Traminette

[Charlietuna]

I have about 9 gallons of this wine. Crushed the grapes, pressed & fermented. Stabilized & cleared. It looks very nice.

As I've said in a few other posts, this is my first season of making wine from grapes, but I have years of experience in fruit wines & kits. Along with that I know very little about white wines. I'm planning on leaving 5ish gallon dry & then adding some strawberry kiwi extract & sugar to sweeten up the rest.

My question is since this is clear can I go ahead & finish it out? Bottle it? Or do I need to cold stabilize it over the winter in the carboys? If I don't keep it in the carboys will acid crystals fall out in the bottles? Again, sorry for my ignorance, this is a new process for me.

I also have 23 gallon of Vidal Blanc that I will finish out in a similar way.

Thanks again,

Brian

 

[ceeaton]

I am assuming you just got these grapes a month or so ago. Time is your friend, I'd let it hang in the carboy so that 1) you can cold stabilize a bit and let those wine diamonds form, if they are going to, and 2) more time for any residual clearing agents you used and/or yeast to settle out. I'd go at least 3 months if not 6 before bottling it. If you really want some for Christmas, bottle a gallon or so worth (5 bottles) and move the remaining wine to a smaller carboy and bottle that later this winter.

 

[Charlietuna]

That's what I was thinking the advice would be.
Has anyone ever dropped a carboy into a deep freeze for a few weeks?

 

[ceeaton]

That's what I was thinking the advice would be.
Has anyone ever dropped a carboy into a deep freeze for a few weeks?

My deep freeze is the garage right off my kitchen. I have an inside thermometer (to measure the ambient temperature) that I put an alarm on set for 22*F. If it hits 18*F I'm screwed, so the 22* setting gives me a few minutes... Usually anything below 40*F or so will give results in a few days to a week. Anything below freezing gives results once the wine gets close to the ambient temperature, which is a day or so at most.

Now that I think of it, if you could find a space with a normal temperature of around 33*F you could safely cold stabilize without worrying about it getting too low for too long.

 

[Charlietuna]

So if I can find an old fridge or better a large deep freeze & modify the thermostat , I could set it for mid 30's & do the carboys in 2 week spans. ?

 

[ceeaton]

So if I can find an old fridge or better a large deep freeze & modify the thermostat , I could set it for mid 30's & do the carboys in 2 week spans. ?

Yes. I have a temperature controller that used to run a fridge I used for lagers. I still have the controller but no extra fridge. You could set it just above freezing, that way you would only have to check on it every now and then to see if anything had precipitated out.