Carboy Aging

[jumby]

Just curious, what's the longest time you aged your wine in a carboy? Personally, I try to bottle after about a year. I use silicone, vented bungs for aging too, so I don't have to worry about my airlocks going dry.

 

[mainshipfred]

I probably don't wait too much longer than a year, have one now that's more like 1.5 years. Do you think it makes any difference as long as you keep the sulfites up?

 

[jumby]

That's what I'm asking... I hit mine every 3 months with a dose of k-meta.

I probably don't wait too much longer than a year, have one now that's more like 1.5 years. Do you think it makes any difference as long as you keep the sulfites up?

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Just curious, what's the longest time you aged your wine in a carboy? Personally, I try to bottle after about a year. I use silicone, vented bungs for aging too, so I don't have to worry about my airlocks going dry.

The silicone, vented bungs is a neat tidbit I will add to my notes. Thankyou.

 

[Johnd]

I’ve had wine in carboys for over two years, also with silicone vented bungs, hardly ever opened them, sulfited twice a year. Here’s a link to the bungs: Silicone Stopper (Breathable) - Carboy | MoreWine

 

[DizzyIzzy]

I’ve had wine in carboys for over two years, also with silicone vented bungs, hardly ever opened them, sulfited twice a year. Here’s a link to the bungs: Silicone Stopper (Breathable) - Carboy | MoreWine

This is another great tip received this morning. I just visited the site and ordered three. Thankyou!

 

[pete1325]

I have wine in glass carboys since fall of 2018. rack every three months (or so) and have oak spirals soaking for a few months. Not sure I have an issue. what's the difference between carboy ageing and bottle ageing??

 

[Johnd]

I have wine in glass carboys since fall of 2018. rack every three months (or so) and have oak spirals soaking for a few months. Not sure I have an issue. what's the difference between carboy ageing and bottle ageing??

If you've kept them topped up and stayed on top of your sulfite levels, you should have no issues with the wine, it'll do just fine.

 

[SpoiledRotten]

If you've kept them topped up and stayed on top of your sulfite levels, you should have no issues with the wine, it'll do just fine.

Im wondering about this. If you have your carboy topped off, and keep the airlock maintained, why wouldn’t it last as long as corked in a bottle? Do you maintain sulfates in corked bottles, or is “corked” the key word here?

 

[cmason1957]

Corked is the key, the oxygen transfer rate through a cork is very small (not zero, but small) through an airlock and bung it is significantly higher. I don't have numbers to back this up.

 

[Johnd]

I’m on the same page with @cmason1957 on this topic, more O2 exposure from imperfect, leaky bungs / airlocks. Ignoring that fact, bottles have more O2 exposure per liter than a carboy, if they were sealed the same. Were you to multiply the airspaces in a bottle by 30 (# bottles in a 6 gal. carboy), it’d be way more than the little airspace in a topped up carboy. If you could cram a cork into a carboy, it’d be somewhere between a Solomon and a Sovereign bottle designation. Larger bottles that are corked, age more slowly than smaller bottles.