Cold fermentation for white kits

[Cxwgfamily]

Some buddies and I have purchased 3 Piesporter wine kits. We are tweeking the kits a little trying to make a great kit even better. We did this 2 years ago and won gold in the wine competition. Before we start, I would like Some feedback from the group. This fourm has always given me fantastic feedback.

1) our target fermentation temp is below 60 F. To do this, I have a circulating cold water bath through some cooling coils in the primary fermenter. The coils are copper. My questions is, is the copper coils OK to use?. Will the copper adversely effect wine quality? I know Stainless is used in all wineries, but I happen to get the copper coils at a garage sell from an ex - beer brewer.
2). Will 55 F provide better results than 60 F? Thoughts???

again, Thanks a million!!

cxwgfamily

 

[sour_grapes]

No on the copper coils. I copied my following comment from an earlier thread:
Poll for those knowledgeable on methods to eliminate H2S, comments please.


I find graphs like this one convincing:

Note that the y-axis is logarithmic, and that the lowest pH on that graph is about 5.5. Wine is about 100x more acidic at pH of ~3.6.

I cribbed this figure from a 3rd source, but apparently it is from:
"A practical guide for determining the solubility of metal hydroxides and oxides in water," Dyer, James A.; Scrivner, Noel C.; Dentel, Steven K. E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co., Wilmington, DE, USA. Environmental Progress (1998), 17(1), 1-8.

 

[salcoco]

you are on the right track that a cooler ferment will help retain the aromatics of the wine. below 60 would be questionable I would check the temp range of the yeast you propose to use.
there are alternative methods of cooling the juice during fermentation. the easiest is putting the carboy in a water bath drape a towel over the carboy wet it with cold water run a fan over the wet cloth. use frozen bottle of water in the water bath change out as necessary. you can achieve about 65 deg with this method. the other is to retrofit a freezer or fridge with a temp controller . keep the carboy at temp desire.

 

[Cxwgfamily]

Thanks for the quick replies!!!
i knew I would get helpful and technically correct answers.
you guys are GREAT!!!!

 

[pillswoj]

I do ferments of my Reislings down in the low 50s ambient, I start is a bucket for 24 hrs at 68-70 then rack to a carboy and put it in my cellar that is at 52 or below in the winter. Typically use the EC 1118 but have also done it with QA 23

 

[wineh]

Perhaps you would consider reading this article before you cold ferment a white wine kit. It is an old article but no less true today than then.
https://winemakermag.com/article/813-maintaining-fermentation-temperatures-wine-kits