Bulk Aging in Plastic

In general I agree -- plastic is not a good option. However, practically speaking, 3 months is hardly aging and you might get away with it.

Ray

I agree - it should be fine if you keep your SO2 levels up.

Now no quoting me but if I remember correctly a lost of plastics are quite permeable to O2 which makes storing wine in poly bottles for the long term a no-no. Although it would be probably fine for a few months. I'm planing on trying this with a Riesling that I have aging right now in my basement.

Just thought of something. When I racked my wine for the second time last night I used some wine (from the same batch) that I placed in plastic bottle (Poweraid bottle I believe). I did not need all of it to top up the Carboloy so I drank it, as well as sampling some from the Carboloy and the wine in the Poweraid bottle seemed more aged. This could be due to several different reasons, mainly environmental, but if you do try to (bulk) age in plastic bottles you might want to try it after 1/4 or 1/3 of the time you were expecting to age the wine for.

just my two cents worth (OK about 1.5 US cents)

Rob

Stephen wrote:

I am not saying you cannot but I will throw out some thoughts:

1) Plastic is made from petroleum products. The plastic used for water bottles is food safe so, at least for water, nothing is going to leach out of the plastic that would be harmful or detrimental to the product, water. But lots of things are soluble in alcohol that are not soluble in water. You put an 11-14% alcohol solution (wine) in that bottle and leave it for a year or more and I would not guarantee that you would not get some nasties out of the plastic even if it is food safe. Most foods do not contain 12% alcohol. 2) As other have pointed out, those jugs are not made of very thick plastic. Most plastic is permeable to air. That is no problem for water so there is no reason to make them thicker. Wine is another mater. They are not made for wine.

Ray

Vodka and Rum are now sold in PET gallon (or some silly millimeter equivalent) jugs. Most vodka and rum are considerably higher in abv than wine.

FWIW, bb

William, You are correct and I would not question the use of these bottles. Plastic can be made for many different purposes, as I understand it there are even different formulations of PET. If it is designed for alcohol, as these are, then they are safe. But if they state on them that they are safe for water, that does not mean they are safe for alcohol. If they are safe, then all you have to worry about is oxidation through the plastic.

Wouldn't it be great if they could make plastic jugs that were alcohol safe AND would allow the same micro-oxidation through the plastic as a wood keg! If they could tell us the rate of oxidation so we could adjust the time in bulk storage in plastic to match the time commercial wines are stored in kegs, that would be fantastic! Just add oak beans and really get the effect of an expensive keg. Tell me I can do that William, please!

Ray