Secondary fermenting whats up with this?

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bighooligan

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Ok so I have had a batch I thought was ready to bottle. It is nice and clear and it looked ready to go. So I got it out and set it on the counter and cleaned all of my bottles and got everything ready to go.

After sitting on the counter for about 20 minutes it started to bubble with little tiny bubbles like it was fermenting again. It was enough to start bubbling out of the airlock.

Is something wrong with it or is it just not done fermenting. Is it just the CO2 leeching out. I don't want to bottle it and have my bottles pop on me.
 
Assuming that you took gravity readings and they were constant, the bubbles you are seeing is CO2 coming out of solution.
 
You don't want to bottle a gassy wine, so if it's bubbling don't bottle it.

Check the gravity, and see if it's changing from the last reading. Make sure it's completely clear, and that there are NO lees (sediment) at all in the bottom. If there are, rack to a new carboy, top up, and let it sit until no new lees fall after at least 60 days. If the gravity is unchanging, and no new lees fall after at least 60 days, it shouldn't be gassy any more. But if it is, you can degas, and proceed at that point. It just sounds like this wine is a long way from ready to bottle.
 
Ok I will just wait. I was told that since one is apricot it will probably never clear out totally because they have a ton of pectin. I have used bentonite and biofine separate times and it is not getting any clearer. The mead is perfectly clear but still bubbling. I will just let it sit for a while longer. I have a lot more stuff going right now.
 
When you say you "got it out," do you mean you got it out of the refrigerator? That is, had you been cold-crashing the beer?

If so, then you have nothing to worry about. The bubbles you see launching themselves up out of the yeast cake are simply CO2 coming out of solution as the beer warms up.

As you cooled the beer, the yeast continued to work and produce CO2. But the beer was getting colder and colder, and thus better able to hold more CO2 in solution. So the CO2 the yeast was producing (as they slowed down and eventually stopped as the beer chilled) stayed in solution instead of bubbling out through your airlock as you're used to seeing initially when the beer is held at fermentation temperature.

Now that the beer is warming back up again, the CO2 that was produced by the yeast as the beer cooled, and stayed dissolved in the beer, can no longer stay in solution. So it effervesces out, manifesting as bubbles popping up out of your yeast cake. This is precisely why after I've cold-crashed a beer, I never let it warm back up again in the same vessel. I'll either rack it straight to a keg (while still cold) or to another carboy for dry hopping or whatever other additions are next in the recipe (again, the racking occurs while cold, although I will then let the beer warm up in the new carboy). If you let it warm back up in the same carboy, those bubbles will pop up out of the trub and cause your beer to get cloudy again, after you just spent all that effort clearing it.

If, on the other hand, "get it out" meant something else, and your beer was NOT chilled, then disregard everything I just said and instead listen to Yooper. :)
 
Kombat, the OP has wine that is bubbling in a carboy, not Beer :)

Not really an issue with beer, but it can be an issue with wine. Agree that it sounds like it needs more time.
 
Well it didn't clear out but its really for the most part clear. I bottled it and it is on the rack right now. It is not gassy anymore and it taste wonderful. I have had quite a few people that liked it. So I guess it came out pretty well. Not too dry not too sweet. It has been bottled for a little while and no popping corks yet and I opened one and it is not bubbly and there is no carbonation so I think it is good. I bought some Sparkaloid for future brews. Thanks everyone.
 
I believe that yeast interferes with the work of pectic enzymes and so the recommendation is always to add the enzymes at least 12 hours before pitching the yeast but after fermentation has ceased and there is no more active yeast will pectic enzymes work to break down pectins in wine (and so help clear a haze caused by pectic proteins)?
 
Oh ok I was told to add it in the beginning. I didn't know I had to add it after the fermenting was done.
 
Yes I have a hydrometer. The readings are good. Right where they should be.
 
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