Cold Soak with Dry Ice

[s0615353]

I have been reading articles and watching videos that have featured commercial winemakers using dry ice to cold soak must. Has anyone used this on a smaller scale? If so:

1. How much dry ice do you need for smaller amounts of must (24 gallons worth) to cool down to the recommended temp. (40-55 F) for 2-3 days?

2. How frequently do you have to re-add the dry ice, or is it better to add a large amount at one time and let it thaw?

3. How cool it it to see a bubbling cauldron of wine in your garage?

 

[ibglowin]

I used it this year for the first time. I bought 5lbs for (8) 20G fermenters. It worked really well to cool things down into the mid 50's range or so for a couple of days. That gave me time to do my chemistry analysis and make adjustments. Thats really all I was interested in, not so much cold soak.

Just break it into small pieces and drop it in and take some temps. It will cool it down for ~24 hours easily. I don't believe in the need to cold soak these days with all the enzymes we have available its just not needed really.