Hi I'm new to wine making and have stayed with a chardonnay kit. It has been fermenting for the weeks now and had finished bubbling so I'm at the stage of adding the stabiliser. The instruction with kit is pretty basic (for a beginner) so Im not sure what to do here. Instructions say to syphon into clean fermented and add stabiliser, shake for 3-4mins 3times a day for 3-4days. So I have two questions here 1) when siphoning into fresh container do I leave any bottom sediment (racking?) or just pour it all in? And 2) do I still use an airlock? I've been using a glass demijohn but I'm wondering if I can put it into a 5liter plastic bottle with screw cap so its easier to shake and just open cap to release gas few times a day?
Stabiliser help
- Thread starter Lalaland
- Start date
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At this stage of the game, you're starting to allow your wine to clear, so leaving the sediment behind is one of the goals of this racking. Don't go overboard about leaving it behind, get as much of the clear liquid as you can, a little sediment transferred will not be a big deal, you'll have several more rackings and more sediment accumulation anyway.
Your wine still contains CO2 in solution from the fermentation process, it will continue to come out of solution for months, so you definitely want to use an airlock, it will allow the CO2 to escape as it is released. this will work much better than releasing pressure a few times a day, and will not require any attention other than keeping the airlock full. As the CO2 diminishes in your wine, it will also release more of the sediment that is still suspended, and your wine will continue to get even clearer. At this stage of the game, particularly with a white wine, you'll want to make sure that your storage vessel is topped up to minimize the amount of airspace in the container, it will prevent your wine from browning due to oxidation. Even though you've still got some CO2 coming out of solution and invading the airspace, protecting the wine from oxygen, it's still a good time to get properly topped up.
Hi and welcome to the hobby!
-Yes to leaving sediment behind when racking.
-Yes to still using an airlock.
-Yes to stabilizing, not sure why the directions want you to shake so I would stir instead. Stirring will help you get rid of the CO2.
-Yes to topping up with similar wine as John states above. If you don't have homemade Chardonnay on hand top up with store bought to around 1/2" below the bung.
Best of luck with your batch!
Conventional wisdom would be neither of those: Instead, top up your demijohn with a similar Chardonnay. This eliminates the headspace, and does not water down the wine.
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For cold stabilization, a refrigerator is your easiest option, if your batch is small enough. A walk-in cooler is really ideal, but most people don't have one.
Depending on batch size, you can move to the wine to smaller containers, e.g., 4 liter jugs, and put a few in the fridge for a week at a time.
Another option is an ice water bath, e.g., put a carboy in a larger container such as a Rubbermaid Brute trash can (buy one for the purpose, don't use one already used for trash). Surround the carboy with ice, which will melt. The drawback is that you need to keep adding ice for a week or so.
What you do you mean by "hot stabilisation"? Sounds like Pasteurization, which I personally don't recommend.
Cold stabilization is a technique that is useful at times if you have the setup to do it. But most wines can be made without cold stabilization. So I don't consider it as a necessary or standard step in making wine. Why do you need to do cold stabilization? What specific problems are you tying to solve?
Heat stab typically refers to protection against 'protein haze', whereby proteins can precipitate out in the bottled wine if it's subjected to (sometimes mildly) elevated temperature. Bentonite fining is the usual preventative measure. It's often done with sparkling wines.
But I agree with @Raptor99 - often it isn't necessary to cold stab/heat stab homemade wines. Worst case, you get some 'wine crystals' in the bottle, something that is relatively common with some older French white wines.
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