Cheap kit clearing time

[kuziwk]

ive noticed that most high end kits with skins take about 10-12 months to clear on their own to ensure that you don’t end up with sediment in the bottle. What would you say is the clearing time is for cheaper kits though? So far I’m finding about 6 months without clearing agents on the cheaper kits. i use to always use clearing agents on my cheaper, quick drinking reds However I’m starting to experiment.

 

[Brian55]

It depends on how often you rack, and also storage temperature. Six months is usually more than enough on kits without skins.

 

[kuziwk]

It depends on how often you rack, and also storage temperature. Six months is usually more than enough on kits without skins.

Hmm temps are usually around 65 F for my carboys, And by than I would have racked twice with the third being filtered
into a another carboy and bottled after a few weeks of rest. I’ve actually been finding that all kits without skins, even high end skinless ones clear very quickly and they are ready to drink much sooner. I have this theory that some of the aging takes place in the kit Bag while it’s on the shelf, obviously adding skins changes everything and than you are looking at a year and half of aging plus almost a year of aging.