Wine topping

I keep a gallon jug aside for topping off carboys after sampling, racking, etc. Once in a while I drink a glass from the jug.

How long is wine good for in the jug? I know a bottle of wine definitely goes bad after 3-4 days of opening, so how can this stay good for months? Should I keep using it for topping if the taste changes? I don't want to ruin all my other wine.

What do you guys do?

If you're using a jug and the flavor is changing for the worse, I wouldn't use it. I've had the occasional remnant jug laying around with significant head space and sometimes surprisingly months later it tasted fine, but how long to expect it to last is a big variable and I would never use suspect wine to top up my tank, too much risk for me, I just drink it.

After ML is complete, I typically clarify, sulfite, and bottle about 3 gallons in standard bottles. I prefer to use my wine for topping vs. store bought as many of the wines today (especially low cost wine) have some residual sugar, which can cause some microbial problems if added to a 6 month old wine in carboy or tank. Another option is to sulfite some wine on the high side and store it in a bag-in-box (preferably a metalized one), that way you can tap off some top up wine without introducing air. I'm sure others will have their methods.

Thanks! I will consider those things? Does anyone keep a jug for months and it works for them?

It will go bad if you have too much headspace for too long without some form of intervention. I use one gallon jugs to top up my barrels and I backfill them with Argon and a tight stopper. This works great for a couple weeks, then I repeat the process. When I get down to half gallon left in the jug I will rack down to a growler or a couple of 1.5L wine bottles.

I keep an assortment of glass; 6.5, 5, 2.5 gallon carboys. 1 gallon, 64 ounce, 32 ounce glass containers with screw caps. The only pain is storage, but worth it. I also used the "head space eliminator" for a few months without any noticeable degradation in the wine.

I agree with NorCal. Keep a variety of jugs and bottles with stoppers and airlocks. That way when you use some up, you can just move the rest to a smaller container and keep it full.

derekjames100 said:

Thanks! I will consider those things? Does anyone keep a jug for months and it works for them?

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I kept a 1 gallon jug about 3/4's of the way full with a blueberry wine I made last winter. Went to top up the main carboy and could smell the blueberry sherry I had made as soon as I removed the airlock, so no, a few months and it will not be good to top up your other carboy. I had also Kmeta'd it 2x strength, but never tested how high a level I had achieved. It did make my eyes water from the fumes, but obviously it wasn't high enough to protect it in a 3/4 full jug.

I use my extra to top off with by using smaller jugs, 1/2 gallon down to wine bottles with drilled stoppers and 3 piece air locks, I age my reds while racking to clear using time and buy keeping several smaller jugs and bottles I go up to 2 years using my original wines kept in 1/2 jugs to wine bottles . just acquire plenty of extra smaller drilled stoppers an air locks.
Richard::

derekjames100 said:

I keep a gallon jug aside for topping off carboys after sampling, racking, etc. Once in a while I drink a glass from the jug.

How long is wine good for in the jug? I know a bottle of wine definitely goes bad after 3-4 days of opening, so how can this stay good for months? Should I keep using it for topping if the taste changes? I don't want to ruin all my other wine.

What do you guys do?

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Why wouldn't you top up with a similar commercial bottle, or something from your home made inventory? Then enjoy whatever is left in the bottle after topping up.

That'd be the safest/easiest (Brian55).. With all of the $$$ you're saving/bottle, it's worth it to scout around for sales and stock up on toppers for your current batch(es)...

I hate to open up an entire bottle of my wine just to top up a little and If I put someone else's wine in my wine then it's no longer my wine and I couldn't pass it off as such. To do so would be dishonest.

Using that logic it would not be "your" wine as you did not start out with "your" grapes either........

ibglowin said:

Using that logic it would not be "your" wine as you did not start out with "your" grapes either........

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Good point. I'll probably top off with some Joseph phelps insignia then. What's the most you think I can use and still handout bottles calling it my wine?

derekjames100 said:

Good point. I'll probably top off with some Joseph phelps insignia then. What's the most you think I can use and still handout bottles calling it my wine?

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As much as you need to top it off. It's still your wine, you made it, you fermented it, blended it, tweaked it, etc.. regardless of where you got the grapes or the juice. The only time it would be deceitful is if you led people to believe you grew grapes if you hadn't, or if you were simply placing your label on someone else's bottles.

derekjames100 said:

I hate to open up an entire bottle of my wine just to top up a little.

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I love when I have to open an entire bottle just to top up a little bit.

derekjames100 said:

Good point. I'll probably top off with some Joseph phelps insignia then. What's the most you think I can use and still handout bottles calling it my wine?

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A gallon will make 5 bottles, so if you use say a quarter of a bottle to top off, it's still 95% yours, close enough in my books.

NorCal said:

I keep an assortment of glass; 6.5, 5, 2.5 gallon carboys. 1 gallon, 64 ounce, 32 ounce glass containers with screw caps. The only pain is storage, but worth it. I also used the "head space eliminator" for a few months without any noticeable degradation in the wine.

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For the chemistry buffs on this forum... Is it REALLY possible to eliminate head space? I heard no... That is why you REPLACE it with a gas... Yes.. I use those bottle tops that you pump to suck the air out.. Seems to help. But it's goal is for a couple days. I do not agree to leave a carboy half empty and believe anything will remove all the oxygen characteristics...
Just because you put it in a vacuum isn't oxygen still present?
Maybe just me.....

NorCal said:

A gallon will make 5 bottles, so if you use say a quarter of a bottle to top off, it's still 95% yours, close enough in my books.

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This is exactly what I was going to suggest..

I think that everybody here agrees that there is nothing wrong with having a smaller jug for top off. That is perfectly fine. The real issue (just to be clear) is that you are leaving the top off jug only partially filled.

Use standard wine bottles. Like norcal said, you should get about 5 full bottles. This way you can open a bottle, top off, and drink the remainder, leaving the rest of you top off bottles full and with minimal headspace.

I use 60 gal oak barrels and have 3 or 4 half gallon jugs that I use for top off. I find that a barrel top off will take most of a half gallon, but still leave me some for sampling.

Yes, you can eliminate headspace air, you just need to right tools. A Vacuvin pump can't do it as it is not strong enough and the rubber stopper leaks.

But if you use a good electric vacuum pump that can pull ~20" Hg and have a tight seal on everything so it doesn't leak back in after you pump out the headspace you have no worries about oxidation anymore.

sdelli said:

For the chemistry buffs on this forum... Is it REALLY possible to eliminate head space? I heard no... That is why you REPLACE it with a gas...

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sdelli said:

Maybe just me.....

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I don't believe that it is just you.