Cold Treatment

[jobe05]

I have a husband who takes about 200 photographs everyday. (I'm only slightly exaggerating!)

Martina, I know how your husband feels. I too, have a very beautifull wife and I, just like your husband, always want to capture every momentand make itlast forever.

 

[MedPretzel]

I forgot to mention he takes 200 of the CATS. I'm on maybe 1 or at the most 2. hehehehe

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

As active as you are in several different forums, I think it is great that you
have the stable of photos to add visuals to your tutorials - it has been a big
help on this forum for me at least, so thanks again.

Bill

 

[MedPretzel]

You are a sweetie, bill. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

 

[MedPretzel]

Day 7:


It sure is cold!

The sad thing is, is that I see actual (I think) ice crystals in my wine. Since I've never done this, it seems scary. The carboys are covered up, so they are a little warmer, I would think. It's supposed to warm up over the next few days, so.....





Here's a pic of the three wines.

On the niagara (on the right) you see these black/grey areas of darker things towards the shoulders of the carboy. That's what I think are ice crystals. There is a lot more sediment on the sides than in the previous pics.





Should I bring the wine inside?

 

[NorthernWinos]

Hello Martina....I think you might want to bring it in at 12*F...so I can sleep tonight.If there is ice crystals, it might be a good idea just to warm it up a tad and put it back out tomorrow or when you are sure of warmer temps. Am surprised it is that cold where you are. You have more guts than I did to leave it outside this long and this cold.You are very fortunate to be able to buy fresh Niagara Juice like you can....the envy of everyone living in less hospitable areas. Your wines sure look nice, and love the recipes you posted on your WebSite....might try some Lilac next spring...going to be hard to explain that one to my hubby....keep us all posted on this great adventure.

 

[MedPretzel]

I brought them back in. It was too risky.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thank You...everyone can sleep tonight. The Vodka in the airlock of that gallon jug looked kind of opaque and expanded...at least compared to the earlier photos. Those carboys are really going to sweat tonight. Glad this worked for you....till laterEdited by: Northern Winos

 

[Waldo]

Looks like it worked pretty good Martina. I think it will be interesting to see what they will do now that they are back in a nice warm cozy enviroment. Are you singing or playing them any Christmas carols yet?


I tries singing "We Wish You A Merry christmas" to mine but they just "burped" real loud so I shut up

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

Got nervous there for a bit - thanks for taking them in Martina. Mine
are in tonight too, but the temp here is 20F. Yours may have been
approaching the limit!

 

[MedPretzel]

Well, I put them down in the basement again. I got scared.

And since I am going out of town for a few days, I didn't want them to be irreversibly ruined. Reversibly ruined is another thing.

I racked the mint/balm into a new carboy to warm it up a little faster. Boy, those carboys were cold!!!


The airlocks were actually okay. Nothing was wrong with them. It seems as though I caught them in time. We had record-breaking temps last night, which our idiot weather-people couldn't forecast. It was not expected, to say the least, but it seems the wines made it through the whole ordeal okay. That's the main thing, right?!?!?





Thanks everyone. When I get back, I'll take a looky-look at the carboys, and if the camera is in the right room, I might even take a picture for ya!

 

[MedPretzel]

New update....

I freaked out this morning.

















The crystals were still there.

The wine looked horrible. I moved it onto the table, and nothing moved. The (sorry) crap that was on the sides of the carboy yesterday were still there.

So, I thought I'd give it a try and rack the darn thing.


When I started to rack, I freaked.

That was STILL there! But it didn't move as the level of the wine in the carboy was lower.

"Aha!" I thought. This must be tartaric crystals that every book talks about!

That was what was left. It was a salty sound when I swooshed the carboy with the left over muck at the end of racking.





And then I looked at what I racked into the new carboy:

Mr. Green Mouse looked happy and approved of me racking today. But he also thought, "hey, you didn't add any,"

So, as you see, I put them in the pill crusher and crushed them.

We added it to the wine, topped it up with some chardonnay (from a kit), and now all we can do is wait.

Moral of the story: Don't freak out.

 

[MedPretzel]

Here's what CJJ Berry says about tartaric acid:





"Is that found in the grape (or raisins, sultanas and currants) and is said to improve the vinous character of the wine, but is often unstable, being thrown out of solution in the wine as tartrate crystals. Incidentally, although tartaric is the principal acid in grapes, there is usually a high proportion of malic also.





The acids are not confined to these fruits and are often found alongside one another in varying quantities, a little citric where malic predominates, and vice versa, for instance." (page 42 CJJ Berry's First Steps in Winemaking)





Terry Garey says (p. 182) to "chillproofing" wines:


"...the wine is stored at a temperature just above freezing for a period of about two weeks. This allows part of the tartaric acid to precipitate out, and it helps to smooth high-acid wines. It also aids in stabilizing the wine."


