ago I noticed that something large was floating on the surface. I sulphited it and left it, but it didn't go away. So today I racked it. The large something was left behind and looked like sediment that had clumped together (about half of it). When I rinsed the demijohn it dissolved under the water pressure very quickly.

Only one demijohn has done this, the other hasn't. Any ideas as to why? Is it something simple such as gasses getting trapped and lifting it up?

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J F 21 years ago

Solid, flakey, kind of ash white/grey?

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J Dixon 21 years ago

So are you saying that it was floating on the surface such as a film? Did it look like soap scum? If so then it sounds like a film yeast such as Mycodermia (sp?). Usually not fatal so long as you remove as much as possible as soon as you see it, and keep your sulphite levels up. It requires Oxygen to propagate so the less head space the better. When racking over try to remove the film first so it does not get mixed into the wine. HTH

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alien 21 years ago

No it was a crumbly looking lump, same colour as the sediment. It appeared very quickly, overnight almost and there appeared to be less sediment at the bottom of the demijohn than before. It was left behind when I racked the demijohn.

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J Dixon 21 years ago

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B0B 21 years ago

Sounds like "Mother of Vinegar" a floating mass of vinegar producing bacteria....

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alien 21 years ago

I hope not, no vinegar smells yet. I'm keeping a close eye on it. I stabalised the wine with sorbate/sulphite, would that be enough to stop it?

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