Tartrite Crystals in my wine

[keverman]

That should be plenty of bitartrate and the temp is plenty low too. You should end up with crystals dropping to the bottom of the carboy or forming on the sides of the carboy. The amount of crystals you get depends on your potassium in solution. If you're not in a rush, I'd give it another week or so at low temp. The pH may decrease a little as the crystals fall out but it is the TA drop that will be more easily noticed. I've not had trouble with Marquette before. Last fall it left crystals in my tank at room temperature after fermentation.

Are you trying to cold stabilize to lower the TA or because the wine will be served cold after it's bottled? For my dry reds, I'll do a quick cold stabilization just to drop the TA but I'm not actually concerned with it being fully cold stable. However, if it is for a rose wine that I'll fridge and serve cold, then I'm much more careful to ensure it is cold stable.

Okay, I'll leave it go another week just to be sure. I'll also pull another sample and see if the TA has dropped. That is
my goal. (It is done as a dry red and I never end up needing to put those in the frig 'cuz they disappear first. TA was 6.8 and I'd like to dial it back a little based on taste. (This is my 2019 and I'd like to bottle in the next couple months).

 

[keverman]

Okay, I'll leave it go another week just to be sure. I'll also pull another sample and see if the TA has dropped. That is
my goal. (It is done as a dry red and I never end up needing to put those in the frig 'cuz they disappear first. TA was 6.8 and I'd like to dial it back a little based on taste. (This is my 2019 and I'd like to bottle in the next couple months).

Update: I checked and the TA has shifted from 6.8 to 6.0. So YAY! The final pH shift was from 3.59 to 3.56...not much. I will rack cold this morning. Thanks for your help!

 

[user 36973]

Update: I checked and the TA has shifted from 6.8 to 6.0. So YAY! The final pH shift was from 3.59 to 3.56...not much. I will rack cold this morning. Thanks for your help!

Awesome. That's about where my marquette tends to end up.

 

[Paulietivo]

Freeze wine? A friend left a case in his car overnight and it froze -- not enough to burst the bottles, but the insides were slush. The wine developed a nasty taste.

An acquaintance had an old refrigerator that he removed all shelves from -- it was wide enough to hold 2 carboys. IIRC, he set the temperature just above freezing (33 F). This needs to be an over-n-under fridge, not a side-by-side.

I put my wine in the bulkhead to cold stabilize. I use a thermometer to check the temperature but this happened when it was single digits outside. I'm in Massachusetts.
Frozen airlock ✔
Airlocks popped off ✔
Chilean Sav Blanc Tasted fine ✔
Chilean Carmenere tbd. Quick taste seemed fine.
Bottled most after warming up for 6 hours.
Will update on the red.

 

[winemaker81]

@Paulietivo, I'm happy your wines were ok. The sources I read said the wine might develop off flavors, but you had the positive outcome. The experience I had was the flip coin of that.

 

[Paulietivo]

@Paulietivo, I'm happy your wines were ok. The sources I read said the wine might develop off flavors, but you had the positive outcome. The experience I had was the flip coin of that.

Time will tell, I think I caught it just in time but ya never know what will happen long term. Then again I tend to drink the wine after its a year old. Salute!