WineXpert Bulk Aging, is it necessary? - Winexpert

[SB Ranch]

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Thank you for your contact and for choosing our products. You can bulk age the wine if you wish. You would follow the instructions up to bottling day, rack the wine into a new clean vessel - make sure you have added the extra 1/4 teaspoon of metabisulpohite mixed in 1/2 cup cool water - top it up with a similar wine and let it age. There is no reason to rack a wine that is not sitting on a lot of sediment - soracking every 3 months (as you have mentioned)is not necessary. Each time you rack you would have to monitor the sulphite levels etc.

Bulk pros:

* All of the wine ages at the same rate
* Bulk size shields against rapid temperature change
* Any sediment drop-out left in carboy

Bottle pros

* Convenient storage (carboy is bulky)
* No worries about drying out airlocks
* Can try wine periodically

Otherwise there is no difference between aging wine in bottles or in bulk.
Keep in mind that all the expensive wines you've ever seen have been aging
in bottles, not in bulk, and when a connoisseur ages wine for 20 years, he
does it in bottles.

Every thing I read leads me to believe that extending the process out nine months is better for the wine.

Aging is the key - whether it be bottle or bulk aging - time does wonders for any wine.

With age, most red wines which begin life with obvious fruity aromas and some degree of astringency ('bite') will develop softer, gentler, more complex aromas and flavours. The wines become richer, as the fruit mellows and the astringent tannins relax and contribute to the body and character.
Cheers,

Linda Kazakoff

Customer Service
Winexpert Inc.
<?amespace prefix = st1 ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficearttags" /><st1:Street wt="on"><st1ddress wt="on">1622 Kebet Way</st1ddress></st1:Street>
<st1:City wt="on"><st1lace wt="on">Port Coquitlam</st1lace></st1:City>, B.C.
V3C 5W9
604-941-5588

 

[Wade E]

The only thing that I can add to that is that any good wine producer has already aged its wine in a barrel so in essence, they have bulk aged their wine in the best way possible.
Edited by: wade

 

[geocorn]

There is a marked improvement in every kit wine that I have made that has aged for 1 year.

 

[SB Ranch]

I’d probably skip the 3-month rackings—the wine will be clear, and more racking only means more work, and more chance of oxidation.

Here’s an excerpt from ‘Making your kit wine shine’, an article I wrote for Winemaker magazine (http://winemakermag.com/feature/28.html )

The instructions that come with the kits are designed to produce good wine in 4 to 6 weeks. With more time (and less effort) you can produce great wine. By relying on specific gravity readings to guide your racking from the primary fermenter to the carboy, or to a clean carboy, rather than simply following the recipe for a set period of ‘days’, you can make noticeable improvements in your wine. Of course, all the kit instructions ask you to do this anyway, but not many people follow through.

Instruction sets have a set period for each phase of winemaking usually something like 7–21–28 (7 days in the primary, 14 days secondary, add stabilizers and finings, and bottle 7 days later). A better sequence would go something like 5–20–40–90 schedule.

The 5-day primary fermentation period is arbitrary. Good winemaking techniques normally dictate transferring to the secondary once the danger of foaming through the airlock has subsided, so monitor the fermentation (the specific gravity should be less than 1.010 in most cases) and rack when the most vigorous bubbling is finished. As an alternative, if you have a 6.5-gallon (25-litre) carboy you may wish to conduct the primary fermentation there, under an airlock. Be wary, however, of oak powders or other additives that may foam up and clog the bung, possibly resulting in a messy spray. There are other schemes, such as using two five-gallon carboys, but however you do it, please ensure that the kit is rehydrated to the correct volume before pitching your yeast (more on this below).

Fifteen days after racking to the secondary test the gravity, rack, fine and stabilize, then leave the wine 20 days to finish settling. Test the gravity, rack again and leave a further 50 days before bottling or bulk aging. (Bulk aging is holding the wine in the carboy for an extended period. This replicates bottle age, with the side benefit that it gives a very long period for the wine to finish clearing on its own.)

Conscientious topping up and careful attention to sulfite levels will prevent oxidation in the carboy over this period. Once the 90 days has passed, you can go to a solid rubber or silicone bung instead of a bung and airlock, to further reduce the chances of oxidation. Most white kit wines will be ready to bottle after 90 days, but the heavier reds will improve for at least a further 90 days.

There comes a point of diminishing returns, however, and a bottle is a perfectly good place to age wine as well. If you’re stuck for fermenting and storage space, go ahead and bottle after the 90 day period, but remember to try and hold your wine for at least three months before sampling it.


Tim Vandergrift
Technical Services Manager
Winexpert Ltd

 

[laneygirl]

Thanks, Tim for the enhanced instructions for Winexpert kits. I have read quite a few posts to this website about degassing and the kit instructions do not mention this nor do you here. What is your view on the necessity of it? I have experienced a bitt of C02 bite or fizz in a couple batches of wine that I have made. I am fairly new to wine making and just want to produce a high quality bottle without this. Will bulk aging for longer take care of it?

 

[Wade E]

That was SBR quoting an article written by Tim Vandergrift. Bulk aging will rid the wine of most if not all but this will take at least a year. Degassing well must be done well before adding fining agents or it will not clear properly. Bulk aging will remove more gas then need be to fine but you must do a decent job to clear the wine. Temp has a great deal to do with this also as degassing really takes place at 75 -78*. Cooler temps will help a wine clear and between these temps wll help a wine degas.