Carboy Aging Question

[suecasa]

I finally have enough wine in bottles that I can do a little more aging before bottling on my next batches...

I predominately am making kits ... so ... if I can give the wine some time to bulk age in the carboy ... where do I stop in the written instructions?

I'm assuming the K-met goes in ...
what about the sorbate (dry wine with no backsweeting)
do you de-gas?
do you add fining agents?
when do you rack? how often? do the lees eventually lay down well enough that I'm not wasting large volumes?

thanks for all the advice !

 

[wildvines]

Hi

Well I would add the k meta every 3 months. I haven't added the sorbate to my wines so far since I like my dry reds and no back sweetening. But if you do decide to sweeten then add. I would still degas as much as possible. It will help it clear in the long run. Especially if you don't add finning agents. If you plan on aging for a long time some people don't add the clearing agents. I still do. Plenty of knowledgable members here prob can add or correct anything I have said.


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[wildvines]

I wouldn't rack after bulk aging until right before bottling.



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[pjd]

I finally have enough wine in bottles that I can do a little more aging before bottling on my next batches...

I predominately am making kits ... so ... if I can give the wine some time to bulk age in the carboy ... where do I stop in the written instructions?

I'm assuming the K-met goes in ...
what about the sorbate (dry wine with no backsweeting)
do you de-gas?
do you add fining agents?
when do you rack? how often? do the lees eventually lay down well enough that I'm not wasting large volumes?

thanks for all the advice !

suecasa, great question!
Your assumption is correct, the k-meta does go in.
Do not put in the Sorbate if you are not sweetening it.
The wine should de-gas on its own during bulk aging so no, I would not be doing any degassing at this time.
The wine should clear on its own so I would not add any fining agents and finally, I would rack every 3 months, adding 1/4 tsp of k-meta each racking. when no sediment is on the bottom of the carboy that you racked from, the wine is ready to bottle. If this is a red, that is about one year.

 

[Arne]

PJ is spot on, except maybe you don't have to rack every 3 months if there is no sediment. Give it a little k-meta, a gentle stir and let it sit some more. Maybe a bit of a taste also. Or if you were in my basement (winery) a lot of a taste. Draw it down too much, put it in a smaller carboy, a couple of bottles and let it sit. Darn wine gremlins keep gettin into my wine. LOL, Arne.

 

[wildvines]

1000 ways to skin a cat all that matters is that the wine turn out good and you have great people to share it with.


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[wildvines]

But I would listen to the vets in this forum and take a bit from each and come up with your method to the madness


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[bkisel]

Guess I'm having trouble with both understanding the OP question and responses. Let me just say what I now do with respect to bulk aging kits. I follow the kit instructions precisely up to bottling but instead of bottling rack to a clean and sanitized carboy. 4-week kits get bulk aged 2 months, then two months bottle aged. 6-week kits 3 months and 3 months. I've not made an 8-week kit but it would be 4 and 4.

Bottling procedure is rack to bucket to insure getting off any bit of sediment left and adding k-meta if/as needed.

 

[Elmer]

I make kits wines and age them anywhere from 3 months to year or more.

I follow the direction exactly up to where it tells me to bottle.
At that point I put into a carboy (with or without some oak) and age for 3 months.
At the 3 month point I rack and add some K-meta.

repeat!

 

[bakervinyard]

I follow the directions for the kit then bulk age whites 3-6 months, reds I try to bulk age for a year. Only problem with the bulk aging is my wife drinks them faster than I can make them. Bakervinyard

 

[suecasa]

thanks everyone!

Truly sounds like a "to each their own" kinda deal.

I was thinking that skipping the fining agents might preserve some flavor depth ... if it will clear completely. The one i'm doing now is a white gewurzt ... and a week after adding the kmet it's definitely settling ... layer of heavy sediment with a bigger fluffy layer above that ... will that eventually all get nice and compact on the bottom? I so hate wasting that wine in the sediment ... wanna keep as much goodness as possible!

Thanks again to all!

 

[REDRUM]

I have read that to avoid wasting after racking you could put all the sediment in its own bottle and let it settle again overnight in the fridge (or another cool place), then pour that clearwine off the lees back into the main batch.

 

[dswaddling]

oaking?

I'm stabilising a Cellar Craft red that adds oak chips after fermentation is complete. Should I leave the chips in if I bulk age in the carboy?

 

[beggarsu]

I do what the kit says - a four week kit is a four week kit, a five week kit is a five week kit.

Even my wines from home picked fruits I've heard that more than 2 months bulk aging in the carboy is a diminishing return on investment - so from now on it's 4-5 weeks tops.

All my wine made last year from kits (bottled as per instructions) and from home fruits is now very smooth and drinkable - it was drinkable immediately but now is all very smooth. It's been 4-10 months in the bottle. I don't see all this "bulk aging" as providing any benefit that could be appreciated by my taste.
...
25-50- carboys in a aircon room for three years on the off hand possibility that they will taste "better" and risking that they will go bad? no.

Maybe I will keep a couple of bottles from some batches hanging around for 2-4 years but I mostly I want to drink it while I am still alive.

Seriously to test all these aging theories would take 30 years of testing with an aircon wine cellar and 30-50 carboys etc and it seems all hearsay and subjective with the ROI (Return on Investment) of dubious value.s.

 

[sour_grapes]

I'm stabilising a Cellar Craft red that adds oak chips after fermentation is complete. Should I leave the chips in if I bulk age in the carboy?

How long have they been in the wine? If they are really chips, conventional wisdom says they will give up all their goodies in a couple of weeks. If they are cubes, they will take longer to give up all their oaky goodness. If your wine is not overoaked, it certainly will not do any harm to leave them in while bulk aging. Taste the wine now and again to monitor the oak levels.