Too cold? and airlocks okay for storage?

[SteveH]

We made our first kit an April, and since have made several different country wines as well as Vidal and Catawba this fall.The catawba and vidal are still on the kitchen floor near our sliding door where they are in the upper 50's. Our basement where we bulk age our wine is ideal in the summer, a bit cool in the fall (48-50ish) and cold in the winter (38-40 currently). Everything is currently bulk aging in gallon jugs or 6 gallon carboys. Will the cold temps just slow the aging process? any harm? I know it should be consistent, but the temp changes are slow and steady. It's an 1850 hand dug basement with stone walls plus our furnace doesn't run as we burn wood and or wood pellets so it stays quite cool down there. Also, should I be using solid stoppers once I've racked and bulk aged? I'm currently using airlocks with vodka in them... doesn't that keep the air out too?
Thanks, SteveH

 

[pjd]

Steve, those cool temps wont hurt anything, in fact it may actually help precipitate some acid out of the wine which can be a good thing depending where your grapes are sourced. I would use airlocks instead of solid bungs because changes in atmospheric pressures can cause expansion of the wines. I personally use a waterless airlock from vintable it allows the wine to expand but does not allow oxygen back in.

 

[crcarey]

Steve, I use your same setup with vodka. I have never had any issues. I just keep an eye on them to keep them topped off.

 

[Arne]

I have about the same setup. When it warms back up in the spring the wines that have been sitting and not clearing all of a sudden fall clear. At least most of them do. Also the grape wines tend to throw diamonds at the colder temps. If you want to get rid of them, rack them off before they warm up too much. Good luck with it, Arne.