I'm wondering about the best way to sanitize, store, and reuse wine bottles. With my carboys, I rinse out 3X with warm water and then sanitize with sodium metabisulfite. I drain the SM from the carboy but don't rinse it away while stored empty figuring the SM residue provide extra protection...
Thanks for the info! Super helpful. I read up a bit on cold stabilization and the source said to maintain 30F, but sounds like it doesn't have to be that precise.
These days it's anyone guess what the temps will be! :) I'm in Nova Scotia where it typically would be below freezing now, but is more in the 40s for the next week. Should be dropping below freezing before Christmas, though. So leave it out in the cold for a couple days?
I just performed a pH tend and it's between 0.7% and 0.8%, so on the high side. I only have a residential fridge, so cold stabilization would be tricky (please correct me if I'm wrong about that). What are my chemical options?
I've made a few batches of Argentia Ridge Chardonnay. It consistently comes out too citrusy for my taste. I've aged them on the lees, which seems to help, but it's still a bit too citrusy for me. The other flavors are nice, as is the mouthfeel. I just finished two batches and they're aging in...
@Trick. Thanks for the thoughts! I share your concerns about gross lees and may be in left field but aren't these kits from concentrated juice all fine lees? I thought gross lees were skins and other larger pieces of grapes?
I have an Argentia Ridge chardonnay 7L kit from Costco Canada that I plan to age on the lees. Racking off primary, do I stir up the lees so they all transfer or should I let some settle on the bottom and rack them off?
My understanding is that they're all fine lees, so keep them all?
Thanks for the thought, Bernard. If it's completely degassed, would whipping it still generate foam? I thought I read that fully degassed wine would generate any foam?
I bulked aged a kit of Cab Sauv (Costco Canada, Argentia Ridge) for 4 months in a fairly cool environment (~65F). I just tapped it and its quite fizzy. It's only my 8th kit, so read up on it and the consensus seem to be that it needs more degassing. I put my whip to it for 45 minutes, and it...
This is an old thread, but I have some very fizzy wine after bulk aging for 3 months. I bulk aged with a solid stopper though. Folks in this thread are bulk ageing with airlocks?