Reminder to stabilize...

[Chevette Girl]

*puts on "BAD EXAMPLE" ballcap*

So as I was sitting in the basement escaping the summer heat yesterday, I heard a strange noise from the wine racks... upon investigation, I discovered that the noise I heard was a cork popping from a 375 ml bottle and crabapple wine glugging out of the bottle. The splash zone from when the cork popped was about three feet and I still haven't found the cork. This was bottled in 2006! Be aware, NOTHING is safe from renewed fermentation, even if it's been bottled for 12 years.

Don't be like me. Stabilize EVERYTHING you're bottling.

This was from my very early days as a winemaker when I would bottle something unstabilized if it hadn't been aged a year or two. I have to dig my notes out of the archive book but I'm pretty sure this one was "dry".

A friendly reminder, you can't trust your hydrometer to tell you there's no residual sugars. "below 1.000" is not a safe margin as I've had meads go as low as .980 and .02 is well above a safe priming level when you're intending to make something carbonated.

 

[Stasis]

Wow, never heard of renewed ferments after twelve years. I know it's fairly normal to have renewed ferments after up to two years.
There have been multiple posts here where it's told that you should wait a week or two, all the time checking the hydrometer to make sure fermentation has stopped. I sometimes chimed in to tell them such stories like yours. I'm glad I'm not the only one so maybe such stories have more weight.
Luckily it seems you only had one bottle do this on you. Imagine if this was a large batch and you were away on holiday!

 

[Devin Petry-Johnson]

This is a great reminder. I wonder if the cork deteriorated as well. I was reading up on them and some say they're good for like 10 years. Maybe the cork was getting loose and there was some pressure buildup in the bottle and the cork eventually lost it's ability to hold the pressure in?

 

[Mazer828]

*puts on "BAD EXAMPLE" ballcap*

So as I was sitting in the basement escaping the summer heat yesterday, I heard a strange noise from the wine racks... upon investigation, I discovered that the noise I heard was a cork popping from a 375 ml bottle and crabapple wine glugging out of the bottle. The splash zone from when the cork popped was about three feet and I still haven't found the cork. This was bottled in 2006! Be aware, NOTHING is safe from renewed fermentation, even if it's been bottled for 12 years.

Don't be like me. Stabilize EVERYTHING you're bottling.

This was from my very early days as a winemaker when I would bottle something unstabilized if it hadn't been aged a year or two. I have to dig my notes out of the archive book but I'm pretty sure this one was "dry".

A friendly reminder, you can't trust your hydrometer to tell you there's no residual sugars. "below 1.000" is not a safe margin as I've had meads go as low as .980 and .02 is well above a safe priming level when you're intending to make something carbonated.

You totally made me dream about my corks popping and mead spewing all over the place in my cellar. #meadnightmares

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