WineXpert WE SI Brunello w/ Skins Bulk Aging

[Clemson81]

Previously, I have just bottled on time according to the instructions from the wine kit. I want to bulk age for the first time on this one to really maximize my results.

A little background info-
I'm a college student living in off-campus housing. My wine making room is a small storage room in our upstairs that is for our tankless water heater and wifi. The temperature in this room has been around 68 degrees since I started checking it about a month ago. I am worried that the room temperature will increase drastically during the summer months, so I was planning on bulk aging the wine the end of the semester (a little over 3 months) and bottling it. From there I could take it back home for the summer and ensure that it is kept at proper temperature. Do y'all think this makes sense or should I just leave it over the summer in the room? No one lives in our place during the summer months and we shut our AC off. I have no idea if it even gets that warm because I haven't been there.

Like I said I am new to bulk aging.. (tons of questions)
My kit is currently going through the secondary fermentation stage and will be done with that stage this Saturday, the 18th. Do I age it after the stabilizing and clearing stage or the racking and clarification stage? I know I've heard so many people say that their wine naturally degasses during their bulk aging so this makes me think that they bulk age it after the secondary fermentation stage.. The kit comes with hungarian oak cubes to use during the 8 days of stabilizing and clearing the wine. I think this does basically nothing in this short time to add a real oak flavor. If I use the cubes during bulk aging instead, how long do y'all think I should leave them in? I also like to filter my kits. Should I do this before aging it or after? Attached is a pic of my set up.

I apologize for the amount of questions but I would really appreciate everyone's input.
TIA

 

[salcoco]

I would bulk age to end of semester and bottle. As you say you cannot verify what the temp will be during summer months. With regard to oaking taste after the eight days, most likely this period of time will take most of the oak out of cubes. if oak is not enough you could leave for a month. I would age this wine at least 1 year or more in bottle .

 

[Dino466]

I would taking the bottles home would be better then leaving in NC - I would the temps would be high in a closed apt.
Also filter just before bottling.
I am not the most experienced wine maker but others on this forum are and they give great advice. I have learned a lot from this forum, the people on hear really help you.

 

[Clemson81]

I would bulk age to end of semester and bottle. As you say you cannot verify what the temp will be during summer months. With regard to oaking taste after the eight days, most likely this period of time will take most of the oak out of cubes. if oak is not enough you could leave for a month. I would age this wine at least 1 year or more in bottle .

1 year on top of the 3 month bulk age?

I would taking the bottles home would be better then leaving in NC - I would the temps would be high in a closed apt.
Also filter just before bottling.
I am not the most experienced wine maker but others on this forum are and they give great advice. I have learned a lot from this forum, the people on hear really help you.

Thanks for the replies so far y'all.

 

[wineh]

Whatever you do, don't drink any after 3 months, or you'll have none left at one year! It's that good.

 

[Clemson81]

Whatever you do, don't drink any after 3 months, or you'll have none left at one year! It's that good.

Haha, this is going to be really tough!

 

[sour_grapes]

I agree with the others. I bet that room will get seriously hot over the summer. Bottle it and age in the bottle.

The standard answer on oaking is to taste occasionally, and rack off the oak when you reach the level you like. I agree with you that there is likely some value in retaining the cubes after the 8-day clearing; just rinse 'em off and put back into the carboy with the cleared wine.

My kit is currently going through the secondary fermentation stage and will be done with that stage this Saturday, the 18th. Do I age it after the stabilizing and clearing stage or the racking and clarification stage?

I am not sure I understand what you are trying to ask here. It is aging the whole time. You don't do anything to make it age. Are you, perhaps, asking when the aging period "starts" so that you can time the aging to be, say, 6 months or something? If that is the real question, I'd say there is not a real lot of point in worry about the difference plus or minus 8 days or even 20 days.

 

[Clemson81]

I agree with the others. I bet that room will get seriously hot over the summer. Bottle it and age in the bottle.

The standard answer on oaking is to taste occasionally, and rack off the oak when you reach the level you like. I agree with you that there is likely some value in retaining the cubes after the 8-day clearing; just rinse 'em off and put back into the carboy with the cleared wine.



I am not sure I understand what you are trying to ask here. It is aging the whole time. You don't do anything to make it age. Are you, perhaps, asking when the aging period "starts" so that you can time the aging to be, say, 6 months or something? If that is the real question, I'd say there is not a real lot of point in worry about the difference plus or minus 8 days or even 20 days.

Do you need to stir it up when tasting for oak? I could see it potentially being a stronger taste closer to the cubes on the bottom. And I meant would you delay doing a stage like clarifying it until after it's been aging in the carboy for 3 months.

 

[salcoco]

by clarifying I assume adding the required finings per the instruction in the kit. aging should be after clarifying. some sediment will still drop out after adding finings. rack add so2 then commence aging. some more sediment will drop out during this process