Stags Leap Merlot

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Jose' Miller

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2018
Messages
32
Reaction score
2
I am slightly confused. Wow.....was trying to keep that a secret...haha. Seriously though, I was reading the instructions of my SLM before starting...:br and during my read after the degassing stage it said not to worry about topping off the carboy because it would only be in there, don't qoute me but I think around 28 days. I know from reading the forums that aging is very important for the wine to reach it's potential. Is there a magic time-grace period where you are okay not to top off. I was under the impression after fermentation stops it should be topped. Could anyone she'd some light on this for me.
 
I am slightly confused. Wow.....was trying to keep that a secret...haha. Seriously though, I was reading the instructions of my SLM before starting...:br and during my read after the degassing stage it said not to worry about topping off the carboy because it would only be in there, don't qoute me but I think around 28 days. I know from reading the forums that aging is very important for the wine to reach it's potential. Is there a magic time-grace period where you are okay not to top off. I was under the impression after fermentation stops it should be topped. Could anyone she'd some light on this for me.

I don’t think there’s a magic period of time, it’s just about good practice. Sure, you can probably get away with it, but if you’re planning to age your wine beyond the kit times (which are woefully inadequate, IMHO), topping off is the proper winemaking technique to employ.

If / when you start making wine from grapes or fruits, there’ll be very little to guide you through the process other than the habits you form and experience you gain with your kits (and WMT of course!!). Topping up is a good habit to have,
 
I believe the instructions for the last step (or at some point) note that if you are going to extend the aging period, you need to top it up. During the few weeks of kit time aging the thinking I believe is that there is enough co2, free sulfites etc to protect the wine, but if you go longer you need to worry about over exposure to air.

I just did this same kit about 3 months ago. Left it untopped during kit time and racked down to put it into bulk. My thinking was to somehow get a little air in it like it would if it was barrel aged. Tasting about like I would expect right now.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top