help me please - [Mold or dust.]

I went to grab a few bottles of my blueberry wine and this was on them
All of the bottles except 2 had it on them.
Is it mold or some kind of dust build up.
It is a grey white color.
The bottles are in my basement wich is a little cooler then the reset of the house and maybe a bit humid.


What is on them?
Is it safe to drink still?

I was able to just rub it off the bottle

I am not sure why the pic didn't show
here is a link to the pic if anyone can help me
Image of blueberry wine in basement - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Here ya go


Unfortunately that is as far as my help can go. Is there any growth or discoloration inside the bottle?

Man...that's nasty.

Clean it up...Open up one-dem-der bottles and take a swig. You'll know if it's bad or not...and safe? Yes! It's safe...even if it sucks.

I have not opened a bottle yet.
I wanted to take a pic this morning when I discovered it.
I will try some tonight and see how it taste.

I am leaning more toward dust since the mass is in the center of the cork and not between the cork and the bottle.

or am I way off.

Any input is appreciated

Tusch--- thanks
I wonder what I did wrong
I put the url in the link field for adding a pic.

NO...That's definitely mold...but it's not from your wine, and on the outside of the bottle, it's not going to hurt the wine either.

It's probably mold. Know anyone with a microscope? You could find out real quick then. Part of my job involves determining whether or not something is mold and I'll give a quick run-down of my observations of the photo:

-The only thing giving the possibility that it's not mold is that it's also on the glass. Mold won't grow on glass, but when dust gets on something like glass, that can act like a food source and in the right environment (high humidity) it could grow ("on" the glass).

-The photo shows the mold-like substance concentrated in the center of the cork. This would also be the area most likely to have a higher moisture content and, therefore, the most likely area to grow the most mold.

-If these bottles are stored in a high humidity environment, mold would easily grow on cork.

Bottom line is... it's probably mold. I don't know much about wine making, but if it's possible, it would be good to recork those bottles. Eventually the hyphae (think "roots") of the mold will spread all the way through the cork and may affect the wine.

If you REALLY want to know for sure, PM me and I'll tell you how to take a sample you can send to me. I can look at it in our microscope and send you micrographs.

Might be a good idea to wipe the top of the corks with some sanitizer after bottling if you're going to continue storing bottles in the same location.

my basement is pretty humid so I guess it is mold.
Maybe I should not store my wine there.


menschmaschine- (Ich bin Ihre Arbeitskraft) Немецкое traslation русского
I am not sure how to PM but can you email me at [email protected]
I would like to have it looked at.

Recorking
Can you recork wine?
Is it safe to recork and then keep the wine.

I guess I could just have a party and drink a case but then I would have none left until my next batch is ready.

I'm currently emptying my basement because I've discovered a mold problem.
I suggest you get a dehumidifier before you have mold damage.

Out of curiosity, did you soak your corks before you bottled?

Definately mold. Molds propagate via spores & those spores can be released & float around when you disturb the colony, so you'll want to wipe as much of the stuff off both your bottles and your corks, using a solution of sanitizer (bleach, starsan, etc...) as you can BEFORE you start removing corks. The reason being that you could easily contaminate the contents of the bottle with these mold spores & not even know it as they're microscopic. Some molds are tough critters to get rid of & you might get one that can survive in an X% alcohol solution. That's my 2 cents worth, hope you find it useful, GF. EDIT: Forgot to mention that you might consider adding sulfites to protect against mold contamination. I know it would be a pain, but it's just a thought. Regards, GF.

ChshreCat said:

Out of curiosity, did you soak your corks before you bottled?

Click to expand...

That was my guess as well. I have a friend who had the same problem in a humid basement after dipping his corks in K-meta.

Actually, I was thinking that if he didn't then he should soak them in water and campden tablets before bottling. It could have just been mold spores that were already on the corks.