Fizzy wine

Hi there,

The last few batches of wine and lemonade I have made (all from recipe) have turned out fizzy...like champagne. It does not seem to affect the flavor in anyway.

At the time of bottling there is no fiz. After a few months I open a bottle and it's fizzy.

Any idea what step I'm missing or doing wrong?

Thanks

fermentation is not complete or youneed to degas before bottling are my first thoughts

did you degas, and stabilize with meta/sorbate?
did you wait a few days after stabilizing to bottle?

what did you bottle it in? Beer bottles and sparkling wine bottles should be ok, but not regular wine bottles. I've had some break, and once a cork popped out and launched the bottle off the rack like a rocket. So be mindful of the "fizzyness"

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm confident the fermentation was complete as I let it bulk age for about 5 months. I have a funny feeling that I did not do a great job at degassing.

Can someone describe proper degassing and at what stage it's done.

During fermentation I would stir vigorously with a large spoon for about 10 minutes per day.

The lemonade is bottled in plastic. The wine is bottled in wine bottles with corks. No signs of pressure on the corks that I can see yet. I have been making sangria with the wine, so it may not last the summer. Ha ha

Thanks again for your help.

Degassing is commonly done just prior to bottling. I like vacuum degassing........set it and forget it. Prior to getting the pump I had a few corks pop from inadequate degassing. Mechanical degassing is fine, I just find it very tedious and I think that is why people end up with popped corks. You also have to be careful not to introduce oxygen as you are ridding yourself of the co2. Whatever method you choose, you need to degas until all of the co2 bubbles cease.

I would store the wine bottles in a very cool place until consumed and keep an eye on the corks. If they start to push out at all refrigerate immediately.

I almost never degas, as I simply never need to. A wine should be able to degas over time through the airlock, especially in warm weather. If the wine is rushed to bottle and it is gassy, then it should be degassed. I have a wine whip degasser thing that goes into my drill that I use to degas kit wines. I've only degassed on other wine beside kits wines in all of the years I've been making wine, so it's not usually something that is needed.

You can check for a gassy wine before bottling by pulling a sample and looking for bubbles. If you have bubbles, then it is not ready (or needs to be degassed). If there are no bubbles, put your hand over the opening of the sample tube and shake it. If you still have no bubbles, it's good to bottle. If you have bubbles, either let it sit longer or degas.

A wine that sits long enough to clear and stop dropping lees and then bulk aging shouldn't need degassing. But I've never bottled a wine under 9-12 months old, except for kits.