Bulk aging

[WineYooper]

I have recently change my living conditions and do not have the luxury of bulk aging in my basement which was about a constant 60 degrees. Now my wine is sitting upstairs and seeing outside temps pretty much. The upside of this, from reading on this site is the warmer temps will help the gas escape and sediment fall, the downside I'm thinking is the higher temp may lead to spoilage.What I have noticed is the change in volume has, due to expansion, has led to wine entering the airlock which I'm not too concerned about since I use kmeta in it. My question is, finally, will the elevated temps hurt me in the long run. The highest the wine has seen is about 78 degrees. Rain storms moving in now so I am going to be racking here today since I will be inside. NOAA is warning now about thunder lightning, take cover indoors. Like I need someone to tell me. Great morning, was able to burn brush pile at 7:30, konew rain was coming. Location is about ten miles from South shore of Lake Superior.

 

[Floandgary]

Drain a little to keep wine out of airlock,,,,, K-Meta or not!!! Shield from direct sunlight (UV). Not much you can do about temp unless you take measures (damp towel/sheet ,,, evaporation may help cool). Keep regular rack-over and k-meta schedule. Otherwise I'd say your product should survive. JMHO

 

[Noontime]

The higher temps will cause your wines to age a bit faster, but unless they get HOT I wouldn't worry about it. We live in S. Florida and our wines are kept at room temp (72 to 80 depending on season). We've made some great wines everything, from whites, to reds, to fruit, and crazy concoctions. We've also made some mediocre wines as well. The really good ones take a couple of years to peak, then start going downhill after about 5 years or so. So from my experience, the worst case scenario is you have a shorter window of time to enjoy your wines.

Both temp and pressure will affect the level, so keep in mind anything that gets up into your airlock can get sucked back into the wine. We've moved to the breathable silicone stoppers for bulk aging.

 

[Johnd]

I have recently change my living conditions and do not have the luxury of bulk aging in my basement which was about a constant 60 degrees. Now my wine is sitting upstairs and seeing outside temps pretty much. The upside of this, from reading on this site is the warmer temps will help the gas escape and sediment fall, the downside I'm thinking is the higher temp may lead to spoilage.What I have noticed is the change in volume has, due to expansion, has led to wine entering the airlock which I'm not too concerned about since I use kmeta in it. My question is, finally, will the elevated temps hurt me in the long run. The highest the wine has seen is about 78 degrees. Rain storms moving in now so I am going to be racking here today since I will be inside. NOAA is warning now about thunder lightning, take cover indoors. Like I need someone to tell me. Great morning, was able to burn brush pile at 7:30, konew rain was coming. Location is about ten miles from South shore of Lake Superior.

I second what noontime said. I live in SE Louisiana and, until recently, did all of my bulk aging of wine in my home at 75F with no ill effects. If at all possible, even though it's warmer than you'd like, try to keep constant temps.

 

[Johny99]

I concur with those above. One note, as you've noticed, temperature swings change volume. Try to minimize those or at the very least keep an eye on your airlock. Pesky things can actually suck the meta back into the Carboys. I think noontime,s switch to breathable stoppers is a good solution.

 

[WineYooper]

Thanks, I did not think about expansion when I filled originally. Too far up into the neck, will keep to the bottom of it when I rack. I will have 8 gallons bottled by the end of October so will not have to worry over winter about them just the Chilean juice has to age till spring. Hope to get in on the California juice this fall.