Bottle aging vs. carboy

[heatherd]

I guess I must rack dirtier than most and top up with wine, either mine or something else. I always get a full 30-31 bottles from wine kits.

Same, I get around 30 bottles because I only rack twice: once from my fermenter to a carboy and once back to a bucket to bottle. I only worry about getting the wine off the gross lees. I top up with similar wine. I typically let it ferment to dry in my bucket so that I can stabilize and then top up all the way in the carboy.

 

[WillShill]

So, if you are concerned that it is "too late," then that means that you are concerned that the wine is spoiled and undrinkable. Soo, I would open the carboy, pour myself a glass, have a sip or three, and decide if it should be poured down the sink, or, if not, topped up.

So I took your advice and opened the carboy, firstly it smelt okay so I took a sample and it was pretty good so I added a shop bought bottle of Argentinian Malbec, funny thing I decided to taste it as well, well mine tasted better which has me smiling from ear to ear, didn’t expect that. I’ve still got a slight bit of headspace so I’ll add a bit more and then leave it till April before barrel ageing, thanks again for all the advice.

 

[JohnW]

Earlier I committed to making some more racks for all the additional wine @winemaker81, @Handy Turnip and others advised me to make. I have a lot of wood leftover from various projects and since I was putting this in the the area we affectionately call the dungeon, looks were not a priority. It holds 70 bottles with room for 3 carboys or six cases on the bottom; viewers choice. I thought this was going to be an easy project but then again it was freezing in my garage and things never go as planned. As a plus I still have all my digits and this area says in high 50's in the winter and 60's in the summer.

 

[winemaker81]

looks were not a priority.

It looks good to me!

If you haven't, fasten the rack to the wall. It probably shouldn't tip over ... but stuff happens. Better safe than sorry!

 

[hounddawg]

Clearly, making more wine is a practical solution to most problems. Unfortunately I need to make more storage. Stay tuned

use behind your recliners,, beside the TV, under the bed.....
Dawg

 

[JohnW]

It looks good to me!

If you haven't, fasten the rack to the wall. It probably shouldn't tip over ... but stuff happens. Better safe than sorry!

Yeah, that was a BIG concern. I used concrete anchor screws plus glue. Fortunately we don't live in an earthquake zone but we did have that shocker in 2011. Anyway it shouldn't tip over unless the big one hits (whatever that is).

 

[JohnW]

use behind your recliners,, beside the TV, under the bed.....
Dawg

That's what I've been doing...

 

[hounddawg]

I'm going to half to break down and pull my 9' x 48' container around to where i can see to shoot, move all my construction tools from a bedroom and cut a breezeway between what is now wine room & tool room, I'm out of storage room as well.... that will also allow me to fix the problem of temperatures, storage cooler, wine room warmer,,,
Dawg

 

[JohnW]

I'm going to half to break down and pull my 9' x 48' container around to where i can see to shoot, move all my construction tools from a bedroom and cut a breezeway between what is now wine room & tool room, I'm out of storage room as well.... that will also allow me to fix the problem of temperatures, storage cooler, wine room warmer,,,
Dawg

Every time I think I have plenty of storage, stuff starts breeding. I guess less really is more

 

[hounddawg]

Every time I think I have plenty of storage, stuff starts breeding. I guess less really is more

sadly i think you just hit the nail on the head,,,
Dawg

 

[WillShill]

I guess I must rack dirtier than most and top up with wine, either mine or something else. I always get a full 30-31 bottles from wine kits.

Well I did one of those “dirty racks”, “that looks worse typed”. I’ve almost reached the neck of carboy and blocked siphon ended transfer into carboy, I put remainder into a bottle and hope the sediment will drop in the fridge to allow me to remove headspace. Already an hour later there’s a heavy sediment layer on the carboy base, further comments on this thread talked about carboy sizing, I think my first carboy must be larger than the rest, I haven’t measured capacity yet but it’s my excess headspace culprit.

 

[cmason1957]

Well I did one of those “dirty racks”, “that looks worse typed”. I’ve almost reached the neck of carboy and blocked siphon ended transfer into carboy, I put remainder into a bottle and hope the sediment will drop in the fridge to allow me to remove headspace. Already an hour later there’s a heavy sediment layer on the carboy base, further comments on this thread talked about carboy sizing, I think my first carboy must be larger than the rest, I haven’t measured capacity yet but it’s my excess headspace culprit.

Once you start "dirty racking" you'll never go back!!!

 

[JohnW]

Once you start "dirty racking" you'll never go back!!!

When I rack I try to get as much juice as possible into the carboy (or as much as I need to fill the carboy). I really don't care if I end up with some sediment in the carboy as I'll deal with that when I bottle. Typically when I do bottle the last one will have a good deal of sediment. I put this in the fridge and let it settle for a few hours before drinking.

 

[WillShill]

Chilled red wine, first had that in Spain two years ago and was surprisingly nice, broke with tradition but with the heat it worked

 

[cmason1957]

When I rack I try to get as much juice as possible into the carboy (or as much as I need to fill the carboy). I really don't care if I end up with some sediment in the carboy as I'll deal with that when I bottle. Typically when I do bottle the last one will have a good deal of sediment. I put this in the fridge and let it settle for a few hours before drinking.

For me, by the time I am ready to bottle, there is nothing on the bottom of the carboy. But, I seldom bottle before the year mark from yeast pitch.

 

[fuzzmeister]

One other thing that nobody mentioned between carboy versus bottle aging is that if you bottle your wine it will age faster then leaving it in the carboy! bigger volume in the carboy which takes more time to change its complexity, then in a smaller container like a bottle.

 

[JohnW]

One other thing that nobody mentioned between carboy versus bottle aging is that if you bottle your wine it will age faster then leaving it in the carboy! bigger volume in the carboy which takes more time to change its complexity, then in a smaller container like a bottle.

I have haven't heard the larger volume of a carboy would have any significant impact on how wine ages. Possibly this occurs because the bottle corks allow a small amount of O2 to enter and react with the wine whereas carboys allow significantly less air infiltration. Also the act of bottling introduces more air to the wine, speeding up the aging process as well.

 

[fuzzmeister]

I have haven't heard the larger volume of a carboy would have any significant impact on how wine ages. Possibly this occurs because the bottle corks allow a small amount of O2 to enter and react with the wine whereas carboys allow significantly less air infiltration. Also the act of bottling introduces more air to the wine, speeding up the aging process as well.

 

[fuzzmeister]

I have 2 different sizes of carboys 23 litre and 11.5, when my wine is ready to bottle I rack it from the 23 litre carboy in to 15 bottles and the rest goes into a 11.5 litre carboy to age for at lest 6 months along with the 15 bottles! After 6 months I will bottle the 11.5 litre carboy and sample it along side of a bottle that I bottled 6 months before! and the bottled stuff tastes much better then the wine that came out of the 11.5 carboy. Wine kit company’s will confirm that bottles age faster then carboys.

 

[WillShill]

I have 2 different sizes of carboys 23 litre and 11.5, when my wine is ready to bottle I rack it from the 23 litre carboy in to 15 bottles and the rest goes into a 11.5 litre carboy to age for at lest 6 months along with the 15 bottles! After 6 months I will bottle the 11.5 litre carboy and sample it along side of a bottle that I bottled 6 months before! and the bottled stuff tastes much better then the wine that came out of the 11.5 carboy. Wine kit company’s will confirm that bottles age faster then carboys.

My wine is ageing in a carboy from September last year and I had planned to barrel age for a month in July this year when it’s a year old, can you offer any advice which would alter my plans, as a novice I like to pick the brains of more experienced wine makers