Cold stabilization

[jswordy]

I have 5 gallons of muscadine that is the best wine I have ever made, a gallon of second-pressing muscadine and 7.5 gallons of bluberry-muscadine blend. All excellent sweet wines.

The gallon of second-pressing has been in the fridge awhile, and sure enough, it dropped tartrate crystals. This makes me concerned about aging my muscadine and blueberry-muscadine mix, so I am considering cold stabilization and some rudimentary filtering using a pour-through automotive paint filter

Neither have crystals now, but neither has been cooled like they will be in the cellar, either.

Couple ways I could go. I could cold stabilize by setting the carboy in a cooler and packing it with ice. Or I could repackage into gallons and set those in my fridge. The fridge would offer longer-term cold but it would be a bear to get enough gallon jugs together to do it, even one carboy at a time.

What do you think?

If I do it with ice, how many days does it have to be cold to let the crystals fall out?

 

[rjb222]

Getting the wine close to freezing for two weeks is ideal. But lowering the temperature will drop crystals. The thing is if the temperature drops lower the wine will drop crystals again. What you are suggesting will work if you can sustain the temperature for a couple weeks.