WineXpert Wine Expert Question

[bribo179]

I have a WineXpert kit that is has been racked 3 weeks ago to a secondary. According to directions I need to add sulfites and finings then bottle.

I want to bulk age this wine and am in no hurry to bottle. I want to add sulfites to the wine and rack again to a bulk aging container. How should I go about the sulfites? Should I add them before racking, after racking, or directly the the carboy and then siphon the wine into the carboy?

Also, will I need finings if I plan on throwing the wine in my beer fermenting freezer and dropping the temp to 30 or so for a week before bottling?

 

[jamesngalveston]

Turrock is probably the best to answer your questions, but if you are not in any hurry...do not add anything...just bulk age.
You can add campden/kmeta when you rack other then that...just let it clear....
No need to add a finning agent if you let it age long enough.

 

[Pumpkinman]

bribo179,
Rack the wine to a clean carboy first, dilute the sulfites/meta and add to the new carboy and gently stir.
If you plan to bulk age, i'd let it age for a few months, then rack off the sediment, I'd make sure that the wine has cleared before cold stabilizing in the Beer fridge/freezer, by cold stabilizing, it will help to drop sediment as with beer, I cold crash all of my beer to clear it, with wine, cold stabilizing is usually done for a few weeks to drop the wine crystals/Tartrate crystals, either way it won't hurt the wine, I prefer to let the wine naturally clear instead of using any fining agents, it may take longer, but the wine will benefit from the time spent bulk aging.

 

[Simpsini]

I would do what the kit says up to bottling. Some kits want you to rack and then add sulfites and clear. Others want you to stir up the wine, add the sulfites and then add the clearing agent. I would follow the directions but before bottling is when you want to start your bulk aging process. Before bulk aging rack to a carboy and add the ¼ tsp of kmeta. I bulk most of my reds this way for 6 – 10 moths. I would make sure the wine was clear before cold stabilizing. Hope this helps

 

[SouthernChemist]

Just a note: Winexpert makes an effort to remove potassium bitartrate (wine diamonds) from their kits during the production process, so cold stabilization to remove them should not be necessary. The main exception to this would be kits that were made with a shorter production time (e.g., some limited edition kits).