once wine is bottled is additional kmeta & sorbate needed?

[shanek17]

I have a 5 Gal red wine that has bulk aged for one month in carboy, before I bulk aged it I also added the recommended kmeta to it. But now I am wanting to bottle it and let it age for up to a year in bottles. But I am confused because I have always been told that when bulk aging (in carboy) to add approriate amounts of kmeta every 3 months. So if Its bottled then do I continue to add kmeta every 3 months? What about sorbate for backsweeting? do you also need to add more sorbate every 3 months ?

You see with this wine I did something new for me, I backsweetend it 1 week ago. I added 4 grams of sorbate and 1/8 tsp of kmeta to help out. Im just worried that there could be re fermentation in the bottles.

Does anyone know how long the kmeta and sorbate will stay strong in the bottles for ? I notice alot of people continually add kmeta doses to wine bulk aging , which leads me to believe that the small doses of kmeta dont keep strong for long. Any clarification would be great here!

 

[djrockinsteve]

I bulk age my reds a year and once it's cleared I sulfite then do not sulfite again until I go to back sweeten. I will add a pinch then along with sorbate. Once you bottle no more chemicals need be added providing you have added the correct amounts.

 

[Rocky]

Shane, if you are not actually measuring your free SO2, you probably would be safe adding 1/4 t to 5 gallons every 4 months or so. If you are going to age the wine for a year, I would leave it in the carboy for now. You say it has been there a month so I would leave it for 3 more months and add 1/4 t or k-meta, leave it for 4 months more, add another 1/4 t of k-meta and then bottle it.

 

[shanek17]

Shane, if you are not actually measuring your free SO2, you probably would be safe adding 1/4 t to 5 gallons every 4 months or so. If you are going to age the wine for a year, I would leave it in the carboy for now. You say it has been there a month so I would leave it for 3 more months and add 1/4 t or k-meta, leave it for 4 months more, add another 1/4 t of k-meta and then bottle it.

Id love to leave it in carboy but i made my first natural clover honey mead and i gots to make room for it! lol. I really should get some more 5 gal carboys as i only have the one rite now. And the 6 gals are just too big , and i sure wont be waterin down my mead to fit in a 6 gal carboy. hmmm unless i added some marbles to the 6 gal carboy...i wonder how many marbles id need to equal a gallon of water...

 

[shanek17]

well actually Im not just wanting to bottle this wine to free up the 5 gal carboy..there are a couple other factors im considering here. Iv recently heard that letting wines bulk age with an airlock or even a solid bung can let air get to your wine and possibly affect the flavour or aroma. So if i get it into screw top bottles I can have them sealed properly.

Also I was just reading in another thread ( i think the thread was bulk aging vs bottles) that wines actually age quicker in smaller quantities. Which is interesting, because I typically bottle wine in 750 ml bottles, which are some of the smallest bottles available, so If i can speed up the aging process of my wines and have them improve quicker then that would be great.

 

[Deezil]

Also I was just reading in another thread ( i think the thread was bulk aging vs bottles) that wines actually age quicker in smaller quantities. Which is interesting, because I typically bottle wine in 750 ml bottles, which are some of the smallest bottles available, so If i can speed up the aging process of my wines and have them improve quicker then that would be great.

The flip side to this coin, for anyone whos wondering, "wheres the downside?"... Generally / theoretically speaking here, wines tend to only "last" for as long as they "aged"..... So if your favorite wine in the world, ages quickly, and is ready to drink in a year.... It's only gonna be at its best for another year... But if you give it 2-3 years to find itself, theres a good chance that it'll be "that same bottle of wine" for another 2-3 years after it hits that sweet-spot

 

[saramc]

In an effort to get the best out of your red wine, you really need to bulk age this in the carboy for at least one year, dosing with at least 1/8th teaspoon of k-meta/5 gallons every quarter and then prior to bottling dose with 1/4tsp k-meta per 5 gallons + 1/2 tsp sorbate per gallon if you plan on backsweetening at all, if not backsweetening just use 1/4 tsp k-meta per 5 gallons. Of course, if you have SO2 test kit this allows you determine how much k-meta you should be adding, takes the guess work out of it. The sorbate acts in synergy with the k-meta to prevent refermentation, but you should always give it a good 10-14 days to monitor by S.G. check for refermentation, then rack it one final time and bottle.
If you rush to bottle you have no chance to monitor your wine whereas if it was bulk aging in the carboy, if you needed to adjust something well, there it is for you to work on. Once bottled, if you run into trouble you have to decant everything, you have loss of corks, bottles to clean/sanitize, and risked your wine to unnecessary oxygen exposure. It is just not work the risk (IMHO).

You said your wine has been "bulk-aging" for just one month? When did you start this wine, what kind is it? Is it even clear and no longer dropping sediment and degassed?

As far as using glass marbles, I find that three pounds will displace one LITER, so you will need at least 11+ pounds to displace one gallon.