best method to age...

[rosa6329]

So I have a carboy filled with grand cru cab. Its been racked and re racked and re racked again. I heard that if you age it in a carboy every month add kmeta. What if you bottle it? You cant add kmeta. So whats best?

 

[millwright01]

I only add pot meta every 3 months in a carboy when bulk aging. I will add before bottling if not bulk aging though.

 

[Runningwolf]

I only add pot meta every 3 months in a carboy when bulk aging. I will add before bottling if not bulk aging though.

Dito what millwright said!

 

[Wade E]

Every 4 months seems to be more ontarget really. With most of my wines Ive found that after the initial 1/4 tsp of sulfite the need to add sulfites will slowly drop down but is still very crucial. At the 4 month mark I find I need a little less then 1/4 tsp and so on after that. Every time you add sulfites more and more S02 gets bound into your wine thus requiring less sulfites at your next addition. Remember that is also based on ph of your wine. The lower your ph the more sulfites you will need to protect your wine as the wine will be more suitable for bacteria to live in.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I always thought that keeping the acidity to low would cause infection.

The PH should be between 3.3 and 3.4 - which should leave the TA between .70 and .90.

Right???

 

[Flem]

You're right, Jon. The lower the pH, the less protection you need. I think Wade got his fingers twisted. LOL

 

[robie]

I am not saying you have, but just be sure and don't over rack your wine. Once you have racked once after clearing, don't rack again until/unless a significant amount of sediments has again collected at the bottom of the carboy. The longer the wine is in the carboy, the less often any sediment will appear.

Although, I like to rack when I get ready to bottle. That way, you don't have to worry so much about getting sediment in your bottles. Even this racking is not necessary if there is zero sediment present.