Wine diamonds ?.

[swillologist]

I made a wine out of home grown grapes. I presume they were concord grapes. The wine appeared to be clear so I didn't use any fining with it. This is probably where my problem started. I bottled it a couple of weeks ago and put it in my storage area. I wasn't paying enough attention to the temperature in my storage area. It got down to around 40 degrees. Now I have what looks like a lot of wine diamonds in the bottles. Now I'm talking a lot. I'll try to take a picture tomorrow. The question is. If I am careful can I open the bottles put it back into a carboy for a couple of days and re-bottle it? If I do this should I add k-meta to it? I didput Potassium Sorbate in to stabilize it before I bottled it.

 

[gc605]

Sounds like you've got tartrates. When wine is in cold storage like that, potassium bitartrate (KHT) will precipitate out of the solution. Most wineries will do something knows as "cold stabilization"--chilling the wine to such a point where the KHT falls out before bottling. It's completely harmless, but maybe not the most aesthetically pleasing. There's no need to re-bottle, unless you really don't like the look of it.

 

[grapeman]

gc was right on the money there swill. There is no need to rebottle. You just run the risk of oxidizing the wine a bit by rebottling. Just pour carefully to avoid them in the glasses and no problem. You unintentionally did what is usually done by any winery to help avoid them in the bottles. It is a sign that there was quite a bit of tartaric acid in the wine, so the finish should be a bit smoother now than before.

 

[swillologist]

Thanks guys. It looks pretty bad. I have a picture now. I am going to give about half of the batch to the people that grew the grapes. I was hope it would be nice looking anyway. That was the reason I was thinking about re bottling.

I was going to try to make hose system to where I would get the least amount of air exposure as possible getting it back into the carboy.


KHT? Is that what give the little bit on the tongue after you take a drink? If it is then this is a good thing. I will move my carboy to the fridge in the garage next year. Live and learn I guess.

 

[grapeman]

You might want to uncork one of them swill and pour a nice glass full and examine it closer. Are those crystals on the side of it? Do they stay there when you pour it out? If it pours clear you could leave it. If it pours out with the wine, I think I would put it back in a bucket and filter it and rebottle. If you do, just don't splash it around a lot.








I was able to set all but 3 of my reds in the garage this am to work on a few weeks of cold stabilization of them. The three of them started MLF late and are still crackling and bubbling away. I'm hoping they finish soon- if not I may need to stop them with k-meta and cold. If I don't start CS on them soon, it will be getting a bit warm to be sucessful for them.


Good luck with yours.

 

[swillologist]

They are floaters appleman. They do settle to the bottom. I tried to get a picture but you can't see it in the picture. I think I'm going to go trythe re bottling and see how it comes out. Supposed to be another strom move through tomorrow. That will give me something to do.

 

[grapeman]

If it is floaters, then it likely isn't crystals- they sink. I just racked the last of the whites this AM that had been cold stabilizing and it forms a crust on the bottom of the carboys about 1/32 inch thick. Out of12 gallons I got 2 cups of crystals- I tried to give them to my youngest telling him they were corn flakes- but he wouldn't fall for it! If you are going through the trouble of rebottling- run it through a filter. If it was from this last autumn, it probably just hadn't finished clearing before bottling. I have racked my reds twice so far from autumn, and some of them have another deposit. As they cold stabilize, the crust should fall on the lees and make it compacted further.

 

[swillologist]

They do sink appleman. What I meant by floaters is that they weren't stuckto the side of the bottle.

 

[Dean]

take a bottle, and decant it, but pour the wine into a strainer. If you decanter came with one great, but if not, get a fine mesh strainer to capture the sediment. Wine diamonds are clear to brown in color and are quite hard. If you can strain them out, then there is no need to filter as you will capture all of them in a strainer.

 

[swillologist]

It is pretty fine stuff Dean. I don't know if I have anything that fine. But I will give it a try. Thanks Dean

 

[NorthernWinos]

Try a coffee filter in a strainer and see what you get.


My Wine Diamonds are purple like the grape juice....sometimes in the mason jar of juice they are almost black/purple. They are crunchy both in the juice and wine. I don't recall ever seeing them float.

 

[swillologist]

They only floats when I turn the bottle over NW. They settle right back to the bottom. I thought I would just put it back in to a carboy and let it settle. Then rack off and then re bottle it. The way that it looks that should work. If not I will try the coffee filter. Thanks! I have notput any k-meta in it. I thought I would add a 1/4 tsp. when I re bottle.

 

[grapeman]

Sounds like a plan. K-meta would be a good idea after handling it extra.