RJ Spagnols Ageing my wine?

[Teamsterjohn]

I have RJ Spagnols Vino del Vida World Tour Chile/Cabernet Merlot. My question is, after the 28 days are over, can I aged my wine leaving it in the carboy instead of bottleing it. If yes, how long can I leave it in there? Thanks John

 

[AlFulchino]

yes you can...and as long as you can stand it...just keep adding k meta every three months 1/4 tsp

 

[Teamsterjohn]

OK,its a 6 gallon carboy, do I add the 1/4 tsp per gallon? and would I add it at the beginning of the 3 month's or after 3 month's Thanks...

 

[AlFulchino]

your instructions in the kit very likely mentions the time frame to initiate the first sulfite addition...then its every three months there after

 

[Teamsterjohn]

K meta,sulphite must be the same. yes, your right, it gets added at day 14 then I will add it 3 month's from then.Al, that 1/4 tsp is for the 6 gal?

 

[Racer]

Teamster that is correct, 1/4 tsp. per 6 gallon of SO2

 

[Teamsterjohn]

Racer, what is SO2, im getting new names every time here,lol

 

[Racer]

Sorry teamster. SO2, K-Meta, and sulphite are all the same thing. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Teamsterjohn]

Thats ok, thanks Racer

 

[Teamsterjohn]

Some people use K meta as a sanitizing agent also? It seems that the more you read, the more you learn and get confused. I need a glass of wine now.

 

[Atribune]

edit: i misread what was being said

 

[Teamsterjohn]

Campden tables are the same as K-Meta and everything else that we have be talking about in this tread? And I did buy them.

 

[NSwiner]

Something I've been wondering is , do you only add it every 3 months for red wines or white also ? None of my kits mention adding it later or is that because they assume it's bottled . I only do white wine . If it bottle aging you can't add anything to it so why do you have to when bulk aging ? Aren't I full of questions this beautiful sunny morning .

 

[AlFulchino]

they assume its all been bottled by their target dates

 

[fuzzmeister]

OK I was going to bottle a batch of red wine one day, and a sudden emergency arose just before I started. I had the carboy open and I added a 1/4 teaspoon of pottassium sulphite which I was planning on ageing for a year or two, and was getting ready to bottle, when this took place, I have not bottled it yet, and it is still bulk ageing for 2 months, if I keep on bulk ageing it, when should I add some more k-meta?

 

[fuzzmeister]

I forgot to mention that this was a 6 week kit and when I added the k-meta it was on the 7th week so it has had more than its needed in that short time frame.

 

[Green Mountains]

You'd want to add more around 3 months after the first time you added it, and every three mos. if you're going to keep bulk aging.

 

[Wade E]

If you are not racking during this time then you dont need to keep adding that much every 3 months. It will diminish over time but if you bulk aged 1 year and sulfited every 3 months you would have some very high sulfite levels. Here is basically what I do and so far it has kept my wine in check according to an S02 test kit. When my wine is done fermenting I add 1/4 tsp of sulfite per 6 gallons, sorbate, and also degas my wine. After that I sulfite at 3 months and thats usually when i need to rack off some heavy lees. After that I usually dont sulfite for about 4-5 months as thats about when Ill be racking off my fine lees and at that point if its not clear Ill also add a fining agent. Ill let that sit if fining agent was added for about 3 weeks so that the lees and agent compact really nice and then rack of that and usually bottle there.

 

[AlFulchino]

Wade you said in part: "When my wine is done fermenting I add 1/4 tsp of sulfite per 6 gallons, sorbate, and also degas my wine..."

if you degass *after* sulfiting you will inevitably also remove free sulfites....and reduce your overall effectiveness of the first sulfiting...if i was doing a kit, i would prefer to degass and then sulfite

 

[Wade E]

Seen as how they are very low on sulfites at this point I like to get the sulfites in there 1st especially with a white wine so as to protect it from any oxidation. I use a drill mounted mix stir at fisrt to get some gas out and mix those few things in and then it is vacuum degassed after that which really doesnt remove that much S02.