I just found out that i am going to be in ireland early next year. I just started a batch of blackberry wine. According to my calendar, i'm going to need to bottle in late february, but i'm no going to be here. i wont be getting back till june. is there any way that i could speed up the clearing and fermenting so that i can get it bottled before i leave. i'll be leaving around mid to late january.
You may pay a price in losing depth of the wine when hurrying it through the processes. Sure, you can speed things up. You can induce MLF during mid part of primary fermentation and keep the must warm (like 80F-85F). After pressing, you can rack it off the gross lees, dose with SO2 and settle it in a refrigerator (33F-40F) so that it gets cold stabilized as it continues to settle. You rack it once more, adjusting free SO2 and adding sorbate to kill off anything that still wants to slowly ferment, fine it and rack it again (optional here). Then you centrifuge it or filter it using a pad (or plate) filter; finally sterile filter it using a 0.45um absolute filter). Dose with SO2 and bottle.
How big a batch is this, and what are you storing it in.... carboys or barrels or what?
Don't see why you couldn't do all your 'normal' steps up to the time you need to leave. If the wine is 'on oak' at that time, you'd probably want to rack it to a clean carboy(s) [filled to leave minimum air headspace, of course, and appropriately sealed (hopefully the wine is stable by then and would thus be able to be in a 'sealed' container)].
I'd measure the free SO2 after final racking, and re-dose it to 50-75 ppm free SO2, then seal it up and leave it in the sealed container until you get back.
Any other opinions out there?
Gene
In message , Scotty writes
My experience of blackberry wine is that it clears quickly, and very well - although I may just have been lucky. My advice, FWIW, would be to do the fermentation, rack it in to secondary, give it a month to six weeks, when the fermentation has stopped, and rack again to get it off the majority of the lees, just before you go away. And then just leave it to mature in the demi-john until you get back. If you're feeling terribly assiduous, you might like to then rack it again, and leave another month before bottling. Or you might be impatient...
So long as you get rid of most of the yeast in the first racking, it shouldn't come to much harm, but make sure the demi-johns are topped up as far as possible, to stop oxidation, and also that they are kept in the dark; sunlight will fade the beautiful colour.
cheers, robin
Both the above posters are right . Bottle it when you get back! If it is at the stage where it can bulk age in peace and quiet then leave it in the carboy(s) till you get back. In fact with my blackberry (with a tad of elderberry), which I ferment to total dryness and drink that way, is bulk aged for two years. In any case if fermentation is completed and you have racked of the gross lees, then it will come to no harm. Just make sure SO2 levels are adjusted.
And in any case don't rush the bottling!
Agree with the above. Wine is better if you slow things down rather than speeding them up. It will not hurt a thing to hold off a few months. The only part that you can speed up is you can force clear it using filtration or a filtering agent. I would just wait.
Ray
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