how cold?

[rrawhide]

Hi all

Question - How cold does it have to get to 'bother' stored wine? My wine room is staying about 44 degrees. There is only bulk wine and bottled wine in there. About 12 carboys and 300 bottles. Does cold bother 'still wine'? and what would it do if it does anything?

Thanx for your advise. I could pit a lilttle electric heater in the room if necessary but - - -

rhanx

rrawhide

 

[grapeman]

It shouldn't bother the wine, but optimal storage temps are in the mid 50's. The bulk aging wines will precipitate out some acids and make wine diamonds. They will get racked off before bottling so no problem. The bottled ones though will likely have some diamonds in them when you open them- not really a problem-just don't try to drink them or it's a bit gritty.

 

[rrawhide]

thanx appleman

sure appreciate it -

by the way do you start new 'kits' in the winter? I just received a brew belt but have yet to try it. I also have a heater that goes under a 'critter' aquarium and have not tried that yet also.

If so, what do you do and at what temp?

thanx

ps I ask because I have two kits staring at me whenever I do into the winery.

 

[grapeman]

If I do any kits in the winter here it is in the house not the winery. I am sitting betwwen 45 and 50 in the winery right now. It would be too hard to get fermentation going- so I wait or bring inside in the furnace room. You could do the same. The belt and pad would help but they will only raise it about 10 degrees so keep that in mind.

 

[Wade E]

Those temps are too cold for a brew belt like appleman said.

 

[Rocky_Top]

does a brew belt turn off at74 deg.or does it just raise the temp 10 deg. ? If you use two you coud raise the temp 20 deg.

 

[Wade E]

A brew belt does not turn off on will hold a temp around 75* or about 10* warmer then area its in. The only problem is once you get the wine going good the fermentation will produce its own heat so you have to monitor your wine temp, not your room temp as the wine can get much hotter if its fermenting very good and you have a brew bely on aand you could stress your yeats and burn it out.
Edited by: wade

 

[Mark]

You could also wrap an old jacket or a thick layer of towels around the carboy/belt to keep some of the heat from ecaping. Probably want to keep a closeeye on the temp until you know what it'll do, though.