Wine storage

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.

BigPurk

Supporting Members
Supporting Member
Joined
May 14, 2017
Messages
10
Reaction score
2
I've been making kit wines for years. I used to age and bottle it properly, now I take a lazy shortcut. I siphon it into a couple plastic juice containers and put them in the fridge leaving the rest in the 6 gallon carboy. I use up the wine gradually over a month or two. So , the wine in the carboy is exposed to oxygen as the wine level goes down, and the wine spends a few days in the plastic jug in the fridge. Am I damaging the wine by doing this or does it not have any noticeable effect on the wine? I am wondering if I could add Co2 to the carboy as I take out wine.
 
I certainly think you are taking a big risk of oxidizing it. But, I thought you said that you have been doing it this way for a while. Maybe you can tell us: how is it working? Have you noticed any problems?
 
Well, honestly I'm not sure. I don't know if the first glass of wine tastes better than the last one. I think on the next batch I will properly bottle a bottle of wine and then open it when I drink the last of the wine from the carboy and see if I can taste any difference in the two samples. I was hoping someone on here could tell me how long it takes to oxidize wine and if the plastic bottles change the flavor at all.
 
Over what time period are you drinking the carboy down? Months?

Many moons ago, an acquaintance did the same thing -- she started a white wine in October, things went well and as of December her wine was in good shape. In February she brought me a sample that was badly oxidized. Turns out she and her husband had been drinking out of the carboy, which at that time was half full. It was beyond redemption, I recommended they drink it sooner than later.

Frankly, if you're creating a large head space, I can't visualize the wine not oxidizing.

Plastic can affect the wine -- it depends on the plastic, but without knowing exactly which one, I can't say for sure. Personally, I don't use plastic for anything beyond primary fermentation.

If you continue the same method, I recommend decanting the wine into glass gallon jugs. As you open each jug, decant it into five 750 ml bottles.
 
I can’t imagine having a partially filled carboy over a months period not having some noticeable oxidation near the end of the period. I ”bottled” a batch of Skeeter Pee in collapsable plastic pouches. I gave it all away and to my surprise people are still drinking it out of the pouches almost a year later and the say it’s as good as it was when they first opened it.
 
I can’t imagine having a partially filled carboy over a months period not having some noticeable oxidation near the end of the period. I ”bottled” a batch of Skeeter Pee in collapsable plastic pouches. I gave it all away and to my surprise people are still drinking it out of the pouches almost a year later and the say it’s as good as it was when they first opened it.
Where can I get these pouches?
 
The best barrier ”wine pouch” will be a metalized film similar to that which bag in box wine comes in. The next best choice is EVOH film which is transparent. The oxygen transmission ratings are similar to Better bottle carboys.
Some of the Amazon vendors will also sell cardboard containers for a bag size or a wine purse. The available boxes don’t maximize volume, ex I can put about a gallon (3.9 liter) in a three liter bag. When they come they will be equipped with a dispensing spout, which matches a #7 cork. ALL bags need a support system, they naturally seem to maximize with a round support system.
.C0D62C3E-B860-44DD-A6AA-86EE494BAB0D.jpeg
. I would not use LDPE or transparent juice bottles for longer than a month. They have significant oxygen transmission rates, which will result in micro oxygenation.
. Yes CO2 will minimize carboy oxidation, as well as nitrogen ar argon or vacuum. We as a community need better hardware.
.C626EFAA-69FB-4D89-9DFB-799C0470E0EB.jpeg
 
Last edited:
I would like to find a way to add co2 to the jug as I take wine out. But the best suggestion I heard was put it in gallon jugs. That is a simple great idea. I should have thought of that. Once I put it in the juice bottles, it is drank in a couple of days.
 
Folks have mentioned using dry ice to provide a CO2 layer, but I have no idea if that is realistic on a weekly basis.

An acquaintance made 200 gallons of wine per year and bottled in gallon jugs. I did not immediately realize the walls in his cellar were composed of 4 count boxes of wine. The amount of wine he had for personal consumption boggled the mind.

He kept five 750 ml bottles and when he needed wine, he decanted a gallon into the bottles. If I recall correctly, he used screw caps. This eliminates the head space problem except in the bottle you're currently drinking from, and that problem will resolve itself quickly.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top