days away from first batch bottling

[Jucks]

Good Evening,

First thanks for all the previous assistance you guys have given me during this first batch of wine. I have a few bottling questions if you don't mind.

My starting gravity was 1.085 and ending was .0996. I'm imagining I'm low enough to not have to worry about refermentation, and do not plan on adding grape juice to the final product. So I'm guessing I don't need to use Potassium Sorbate?

I've worked on keeping this batch low sulfite. I know that once bottled, I'll want to add some sulfite to keep it from going bad / give it decent shelf life. Should I add sulfites before bottling? And if so, how much would you suggest for say a 6 month to 1 year shelf life?

Any final thoughts or anything you've learned from experience that you would suggest during bottling? I did pick up a drill wand to take out the CO2.

Thanks again!!

Jucks

 

[NorCal]

Jucks, is your wine clear? You'll want it to be clear before considering bottling. No need for sorbate if you are not backsweetening. Assuming 3.5 pH or so, add 50ppm SO2.

 

[Jucks]

ph was right around 3.5 / 3.6. I used bentonite to clear it, but it was relatively clear to begin with.

 

[Scooter68]

How long has it been aging?

Your initial posts on wine making were in June and if that's when you started this batch - It's really really early to be bottling at this point. Even if the wine looks clear now it could drop more sediment in the next 3-6 months.

 

[Jucks]

Its aged a month after fermentation.

The main concern I'd have is that I kept it really low sulfite. From my earlier posts, some suggested not to age too long, as with low sulfites I wouldn't have much life expectancy to the wine.

 

[Scooter68]

Most important is the taste. A wine that young is going to have more bite to it. I would suggest let your wife have taste before bottling. I think I remember it was her desire because of sulfite concerns? In any case make sure you both like it. Most wines are going to take about a year to lose that sharp edge.