Batonnage

[dfwwino]

I know that several of you have used batonnage, i.e., stirring the lees, on white kit wines. Has anyone done a controlled experiment by splitting a batch of white wine, one made with stirring the lees and one without to determine the degree of difference this makes with akit wine?

 

[joeswine]

i have tried this process on a couple of whites (fresh juice) good with semi dry whites works out OK,can also be a deficit,usually used on barrel wine..............mix bag but i can,t see a benefit with a kit just connect the dots and roll on....................

 

[jobe05]

I have made 2 batches of French Chardonnay, batonnage 1 batch and leaving the other as per the directions.

As for the French Chardonnay, Will never follow the directions again........

Batonnage is the only way to go on that wine.

Other wines????? Haven't tried it but would think it would help some of the more "spicey" wines like Gerwitz, Piesporter etc....

 

[Wayne1]

I have thought of trying batonnage but have wondered whether repeatedly removing the bung for the stirring would introduce too much oxygen into the wine?
Wayne

 

[grapeman]

Apparently excess exposure to oxygen isn't a terribly big factor or it wouldn't be used. You have at least two options if you are concerned about excess exposure.


1) Use an inert gas to top off with after stirring.


2)
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I think the first option would be cheaper.</>Edited by: appleman

 

[Jeff H]

Another opinion is to use a "lazy susan" turntable. I've done this with good success. They can be purchased at a kitchen store for about $11.00. I stirred every 4th day on the turntable for 3 times and then opened it up and stirred with a spoon. I figured this cut the oxidation potential down considerably.


Jeff


P.S. Thismethodis discussed under"Sur lie and bâtonnage" at this link:


http://www.brsquared.org/wine/Edited by: Jeff H

 

[grapeman]

Good idea Jeff. How fast do you need to spin the Lazy Susan to stir up the lees on the bottom? Would it increase efficiency if a piece of oak (small stick) was put in the bottom of the carboy- like a 6 inch piece of 1/2 inch oak dowel? That would definitely be cheaper than the magnetic stirrer.






I have an oak spiral at the bottom of a carboy of a white. I may have to try that idea and see how it works.

 

[Jeff H]

Agentle spin of the turntable gets the lees into suspension rather quickly. Iwould give it a reverse spinevery few turns which seemed to really churn things up.I don't see the need for an oak spiral but you never know what might work. It might bang around too muchbut I'd be interested to see how it goes.


When I did this, I was wondering if the air exposure was a positive element of the battonage process? If done early in the aging process there should still be enough CO2 present that oxidation shouldn't be a problem. This is the reason I still did a spoon stir every so often. I'll have to run some bench trials in the future to see if there is a difference.


Another opinion is the use of Biolees or the Sur Lie products.

 

[AlFulchino]

Jeff and Rich....building on the lazy susan and magnetic stirring machine....how about affix a magnet on the wall near the lazy susan that has the wine on it........have something magnetic sitting in the wine whne you are ready and rotate the lazy susan ...it sounds like it could come in somewhere between the cost of the lazy susan and that new machine for $2,000.00Edited by: Al Fulchino

 

[grapeman]

Now I think we are getting somewhere Al. The magnetic stirrer for $2000 was a tongue in cheek statement. I like the idea of using it for stirring, but it takes a big one to hold the carboy. If I was going to use one, I would take a smaller one for a couple hundred dollars and build a platform around it to hold the carboy or bigger container. Put the magnetic stirrer in the wine, turn it on and let it spin.