Extended maceration

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I’m sure this question has been answered but I can’t see to find it.

I have five buckets of juice fermenting. In three of them I added skins (that’s all I had). Today the SG was at 1.010 on all of them so I snapped the lids and put under airlock. I may have to go out of town and these lids may be on for up to six weeks. Is it ok to leave the two buckets without skins in that long? Also, how important is it to get the wine off the lees?
 
I'm sure that others will weigh in - perhaps differently - if this was my wine, I would press. You're at approximately 2.5 brix, which is dry enough to press, IMO.

Although six weeks on the skins is doable, you'll need optimal conditions. Simply snapping down the lids and installing airlocks would give me pause. What if your airlocks evaporate? What if the lids are not totally sealed? What is the temperature now and how will that change over the next six weeks? I could come up with more questions, but you get the point.

In short, the risk spoilage exceeds the benefits. Again, if this was my wine, I would press now, settle out (2 days) and rack. Then, leave town. But, only after I had relative certainty of sealed containers.
 
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I'm sure that others will weigh in - perhaps differently - if this was my wine, I would press. You're at approximately 2.5 brix, which is dry enough to press, IMO.

Although, six weeks on the skins is doable you'll need optimal conditions. Simply snapping down the lids and installing airlocks would give me pause. What if your airlocks evaporate? What if the lids are not totally sealed? What is the temperature now and how will that change over the next six weeks? I could come up with more questions, but you get the point.

In short, the risk spoilage exceeds the benefits. Again, if this was my wine, I would press now, settle out (2 days) and rack. Then, leave town. But, only after I had relative certainty of sealed containers.
Thank you for your reply. The wine was made from juice and I added skins in Cheese cloth bags. I may leave as long as I can and rack before leaving. It’s a funeral, so my departure date is uncertain.
 
Folks on this forum have reported success doing EM up to 8 weeks. This requires the fermenter be tightly sealed when the SG is at 1.010, to ensure sufficient CO2 is emitted to displace air. Based upon member reports, I trust that the process works.

However, I have concerns regarding the amount of tannin that is extracted, as tannin extraction continues during the full duration of the EM. This technique supposedly originated in Burgundy to make long aging wines.

Is this what you want?

Is it possible the wine will ferment to completion before you leave? If so, gross lees supposedly drops within 24 to 72 hours of the end of fermentation, so if you can wait a couple days after fermentation completes, you can rack/press with no problems.

It appears you have little choice, so rack/press as late as you can, get the wine under airlock, and fill the airlocks as full as you can.
 
Folks on this forum have reported success doing EM up to 8 weeks. This requires the fermenter be tightly sealed when the SG is at 1.010, to ensure sufficient CO2 is emitted to displace air. Based upon member reports, I trust that the process works.

However, I have concerns regarding the amount of tannin that is extracted, as tannin extraction continues during the full duration of the EM. This technique supposedly originated in Burgundy to make long aging wines.

Is this what you want?

Is it possible the wine will ferment to completion before you leave? If so, gross lees supposedly drops within 24 to 72 hours of the end of fermentation, so if you can wait a couple days after fermentation completes, you can rack/press with no problems.

It appears you have little choice, so rack/press as late as you can, get the wine under airlock, and fill the airlocks as full as you can
Folks on this forum have reported success doing EM up to 8 weeks. This requires the fermenter be tightly sealed when the SG is at 1.010, to ensure sufficient CO2 is emitted to displace air. Based upon member reports, I trust that the process works.

However, I have concerns regarding the amount of tannin that is extracted, as tannin extraction continues during the full duration of the EM. This technique supposedly originated in Burgundy to make long aging wines.

Is this what you want?

Is it possible the wine will ferment to completion before you leave? If so, gross lees supposedly drops within 24 to 72 hours of the end of fermentation, so if you can wait a couple days after fermentation completes, you can rack/press with no problems.

It appears you have little choice, so rack/press as late as you can, get the wine under airlock, and fill the airlocks as full as you can.
lets say SG does not drop to .996-97 before I have to leave. Should I add k-meta to the carboys or skip that and rack again and degass in a few weeks?
 
lets say SG does not drop to .996-97 before I have to leave. Should I add k-meta to the carboys or skip that and rack again and degass in a few weeks?
 
lets say SG does not drop to .996-97 before I have to leave. Should I add k-meta to the carboys or skip that and rack again and degass in a few weeks?
I'd not add K-meta if fermentation was not complete. While commercial yeast should not be affected, I'd not risk a stuck fermentation.

If it were me, I'd rack off the existing sludge -- although I'd do a dirty rack to avoid unnecessary loss of wine -- and deal with the carboy when I got home. By "dirty rack" I mean I'd suck up a bit of sludge instead of leaving good wine behind.

This is not ideal. But my take on your situation is that you gotta go -- been there and appreciate the gravity. When you get home, immediately rack the wine and hit it with K-meta.
 

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