Sponge monster??

I'm working on my first kit. It's a New Zealand Pinot Noir. I degassed for a couple of days with a drill attachment but have no idea if I did it enough (although bubbles went down considerably). I finished 5 days ago, put in bung and airlock and have not touched. It's supposed to be much more clear in 3 more days (when it's time to move on to the next step) per directions but I am not confident I degassed enough. Now I notice a weird sponge-like substance (inch thick?) floating on top. Does anyone know what this is? Am I ok to continue in 3 days by racking and clarifying? Should I be stirring it more? Thanks so much!

Is it just foam that didn't settle back down? That happens in some wines if you beat the crap out of it with a wine whip.

Or if you add fining agents then degass it can get really freaky looking.

Much more spongey than foamy. Looks freaky. I did indeed beat the crap out of it though (And that was after the fining agent was added). Still learning but loving this so far. Do you think it'll still turn out ok (and clear properly?) when I rack it on Saturday? Or should I be stirring it? Degassing more?

I had someone recommend topping off with water to squish this stuff out, then stealing some liquid back out to lower the level. Any thoughts? Or should I just leave it and rack it off on Saturday as scheduled? This seems to be a solid mass...definitely not foam or bubbles. It all stays together as one piece if I tilt the carboy.
Wow I really need to clean off the outside of the carboy. We got a little crazy with the stirring and then the drill attachment.

nannabearj said:

I had someone recommend topping off with water to squish this stuff out, then stealing some liquid back out to lower the level. Any thoughts? Or should I just leave it and rack it off on Saturday as scheduled? This seems to be a solid mass...definitely not foam or bubbles. It all stays together as one piece if I tilt the carboy.
Wow I really need to clean off the outside of the carboy. We got a little crazy with the stirring and then the drill attachment.

Click to expand...

Hahahah, I've done that with a wine kit before, it shouldn't be an issue.

I'll make the assumption that you dumped in a pack of kieselsol and chitosan to produce that freaky glob you see before you.

To put it in layman's terms the second you dump in those packs of fining agents in they grab all the little particles and turn them into a jellyfish which should drop right to the bottom....but....you didn't have your wine completely degassed so it's still in suspension.

At this point you can just wait and let it degass on it's own and the jellyfish will break apart and settle to the bottom eventually. Or you can degass further, just don't be surprised when you turn it into a lava-lamp.

Either way it's fine.

Hahahaha I love that reply. Yay thanks so much! I just got home and was happy to see that most has disappeared (to the bottom I guess) and there is only a tiny glob monster piece left. Ha