I am new to wine making. I have muddled through primary and currently my apple wine is in the secondary fermenter, albeit a little sooner than it should have been. Made a few missteps, but i hope this will be a decent batch.
I have read a lot about the wine making process, which has brought both clarity and confusion.... I wanted to get some feedback on bulk aging and topping off.
i got into this on the cheap. bought 2 7 gallon fermonster fermenters. Like i said above, i made some mistakes. As you can guess, as i racked from primary to secondary, i lost volume, in addition to the original head space i left in the primary fermenter. now i am facing a bulk aging issue where i am needing to probably mitigate at least 1.5 gallons once SG <1.000. i have purchased some glass marbles to help displace the wine- but now i am at a point where i would be using a ridiculous amount of glass marbles..... Once fully fermented ABV should be around 13.5-14% (i know too high, another misstep by a newbie)
I plan on clarifying the wine using sparkloid and adding campden tablets as i airlock the wine for bulk aging. i could top off with water, but that would dilute the flavor. is it a good idea or bad idea to add the potassium sorbate and sweetener (planning on using apple juice) to the wine at this point? My thought is it would sweeten the wine as i plan on doing anyways and take care of the headspace issue. But would the sorbate also stop what ever happens durring the aging process?
alternatively, i could do the "correct" thing and buy a 5 gallon carboy and sweeten before bottling, but i dont have much room for storing a lot of carboys (which is something i will need to address as i pursue this hobby).
On a similar note any thoughts on adding cinnamon sticks to the bulk aging wine? I had two sitcks in the primary fermenter, but the cinnamon flavor is non existent when i tasted the young wine after racking to secondary, but i know it could be hiding in there.
As always, i appreciate the input and advice from all.
I have read a lot about the wine making process, which has brought both clarity and confusion.... I wanted to get some feedback on bulk aging and topping off.
i got into this on the cheap. bought 2 7 gallon fermonster fermenters. Like i said above, i made some mistakes. As you can guess, as i racked from primary to secondary, i lost volume, in addition to the original head space i left in the primary fermenter. now i am facing a bulk aging issue where i am needing to probably mitigate at least 1.5 gallons once SG <1.000. i have purchased some glass marbles to help displace the wine- but now i am at a point where i would be using a ridiculous amount of glass marbles..... Once fully fermented ABV should be around 13.5-14% (i know too high, another misstep by a newbie)
I plan on clarifying the wine using sparkloid and adding campden tablets as i airlock the wine for bulk aging. i could top off with water, but that would dilute the flavor. is it a good idea or bad idea to add the potassium sorbate and sweetener (planning on using apple juice) to the wine at this point? My thought is it would sweeten the wine as i plan on doing anyways and take care of the headspace issue. But would the sorbate also stop what ever happens durring the aging process?
alternatively, i could do the "correct" thing and buy a 5 gallon carboy and sweeten before bottling, but i dont have much room for storing a lot of carboys (which is something i will need to address as i pursue this hobby).
On a similar note any thoughts on adding cinnamon sticks to the bulk aging wine? I had two sitcks in the primary fermenter, but the cinnamon flavor is non existent when i tasted the young wine after racking to secondary, but i know it could be hiding in there.
As always, i appreciate the input and advice from all.