question on bottle timing

[muskie003]

I have three carboys that been going since October. usually leave the wine in the glass for 6 months minimum. I use oak chips and just took them out last weekend. are there any pros or cons to just bottling them now? I mean, glass bottle or glass carboy with no oak at this point, whats the difference? I haven't noticed any activity in them for some time now. should the liquid in my airlock be the determining factor? any suggestions???

 

[cmason1957]

Are they clear?
Are they stabilized?
Are they degassed?
Are there any lees on the bottom of the carboy?

The liquid in your airlock shouldn't really have any impact on whether they are ready to bottle or not.

One big con to bottling now, is if it isn't ready yet and you bottle, you may be uncorking all those bottles and putting them back into a carboy for a bit.

It is seldom a bad idea to wait, just make sure your potassium meta-bisulphite levels are good. If you don't have equipment to test it, then 1/4 tsp every three months.

 

[salcoco]

one last question how does it taste? aging in carboy will help tannin integration form the oak

 

[RickC]

I tend to bottle at 6 months assuming cleared, stabilized, and finished tweaking with oak or tannins. I seldom tweak after that. But part of my problem is limited space for carboy storage.


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[sour_grapes]

But part of my problem is limited space for carboy storage.

Yup. For me it is all about the compromise between being able to make tweaks before bottling, and the throughput of new kits. I have settled on a compromise of bottling about 110 days from pitching yeast. This lets me start one kit a month with 4 carboys, and I still always have an empty carboy to rack into.

 

[muskie003]

thanks for the input. you convinced me to keep it in the carboy a bit longer.

 

[NoSourGrapes]

If the wine was in a barrel, does that change the consideration? The local winemaker keeps his 12-18 months in the barrel. Does aging in carboys accelerate the process? Or is at a point of diminishing returns and a compromise for, as mentioned, space and equipment?

 

[JohnT]

Barrel aging provides three major benefits that you can not achieve by just aging wine in a carboy. Each benefit can be controlled by the amount of time the wine spends in the barrel

There is oak flavor that is imparted into the wine.

Barrel ageing also provides micro-oxidation that serves to soften the wine and reduce the level of tannins present.

Finally, barrel ageing allows for evaporation and a concentration of flavors in the wine. This is evident when having to "top-off" the barrel from time to time (aka the angel's share).

This is a matter of taste on just how much of the above three benefits one wants in their wine. A rule of thumb is that you should barrel age 1 week for each gallon the barrel holds.

 

[Turock]

These sound like reds. This type of wine--if not a kit--should be bulk aged for at least 1 year. You are doing yourself a disservice by bottling just to get a carboy opened up. The only path is to invest in more carboys so that you can age your wines correctly and give the wine time to rid itself of unstable components by dropping them out. This only happens if you give the wine enough time in bulk aging.