Cold Stabilization?

[hayseedjim]

I first started making my blackberry wines three years ago when I knew nothing about wine making. So, here is my problem. All of the wines that I have made are extremely acidic tasting, fantastic aromas though! They were all bottled in 2008 and 2009. I followed ec kraus recipes for acid blend. But now I know that living in the northwest has acidic everything. Is there a way of saving them? Can I cold stabilize the already bottled wines? Or, and this bothers me, do I dump them and start over?

 

[Waldo]

You might try doing just one bottle, see if it helps any

 

[Wade E]

If you do try dumping them all back in Carnot you should dissolve some kmeta and add it to the Carnot and gently rack each bottle onto that sulfite, don't just pour each bottle in or you may oxidize it all!

 

[grapeman]

I like Waldo's idea. Stick a bottle where it is a bit below freezing but notcolder than 22 deg F or at least the coldest spot in the refrigerator for a couple weeks. If there is acid that will drop, it will drop. Open the bottle and carefully pour out a sample and try it. If it is better, either do that to all of them or do as Wade suggested and put them all back into a carboy and do the cold stabilization on all of them.

 

[hayseedjim]

Last night I took a bottle out of the cold stabilization fridge that was in there for three weeks.That did the trick------ it was delicious!!!!!Thanks to all for the help.Jim

 

[Wade E]

Glad to hear that!!!! Was there a decent pile of crystals in there?

 

[hayseedjim]

I don't see any crystals at this point, but will know later tonight or tomorrow night when the bottle becomes less full

 

[hayseedjim]

No crystals. Opened a new bottle tonight and there appears to be no crystals. Out of curiosity, why did you think that there would be crystals in the bottle?

 

[hayseedjim]

WOW- This stuff just gets better and better after a month in the freezer. I might just do this on a regular basis with all of my wines. I also have a 5 gallon carboy in there as well for well over a month. I think I might try on all of my future wines.No crystals either...

 

[Wade E]

If there are no crystals then time is all your wine needed. Thats what cold stabilization does, it precipitates the excess acids out so if there is no crystals (crunchy sediment) then it is just time your wi ne needed.

 

[hayseedjim]

Cold Stabilization

Wade,
I really like the results of cold stabilization. You had mentioned crystals, I made a peach wine that have crystals in it. What are these crystals from and what did I do wrong to get them?

 

[Turock]

When you work with blackberries, if you adjust your acid with calcium carbonate, you will get a much better wine and it will need no CS. We freeze our berries first, use no water so we always have to acid adjust because water additions help bring the PH up, but give too dilute of a wine. We have high acid soil here,too. Calcium carbonate additions almost ALWAYS have to be made to everything we work with. We have never had to CS any of our blackberry using this method.

 

[grapeman]

Wade,
I really like the results of cold stabilization. You had mentioned crystals, I made a peach wine that have crystals in it. What are these crystals from and what did I do wrong to get them?

The crystals are generally tartaric acid crystals and precipitate out at lower temperatures. If you store the wine at lower temperatures they are more apt to form. That is why sometimes you can take a bottle of wine that is clear, and when you refrigerate it some crystals can form in the bottom. You did nothing wrong to get them. You can help prevent this from happening by doing the cold stabilization mentioned earlier.