I've made a couple of wine kits and have done a number of batches of beer. In making beer, i had good results with bulk aging.....albeit.....not terribly long aging.....usually a matter of weeks until the product fell clear in the carboy.
In reading notations in this group, i'm a bit.....confused. With wine.....is there any down side with bulk aging. By bulk.....i mean only a five gallon carboy. Or is it more helpful to move the product to bottles and age it. And while i'm on the topic....at the risk of making some of the purists turn absolutley white.....what is your take on using plastic bottles to store wine. I"m usually drinking it within a matter of a couple of months. Beer, stored that way.....seems to maintain decent taste and carbonation. So far, i've used plastic bottles and screw on caps....and for a ' wine savage' like me.....i've been satisfied.
Like many aspects of winemaking, the bulk/bottle aging question isn't easily answered. Most people agree that bulk aging proceeds more slowly than bottle aging, perhaps because of the resistance to temperature swings in a larger mass. This can be beneficial if your storage conditions are less than ideal, and you want to protect the wine, or it can be detrimental if your storage is cooler and you want the wine to age more quickly so you can enjoy it.
Another consideration is that wine often continues to degas or even undergo MFL for a prolonged period, and this is certainly best dealt with before bottling. Chalk this one up for bulk aging.
Still another consideration, as Lum recently pointed out, is that certain reductive (anaerobic) changes need to occur for a wine to develop its "bottle" bouquet. Not only is newly bottled in that weak-tasting time called bottle shock, but you then have to start on developing the bouquet. Consequently, some people hold that it's good to bottle as soon as a wine is ready. Chalk this one up for bottle aging.
I guess it comes down to doing what works best for your given circumstances and preferences. In my case, I like the idea of bottle aging, but I seem to get better results if I patiently bulk age and then patiently bottle age. I often split a batch and bottle some for more immediate cunsumption and keep some in 1 or 3 or 5 gal carboys.
Nobody's gonna throw rocks at you for plastic bottles. If you use the wine fairly soon, say, under 6 mos., keep it cool, use sulfite, etc, it should be fine. I don't think PET (soda bottles) is exactly nonpermeable to O2, but there is another plastic, whose name escapes me, which is. Do a test and see how long you can keep a wine this way, and just be sure to rotate your stock accordingly. ;)
aspects of winemaking, the bulk/bottle aging question isn't easily answered. Most people agree that bulk aging proceeds more slowly than bottle aging, perhaps because of the resistance to temperature
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Lets just put it strait, if you bulk age in a 5 gal carboy, it will be there whenever you decide to bottle. But if you bottle and try to "age" the chances that it all will be there whenever, is soooo up to you.
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Oh yes we are. I just whent through my local liquor store to buy some hard liquor for making some liqueurs, and would you believe that every darn bottle is now in plastic! I was thinking of using the bottles itself for making the liqueurs in, and I be darn if I am going to steep anything in plastic!
Look if you need real winebottles, just contact any local winery around you and I'm sure they will sell you cases close to their wholesale price. Just be friendly and show a keen interest in wine, maybe even their wine.
And Mike, you did a good post, I didn't mean to tear it apart.
It depends a lot on the wine. Some wine (many whites and some reds) are better drunk young. If a wine is over the hill at 2 years, it will be over the hill whether it is in bottle or carboy. Bulk aging may just insure that you do not drink any before it starts to decline. Not a good thing.
Bulk aging is good as it protects the wine from daily temperature fluctuations and it give the wine a better chance to stabilize before it is bottled. Nothing worse than bottling a clear wine and then finding that it starts throwing additional sediment due to the chemical reactions during aging. But a wine needs some time in bottle as well.
Funny thing about wine bottles: Once your friends know you can use them, the donations pour in. I had to call a halt recently, as I've accumulated a store of 23 cases of cleaned bottles, sorted by style & color. I plan on keeping the Bordeaux style & giving the Burgundy style to a friend, since I don't like how they stack in my racks. ... such luxury from scrounging.
When aging I usually start with bulk aging in 1 gal dimijohns. I dont make wilne in larger quantitiies than 1 gal. This is for about 6 months then in the bottle for up to another 6 months.
I have used plastic for bulk aging. It should be fairly dense plastic. I used to use 1 and one 1/2 gal. plastic bottles that previously contained a dishwashing liquid. These I prepared by rinsing out very well and leaving them topped up with plain water for several days.
The plastic does breath a bit and this helps in the maturing of the wine. A bit like cask aging without as many risks!
Spring is here, and a local restraunteur I know was once again out hosing his sidewalk as I bicycled by. Well, almost. At that point, I'm out in traffic (and can keep up with it).
He's now saving bottles for me, to be picked up each tuesday.
How many cases do I really need to get going? I'm guessing ten at a minimum, given that I need to make both short-term and long term wines.
And how fast does a small italian restaurant kick out bottles? :)
I get about three cases a week from my guy . About half are KJ Cab , 1/4 KJ Chard , and 1/4 Chianti . Quick rinse with sulphite and upside down to dry .
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