When to bottle

It'll taste better in the long run if you let it rest on its fine lees in bulk. Why are you in such a hurry? Put it to bed in a carboy, topped up and sulfited, and forget you have it for a year or so.

Tom S

Not in a hurry, Just wanted to know how much different it would taste. I am planing on letting it age one way or the other. Maybe I will try half one way and half the other, then I will know.

They make lovely bookends.

So, you are saying that it will ruin the wine?

No no no; put the wine in it and set it up on a shelf for a year. My top shelf is for huge books, coffee-table types, atlases, picture books, etc. I actually leave the wine in carboys on the countertop in my laundry room for years on end.

Is it ok to leave it in a demijohn for a year without racking?

As long as the wine is off the gross lees it's not only OK, it's preferred - at least for reds. Just keep it topped up, sulfited and corked. Watch out for temperature shift problems though. If the wine is bunged too tight it can blow the bottom out of a glass carboy. Stainless steel kegs are much better in this regard.

Tom S

I do it as often as not. I believe it improves the wine quite a bit.

Hi Im new here this is my first year on making wine why do you sulfate it

"why do you sulfate it

I read a great article about this very thing. Patience is the key! If your interested this might help.

First off, it's not sulf_a_te; it's sulf_i_te. There's a big difference.

Sulfites are added to wine to protect it from the effects of oxygen and spoilage organisms. They (sulfites) work by reacting with the acidity of the wine to release sulfur dioxide (SO2), which scavenges oxygen. In the process, sulfites are oxidized to sulfates, which are harmless.

Tom S

"Robert Hanson" wrote

It is actually sulfite or sulphite. Over the millenia that wine has been made, burning sulfur in the barrels has been used to sterilize them. Wine yeasts have built up a natural resistance to sulfur compounds while other micro-organisms have not. You add sulfites to the juice when you very first put it into the primary fermenter, the bucket, pail, barrel, bottle whatever, so that the germs in the juice will be killed or greatly reduced. Then, after a short time, you may add the yeast and away we go!!! The yeast is not inhibited in the least by the sulfites and will grow to where the juice bubbles and foams like it is boiling!!!! When it is still, and finally is ready to be clarified once and for all in preparation for bottling, sulfites are added to the wine and used to kill any residual germs inside the bottles or the siphon hose and to prevent fermentation from restarting. It is not essential to use sulfites. I use potassium sorbate tablets. Bottoms up! Bob<

-- "I can't stand water because of the things fish do in it. Once, whilst traversing the Himalayas, we lost our corkscrew, and were compelled to live on food and water... for several days."

-W C Fields-

You would have to be patient to read past all those colours!

I will try squinting a bit.

I agree; that is why I leave it in the carboy, it ages well and outgases to boot. You just have to remember to use glycerin in your airlocks cuz the water will evaporate.....