Bulk age Chardonnay kit after sorbate?

My first wine kit is an unoaked chardonnay. Racked to secondary. Waited required period; degassed, added potassium metabisufite AND potassium sorbate. Directions say to let it sit to clear.

After clearing, is it advantageous to rack it to a clean carboy and allow it to bulk age (more for flavor than further clearing), or by adding the sorbate have I pretty much icksnayed any flavor benefit of bulk aging?

I guess that my question really boils down to: If I plan to bulk age, sorbate should/ should not be added before aging?

Thanks

I would pass on the sorbate next time if you are not backsweetening and leaving dry.

Steve68 said:

After clearing, is it advantageous to rack it to a clean carboy and allow it to bulk age (more for flavor than further clearing), or by adding the sorbate have I pretty much icksnayed any flavor benefit of bulk aging?

I guess that my question really boils down to: If I plan to bulk age, sorbate should/ should not be added before aging?

Thanks

Click to expand...

To your first question, yes it is advantageous to rack it and let it bulk age. The debate would be for how long. But for Whites I'd say at least a month. You want to let everything fall out that's going to, and that's most critical with a white wine. Things will continue to fall out for a month or two on a white. Whether bulk aging adds anything to the flavor is something I can't comment on, but it won't hurt it to give it a month or three in a carboy.

Second question, sorbate would go in before bulk aging. The sorbate won't, or at least shouldn't, affect the flavors developing and all that other good stuff that makes aged wine great. It's there to keep the yeast from multiplying. Whether to use sorbate or not is a separate question.

Steve68 said:

My first wine kit is an unoaked chardonnay. Racked to secondary. Waited required period; degassed, added potassium metabisufite AND potassium sorbate. Directions say to let it sit to clear.

After clearing, is it advantageous to rack it to a clean carboy and allow it to bulk age (more for flavor than further clearing), or by adding the sorbate have I pretty much icksnayed any flavor benefit of bulk aging?

I guess that my question really boils down to: If I plan to bulk age, sorbate should/ should not be added before aging?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I second the comment by wineforfun, skip it in the future as long as you're dry and don't plan to sweeten.

Yes, it's advantageous, after clearing, to rack to a clean carboy, leave the sediment behind, and let it sit for a while. You'll probably find after another 3 months that there will be another light dusting of sediment in the bottom of your carboy, which would have been in your bottles. The flavors and aroma will continue to develop as you bulk age, and as you bottle age.

Agreed. If you ferment to dry and do not plan on backsweetening. You don't need the sorbate.

Thanks for the insights.

It'll definitely be dry! I was mostly concerned whether or not the sorbate would prohibit some of the wonderful whammadyne stuff from occuring during bulk aging. By the comments, I guess not.

Thanks for the suggestion to leave it out if fermenting dry and not backsweetening.

I don't believe that it prevents any of the "whammadyne stuff from occuring during bulk aging", but most agree that it has a taste, I can taste it and don't like it, and therefore omit it whenever possible.