Wine Aging

"Joe Ae" scribed upon the newsgroup scroll news:uo1xb.10113$ snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com:

I don't have a real good answer, but if you don't get a good direction here, I'll be glad to store it here in a more storage friendly environment for, oh, gee, I dont' know, halves?

There are two issues here. One is whether the temperature fluctuations themselves hurt the wine and the other is whether the air that is pumped into the wine due to the fluctuations hurt the wine.

Taking the second first. Over the range you are talking about I don't think the effect would be extreme.

However this temperature range could pump quite a bit of air through an airlock and this would not be good for the wine. As you mentioned, magnums might be a solution. Another would be to put the wine in gal jugs and use good screw type lids or solid rubber bungs with no airlock. But be sure the wine is stable before you do this or you could end with some blown jugs.

There is the possibility that if you fill them too full, expansion of the wine over the temperature range could generate enough pressure to break some jugs as well. To avoid this, leave a little larger than normal head space and flood the head space with inert gas using one of those spray cans you can get at a wine store before sealing. The extra head space will act as a cushion for the pressure as the fluid expands and contracts. Then any time you need some wine, bottle a gal or two, put them back for a month or two and they will be ready.

I would not recommend that you do this with 5 gal carboys as they would have a greater tendency to break due to expansion of the wine.

Ray

Hello Ray

At present the wine is in a 54L DJ (12 gallon glass container) with a plastic cap and a few inches of head space.

If I understand you there is a risk that carboys could blow due to the temperature fluctuations 45F-75F. You feel it is safer to use gallon containers with appropriate headspace. Is this because the glass is not as strong in carboys? Could I leave more headspace (filled with inert gas) in the 12 gallon DJ to reduce the risk?

thanks

Joe

Joe,

I do quite a bit of bulk aging although I don't have the teperature fluctuations that you have. I am a big proponent of using an airlock filled with sulfite solution. I make sure the SO2 is replaced every 6 months or so. On those rare occasions when a little wine pushes in a modest exchange with SO2 doesn't hurt anything.

Works well for me.

Glen Duff

Joe Ae wrote:

Joe Ae, In terms of carboy breakage, I was referring to using a solid bung. Over that large of a temperature range you will have quite a bit of expansion and contraction of the wine. A standard airlock is designed to protect a 5-6 gal carboy with a moderate temperature range. With a 12 gal carboy and a large temperature range you need to make some larger airlocks. The expansion and contraction will pump air through a standard air lock. If you try to protect it using a solid bung so you do not have to worry about the airlock size, then you must worry about the pressure build up due to the expansion and contraction and you must have a large enough head space such that the gas will act as a cushion to protect the carboy. Otherwise the carboy could rupture. I will try to do some calculations tonight and get back with another post.

Ray, I have been making wine for a lonnnng time. I bulk age in carboys where possible and have never had a carboy burst on me while filled with wine. Further, I don't personally know anyone who has. I broke one once when I set it down too hard on a cement floor, but that is my only casualty ever. I don't think your worry is all that well-founded. Carboys are pretty darned strong, even the cheap ones made in Mexico (I have eight of those).

As for the risk of sucking airlock solution into the wine, I think that too is much overstated. When bulk aging, I add 4 drops of glycerin to the airlock and then 10% sulfite solution until the liquid occupies about 1/3 of airlock. With the glycerin, the liquid in the airlock will not drop 1/4 inch in four months. Further, with the airlock filled to only 1/3, the liquid cannot be sucked up into the wine; there just isn't enough of it to do that.

Ullage of one to one-and-a-half inches is all the cushion one needs for a five- or six-gallon carboy. I wouldn't exceed two-and-a-half inches for a twelve-gallon demijohn. If the top of the wine ever approached the bottom of the bung, all you need do is watch it and remove a bit with a wine thief if it made you nervous. I currently have ten carboys and 24 gallon-jugs under airlock. I look at every one of them at least once a week except when I'm out of town. If something is going wrong, I see it.

You make bulk aging in carboys sound like a crap shoot and it isn't. The only way it can go wrong (in my experience) is if someone (or the dog) bumps the airlock and jars it loose -- or if one is negligent.

Sorry to be critical here, but I just think you are over-stating the dangers of bulk aging in glass.

Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page

Thaks to all for the suggestions. I have been storing wine in this environment (12 gal DJs) for a few years and haven't had an accident (yet). I have left a couple of inches of ullage. I will be more carefull now that I understand the risks. I am in the process of insulating an area and hope to reduce the temp fluctations dramatically so that I can start storing wine longer.

Jack, what does glyceride do for the airlock?

Joe

Joe, it's "glycerin," not "glyceride." When dealing with chemicals, you have to get the spelling right. The difference between "sulfite" and "sulfate," for example, can be a coma or even death. I'm not belittling you, just telling you that words have meaning based upon how they are spelled and what you spell is assumed to be what you mean.

Glycerin, which is in all wines in trace amounts as a byproduct of alcohol fermentation by yeast, takes a long time to evaporate. One authority I was reading today suggested using pure glycerin in the airlock because the amount you put in today will still be there four months from now (so he claimed), but I prefer my own method because I like to hear those bubbles (pure glycerin is very thick) and the airlocks are easy to clean. Also, glycerin retards the growth of mold, algae and other undesirables in the airlock (again, according to this source), but so does 10% sulfite solution.

Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page

Thanks Jack! I must be staying up too late or taking too many samples. I better stick with 10% sulfite.

Joe