Gushers

[DaYooper]

Okay, all the talks about gushers from beer must have jinxed me or something.

Went downstairs to degas the wine that has been in the secondary for about 10 days. The hydrometer was stable, but was pretty useless as the directions were not the most clear to me about adding in the fruit juice. So, since the directions said "if you have more than one item of anything, add them all" and it told me to add the juice, I added it along with the grapes rather than prior to bottling. Figured the worst that could happen is it would dry up and lose the fruit taste. So, added the fining agents and proceeded to degas. Within seconds I saw the whole thing turn bubbly and start to spew. What a mess! A couple of garbage cans later and 10 minutes with the scissors removing carpet and was down about two gallons. Still not sure if I am going to just swig it like punch until it is gone or put it in 22oz bottles, but with all the spewing and new oxygen it is probably not worth bottling in big bottles.

Question is, has this happened to anyone else (the foaming, not necessarily my screw up) and if so what caused it?

[mashani]

My bet: CO2 in suspension - and the fruit you added giving it lots of surface area to interact with (nucleation points).

[DaYooper]

Thanks Mash. That was what I was thinking. Went out and got a gallon of white and topped it off. Will see how it comes out. But, it reinforced how much I do save by making my own as the gallon of cheap white was still quite a bit more than what it costs me to make it myself.

[myhorselikesbeer]

You can add a half campden or 0.25 gm of metabisulphite to prevent any oxidative damage as it will displace any O2 absorbed during your eruption. As Mashini said all of that CO2 was in solution and just waiting for an antagonist to liberate it. I usually degas before any additions are made for just such reasons. 5 gallons of carbonated wine spewing from a 1.5 in hole are quite impressive ...LOML/SWMBO was not so impressed. SCIENCE!!!

[DaYooper]

You can add a half campden or 0.25 gm of metabisulphite to prevent any oxidative damage as it will displace any O2 absorbed during your eruption. As Mashini said all of that CO2 was in solution and just waiting for an antagonist to liberate it. I usually degas before any additions are made for just such reasons. 5 gallons of carbonated wine spewing from a 1.5 in hole are quite impressive ...LOML/SWMBO was not so impressed. SCIENCE!!!

Im going to have to remember that for the NEXT TIME it happens which I am sure it will at some point. I will be adding at bottling, and did another degas prior to topping off with the white wine. Still debating if it is worth bottling in full bottles or just using my bombers. I guess I will see next week.

Oh, and SWMBO didnt even think about coming downstairs as I was ranting and raving and stomping and throwing and....