Oxidation

[Man of the Stoa]

Hey guys,

I've made a few batches before, but this year is the first time I'm dealing with oxidation. I've got a few different projects going, and one of them is starting to brown a bit, turning from it's intended pink color to more of an orange color. I'll be racking in a couple weeks. Would it be wise to use the oxidized wine to top off the others, or would that ruin them all? I presume oxidation doesn't spread, the way, say, an acetobacter population would, but I've never dealt with this before.

Thanks,
MotS

 

[Rice_Guy]

Acetobacter is a microbe and will reproduce.
Oxidation as you are talking is a pigment/ suspended plant material. What I have seen is that a high percentage of this falls out in the lees.

and, , , welcome to the forum

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT, Porch Man!

 

[cmason1957]

Perhaps some extra details would help get you a better answer. Strawberry wine for one will often lose it's pretty pink color and turn orange, probably more due to not enough tannin to hold the color stable than any other reason. So what is it, maybe sg, ph, a few details.

Welcome to WMT, we try to be helpful, when we can!!

 

[Man of the Stoa]

Sure, I can do that. It's a wine from wild staghorn sumac, which makes a kind of pink lemonade drink. Didn't measure the ph, but probably fairly low. Starting s.g. of 1.084. I've made it before in years past, which is how I know the color is off from where it normally is. I left it in primary for about 10 days, which is why I think the color change might be a sign of oxidation.

 

[cmason1957]

Well, I had to look it up and it does look nice pretty red from the pictures I saw. Obviously I have never made it. 10 days in primary, assuming you mean 10 days not under an airlock might cause some oxidation. you might try treating it with powdered skim milk. I have never tried this, but the procedure is documented here: Correcting oxidized wine

I'll put the salient words here, in case someone else needs some help also and that link has left the building:

The procedure:

1. Calculate the amount of wine to be treated, in liters, and for each liter of wine measure out 0.5 gm of powdered skim milk into five (5) mL of cold water. Stir into a solution making sure all the skim milk is dissolved. NOTE: It is important that you use powdered skim milk, not de-creamed whole milk or malted milk.
2. Now bring the S02 level of the wine up to the required amount with respect to the pH.
3. Stir the wine vigorously and while it’s swirling, add the skim milk solution by pouring a single stream like what would come out of a sink faucet to make it enter the wine well below the surface. There may be a bit of foaming, but it will dissipate. Continue to stir the wine to ensure all the skim milk is well-distributed. It is important that the skim milk solution enters well below the surface. If you pour it on the surface, little, or nothing, will happen. I think the air is already having an effect on it. I have done this and botched ‘the pour’ before and it did nothing for the wine. Once the skim milk is fully distributed, brown curds will develop in the wine but will ultimately settle out.
4. Replace the airlock and allow the wine to settle for 2-3 days. Meanwhile, prepare a fining agent for fining the wine if you want to try to polish the wine again. I have skipped this with good success.
5. After 2-3 days, rack the wine off the oxidase curds into a clean carboy and stir in the fining agent (if you do one.) Allow this to settle for about 10 days, then rack the wine off the lees. Add an airlock. Filter and bottle.

 

[Man of the Stoa]

Thanks for the advice and the welcome. I appreciate it