hot weather playing hell with wine

[sdmbrandy]

Let me ask these two questions and how about some feedback please. I live in NE Pennsylvania and we have been having horrific hot weather these last 3 months. I made different kinds of wine and the aging times call for at least 6 months. Okay, find and dandy. Waited and now some wines I made in April are ready now to be bottled in July despite the fact I kept them in a basement but with the temperature in the basement was in the low 80's the last month. My questions are as follows:

1. How do I adjust the aging time to account for the high temps?
2. I guess there is no way to salvage the wine ones it goes bad ? (Dumped out 10 gallons blueberry and 2 gallons elderberry last night)

 

[Runningwolf]

I don't understand or I'm missing something.If you want to age for 6 month's temp does not play a role in bottling any sooner. You might get a faster fermentaion but thats ok. Keep up with your rackings and keep the S02 in check and you should be ok. Think about the folks down South, their temps are much higher then yours.

 

[Julie]

I agree with Runningwolf, you will be fine. I do have to ask why did you feel you had to dump the blueberry and elderberry?

 

[ffemt128]

Not sure what would make you dump the wine. If it was less than 6 months old, I'd be curiouos what was wrong. I agree with what Dan said about aging and fermentation. Time to bottle should not be dictated by temps, it should be dictated by clarity of wine.

 

[Wade E]

What they said!!!!!

 

[winemaker_3352]

Ditto to that as well...

 

[southlake333]

Wow...80 degrees is comfy here in Texas. Since Air Conditioning is mandatory here (and basements rare) it doesn't really matter what the temp is outside. My carboys stay at the same temp inside my house. Are basements normally not climate controlled at all up north?

 

[robie]

The larger the vessel, the slower is the aging process. However, the higher the temperature, the faster the aging.

Your wine will not go bad just because of the heat, but it certainly can speed up the aging some for it to be in 80F environment. However, there is not much you can do about that until the Fall or better weather arrives.

As was said, the wine might age a little faster in the smaller bottles, but very soon the temperature will be much lower, so when you bottle is not much of a factor.

In the end, unless you have a very discerning taste, you likely won't know the difference.

 

[RCGoodin]

Let me ask these two questions and how about some feedback please. I live in NE Pennsylvania and we have been having horrific hot weather these last 3 months. I made different kinds of wine and the aging times call for at least 6 months. Okay, find and dandy. Waited and now some wines I made in April are ready now to be bottled in July despite the fact I kept them in a basement but with the temperature in the basement was in the low 80's the last month. My questions are as follows:

1. How do I adjust the aging time to account for the high temps?
2. I guess there is no way to salvage the wine ones it goes bad ? (Dumped out 10 gallons blueberry and 2 gallons elderberry last night)

I live in the Phoenix area and my lab is usually at 79-81 degrees. I do not have any problems making wine. I worried about that when I started, but not anymore.

I hope you're not giving up to early. Were there other reasons for dumping the wine?

 

[shoebiedoo]

sdmbrandy, What you're thinking of pertains more to long term aging. those high temps will come into play when aging wines for decades not a couple years and certainly not months.

 

[Sammyk]

It has been real hot here in NC and I too had the same concerns since my wine is aging in 1 gallon carboys in the crawl space with airlocks. That temperature is now up to around 75 degrees in the crawl space.

 

[oldwhiskers]

The way this summer has been here, I would be more than happy with 80 degree temps. The temps have not affected mine that I can tell, but maybe my wine tastes aren't refined.

 

[southlake333]

The way this summer has been here, I would be more than happy with 80 degree temps. The temps have not affected mine that I can tell, but maybe my wine tastes aren't refined.

Driving home from work yesterday my car said it was 109 outside. Thank God for AC!!

 

[oldwhiskers]

Driving home from work yesterday my car said it was 109 outside. Thank God for AC!!

I know, it's sad when you're glad to see the cool down and think 95 is cool.

 

[juventude]

If you think 80 is high come here in malta bloody small island this summer had 2 weeks 104 and 45 % humidity, and in my lab i have no control on temp ... Wine is still fine last batch i made it cleared out in about 3 weeks racked twice and is just fine till today...

 

[ThePlantGuy978]

So what's your problem. You live in a cool climate. I live in Dalton. GA., a little south of Chatt. Tn. We had temps up to 107. My wine room in the basement stayed between 85-90. My wine will be fine, as always.

Hans

 

[Sammyk]

Let me get this straight. High temps are NOT bad for aging wine? Even in carboys with airlocks?

 

[Sammyk]

Ok so I don't mean to appear dense. When I asked about aging wine in the spring when the temperatures were going up here, I was told to keep it as cool as possible. This is confusing because now many others say that the heat will not have any effect on the aging wine. I guess I need to go back and find that thread............

 

[sdmbrandy]

Thanks for your help everyone but the reason that I dumped all that wine is because I was having alot of problems with the wine. What I mean by that in the one glass carboy there was white mold growing on the surface of the wine and one thing I do not mess around with is mold-white, green or any other color. The other reason is that the wine in the other glass carboys got a funky smell to them which reminded of sherry wine which I do not like. Normally basements underground like mine are nice and cool in the summertime but this year the weather in the month of July was I do believe 40% hotter than average with 90 degree weather almost every day. The instructions that I use to make wine call for a 6 month aging time and I was trying to find out if there is a formula to use to adjust the aging time due to higher temperatures. There is a local wine and beer making store near me and I already talked to the owner about my problem but no help in that matter from him.

 

[Julie]

If you had mold and a funky smell, my first thought was you are not adding enough sulfite and possibly a low alcohol level.

Would you be willing to post up your recipe and your procedure on the wines that you dumped? We might be able to help you in preventing this happening again. I really do not believe the warm basement was the cause of this.