With my first batch all bottled and second batch (Dragon's Blood) fermenting, my attention is already on my third batch - Eclipse Merlot kit. On this one I want to incorporate bulk aging.
The usual aspects of time, racking, sulfating, types of airlocks and airlock liquid, temperature, light have all been sufficiently answered here. But I do have questions regarding topping up and clarifying.
1. On clarifying: I understand that one of the main benefits of bulk aging is that over time CO2 will dissipate naturally not needing degassing or at least not extensive degassing. However, I also understand that with time, the wine will naturally clear on its own as well. K-Meta and K-Sorbate being needed regardless (perhaps not - see #2), do I still need a clarifying agent (Chitosan, Sparkloid, etc.)? Certainly, it shouldn't hurt anything, but why add what is not needed. I'm just thinking out loud here...
2. On topping up: Reducing the area of the wine in contact with air reduces chances for infection and contamination, so topping up wine in the carboy is strongly suggested. The most common technique is to add liquid. Adding water does not make sense at all, and adding any type of commercial wine sounds a lot like non-scientific blending. Furthermore, "adding like wine" can mean a lot of things at least to my precise engineer mind. Anyhow, to me the the most logical approaches are using a smaller carboy and using marbles. What are your opinions on those approaches? Where do I get the marbles if that is the way to go? Should I seriously reconsider topping up with commercial "like" wine?
Second, if topping up is intended to help with not-contaminating wine, can I skip the sorbate? Corollary: if I'm adding sorbate and metabisulfate, is topping up really necessary?
-m
The usual aspects of time, racking, sulfating, types of airlocks and airlock liquid, temperature, light have all been sufficiently answered here. But I do have questions regarding topping up and clarifying.
1. On clarifying: I understand that one of the main benefits of bulk aging is that over time CO2 will dissipate naturally not needing degassing or at least not extensive degassing. However, I also understand that with time, the wine will naturally clear on its own as well. K-Meta and K-Sorbate being needed regardless (perhaps not - see #2), do I still need a clarifying agent (Chitosan, Sparkloid, etc.)? Certainly, it shouldn't hurt anything, but why add what is not needed. I'm just thinking out loud here...
2. On topping up: Reducing the area of the wine in contact with air reduces chances for infection and contamination, so topping up wine in the carboy is strongly suggested. The most common technique is to add liquid. Adding water does not make sense at all, and adding any type of commercial wine sounds a lot like non-scientific blending. Furthermore, "adding like wine" can mean a lot of things at least to my precise engineer mind. Anyhow, to me the the most logical approaches are using a smaller carboy and using marbles. What are your opinions on those approaches? Where do I get the marbles if that is the way to go? Should I seriously reconsider topping up with commercial "like" wine?
Second, if topping up is intended to help with not-contaminating wine, can I skip the sorbate? Corollary: if I'm adding sorbate and metabisulfate, is topping up really necessary?
-m