Help, the Lees floated to the top!

[670x]

I was degassing a Chilean Malbec in preparation of bottling. I was using a vacuum pump enjoying the bubble show and all of a sudden this thick gelatinous mat floated up and got stuck in the neck of the carboy.
It's floating and I can't suck it out (yea I tried).
What should I do?
I was thinking of stirring it all up again but will it clear ?
Should I just leave it?

Help please and thanks.

 

[RyanK2]

I'd let it sit for awhile and resettle. Otherwise if it's pretty intact just poke the raking rod through it and rack from underneath it.

 

[cbw]

Relax ... it will settle back down. Just put off bottling for a few days.

 

[670x]

Cool I kinda figured leave it alone, I was in the mood to bottle today but I gave up on that idea.
I have never seen that before it looked like something out of a sci-fi show. Like a bad version of the blob.

 

[summersolstice]

I was degassing a Chilean Malbec in preparation of bottling. I was using a vacuum pump enjoying the bubble show and all of a sudden this thick gelatinous mat floated up and got stuck in the neck of the carboy.

??? Is this a kit? Regardless, you should be racking it off the lees long before degassing.

 

[Nurmey]

I had that foam stuff on my Pinot Noir but after a couple weeks it went away and my wine cleared up just fine.

 

[cbw]

>>racking it off the lees long before degassing

Well, yes and no. Some manufacturers like RJS have you rack off the lees in your secondary before fining. Others, like Wine Expert, tells you to not rack off lees before adding the fining and stabilizing. So some do ... and some don't ...

 

[summersolstice]

>>racking it off the lees long before degassing

Well, yes and no. Some manufacturers like RJS have you rack off the lees in your secondary before fining. Others, like Wine Expert, tells you to not rack off lees before adding the fining and stabilizing. So some do ... and some don't ...

Maybe, as you say, the instructions do say that. I haven't made a WE kit in a couple of years. However, you're talking about fining and stabilizing - not degassing. The very nature of the degassing process is violent and disturbs the wine, thus placing the lees back into suspension. There's no need to degass a very young wine and you should wait until the wine is clear.

 

[670x]

Yep, its a wine expert kit and I did move it to a secondary. The stuff that floated up is about 1/4" thick. It is what settled out after fining.
It was still there so I just put a drill powered whip in there and spun the crap out of it. We shall see what happens.

As far as degassing goes I thought you degassed when you were going to bottle early. I do not have the carboys to bulk age.

 

[Yooper]

Yep, its a wine expert kit and I did move it to a secondary. The stuff that floated up is about 1/4" thick. It is what settled out after fining.
It was still there so I just put a drill powered whip in there and spun the crap out of it. We shall see what happens.

As far as degassing goes I thought you degassed when you were going to bottle early. I do not have the carboys to bulk age.

The degassing step comes before the fining step. You degas, and THEN add the finings. It's degassed thoroughly right before adding the finings.

If you added the finings first, you will want to rack it off of there into a new carboy. (or rack into a sanitized bucket, and rack it back). If it needs to be degassed, it's a bit late because you're not adding more k-meta. You want to add k-meta when you degas to keep the wine from oxidizing. So, once you rack it, take a sample and give the sample a shake and see if it's bubbly. If it isn't, then you're fine!

 

[cbw]

>>there's no need to degass a very young wine

Well, yes, it's important to degass before bottling, etc. But if a newby is following the Wine Expert directions, they have you degass after 14 days in the secondary ... before adding the finings ... and specifically point that you should leave the wine on the lees during the degassing and adding the stabilizers.

I'm not arguing with you ... I'm just trying to have 670x feel better about following the Wine Expert directions ... to the "t" .. and yes, if he's vacuum degassing, if you pull too much pressure, you can pull the lees off the bottom.

If he just delays bottling ... the lees will settle down and all will be well with the world again.

 

[670x]

OK thanks, next time I will try that. Been a whole grain brewer for a little while now this is only my second batch of wine. It does however taste fantastic so I'm happy about that.