Considering we had 13 degrees F on that day, I think the two weeks was drastically shortened.

 

[jobe05]

Never seen that happen in my limited time making wine, but in my vast reading..... I may have read it, but have never seen it. Does it have any better, or ill effects on the wine? Itcertainly looks likethe cold did it some good.

 

[Dean]

WINE DIAMONDS!!!!! Typically seen as a sign of high quality ingredients. If you collect them all, then crush them, you will have yourself some homemade cream of tartar!


My RJS En Primeur kits sometimes shed those crystals too. I haven't seen it in other kits though. Now I cold stabilize those kits, and other homemade wines that I make. Your wines must be quite high alcohol in that they didn't freeze on you. About the lowest temps we can get here are 36F, unless we get some freakish weather. Typically it hovers in the 40s.

 

[MedPretzel]

Never seen that happen in my limited time making wine, but in my vast reading..... I may have read it, but have never seen it. Does it have any better, or ill effects on the wine? Itcertainly looks likethe cold did it some good.

Well, I've never seen it either. Like I said, I totally freaked out this morning. Sort of panic-ed.

Cold stabilizing


Cold stabilizing causes tartaric acid to precipitate as potassium bitartrate crystals when the wine is being chilled. Because the procedure works on tartaric acid, it will only work effectively on grape wines. The wine must be fermented out.
You can cold stabilize the wine by placing it in a cold spot (between -4 and 5 deg C) for a week or two. The wine will get cloudy and crystals will form on the bottom of the carboy. Wait untill the sediment has settled and rack when the wine is still cold. For best effect you can add a small amount of potassium bitartrate first, so that the crystals will form more easily.

http://www.geocities.com/mipeman/acids.html- a source that is not used enough. I love this website.


So, are there ill-effects? I don't think so. I have also read that the crystals do not make the acidity go down. The crystals are the salts of the acid (ugh, I'm not a chemist, so I'm just spitting out what I've been told) and not the acid itself. (huh?!?

) It should not affect the pH of the wine (3.63 at last weeks' reading).


I tasted the crystals (yes, I'm like a kid. I have to put everything in my mouth!), and they just tasted nasty. The niagara juice was bought from a local vineyard (http://www.debonne.com) and so far, so good. I also bought 6 gallons of concord juice there (4 bucks a gallon each wine).


Oh yes, my wines aren't that high in alcohol - about 13%. Yes, a little stronger than "normal" wines, but I also like to top off with water (this one I didn't, so 13.58% (SG 1.090) is what this one is), so I think I get the SG down to a "normal" level. I also had the wines on the north side, covered from below in a towel, from the sides and on top with a flannel sheet. Still, they were happy to come inside, I think.

Talk about bottle shock!

Edited by: MedPretzel

 

[MedPretzel]

I think we've all learned something about cold stabilzation with this post. This is what I think we can safely say (correct me if I'm wrong):

1. 
   <LI>The "cold treatment", in conjunction with fluctuating temperatures, works well on fruit wines that don't clear or to quickly get the "gross lees" out of the way.</LI>
   <LI>Cold stabilization in temps that are hovering around freezing works well in grape wines.</LI>
   <LI>Cold stabilization works on grape wines in that it may form tartaric crystals (I like the "wine diamonds"), even at temperatures which hover around the 40's.</LI>
   <LI>You need to at least wait a week before you bring the wine back in, if temperatures are around freezing.</LI>
   <LI>If the temps drop way below freezing, bring the wine inside.</LI>
   <LI>Make sure you put in vodka or high-proof alcohol in the airlock so the water/sulfite solution doesn't freeze.</LI>
   <LI>Wines that are 13.58 or higher in alcohol can withstand pretty cold temperatures.</LI>
   <LI>Don't freak when you see crystals in your wine. Think of them as products of "high-quality" grapes.
   
   </LI>

Have I missed anything?

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

Thought you were going out of town!



Your adventurous experimentation has been a great help to many of us
probably, at least for those who get steady cold temps. I have only
fruit wines outside, so may not get "diamonds"

Time will tell.



I feel that the cold helped my pumpkin wine to clear up - see my post under Fruit Wines nearby.



Bill

 

[MedPretzel]

Thought you were going out of town!

Tomorrow. Morning. 6 a.m. I'm leavin' the house. Cats will be home, but they are quite defensive. If you want to steal wine, give them some treats.


Today was a "day without stress," as my husband left this morning!

(don't take this the wrong way, but

)Edited by: MedPretzel

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

Martina - just for yucks, did you bother testing the acid level? Maybe
senseless because you may not have had an initial test level to compare
to...



Bill