Help? Overexcited wine escaping!

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GlynG

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I’m homebrewing for the first time, following a recipe I found online for plum wine.

I decanted the wine from the big fermenting bucket into demijohns and put corks with air-locks on top which I thought were meant to let the gass out. Overnight the wine in two of the bottles got carried away though and popped the corks out. Did I fill the bottles too much? Or make some other mistake?

Should I just sterlise the airlocks and put them back?

2017-11-17-1102.jpg
 
clean em up with star san spray and the outside. it's better to get a spare airlock all sanitised and directly replace it then clean up the other at your leisure to reduce the time the wine is open to the air.
 
A common beginners mistake, but apart from the mess, no bad thing. It gets rid of the suspended bits of fruit pulp which you would otherwise have to remove by siphoning off the clearer liquid and losing some of that in the process.
 
Overnight the wine in two of the bottles got carried away though and popped the corks out. Did I fill the bottles too much? Or make some other mistake?

When your wine is fermenting its best to only fill to the mark below you can then either top up a few days later when fermentation slows or after you have degassed and stabilised the wine.


1799-_Original-two-handled-_Demijo.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies!

That diagram helps. I hadn't known how full to do them so guessed and filled them to just under the corks. I've emptied some out and re-inserted sterlized corks this morning. I've been super busy (working 3 jobs at the moment) so they've been open a week or so before I found time, hope the bacteria hasn't messed them up.

Just to check - the airlock thing is meant to be empty inside yeah? The design looks like it might be intended to be filled with water (and I have a crock pot for fermenting that uses a water barrier to keep air out) but it didn't come with any instructions.

Can I probably get away with leaving the 3rd bottle that didn't overflow or should I empty some of that out too?
 
Normally you would put liquid in the air lock, I use water but others use sterilising fluid like Starsan etc. Should act like a U-bend on your sink, keeps the air out for the wine.
 
I ferment my wines in plastic 5ltr water bottles as they have more room for fermentation then rack off into glass demi for degassing/clearing.
The plastic ones are easier to clean as well IMO.
 
I ferment my wines in plastic 5ltr water bottles as they have more room for fermentation then rack off into glass demi for degassing/clearing.
The plastic ones are easier to clean as well IMO.

When doing little amount I use the 5 l plastic bottles too, buy just chuck them when finished, keep the lid though as have drilled and glued in a grommet for the bubbler. Normally have a few kicking about as us the ashbeck water for some beer brews.
 
I'm trying Gervin GV4 in a "Tropical" WOW. It's the first time using it, and it says "Low foaming"...yeah right! I lost 1/2 litre of must through the airlock in the first 24 hours. It settled down after that.
 

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