Letting a kit wine sit awhile before bottling
 

Thanks for the patience so far. By now, I should be done with the
chilean merlot I have been making from a kit. However, everything is
being stored at a friend's house. He has been busy with work and we
haven't had time to get together and rack the wine into bottles.

Letting the wine sit awhile longer doesn't disturb, but I wanted to make
sure my thinking is correct. At this point, the wine is just
clarifying--I have added all the chemicals after having it ferment
initially. At worst, it'll stay as it is now. At best, it'll clarify
further and or improve.

I want to know if this is poor thinking, and that I should be putting
all this into bottles ASAP. I could be waiting up to 2 weeks for a
chance to get to my friend's place to do this. I can make alternative
arrangements if it seems there would be a problem letting it sit.

Once wine is off the gross lees there is no reason to rush to rack. I
don't know what chemicals you added but I'm sure one of them is sulfite
and it will protect the wine. As long as the wine does not have an
offensive smell, is topped up and the air lock has water in it you can
let it sit for months.

Joe

Adam Preble wrote:
> Thanks for the patience so far. By now, I should be done with the
> chilean merlot I have been making from a kit. However, everything is
> being stored at a friend's house. He has been busy with work and we
> haven't had time to get together and rack the wine into bottles.
>
> Letting the wine sit awhile longer doesn't disturb, but I wanted to make
> sure my thinking is correct. At this point, the wine is just
> clarifying--I have added all the chemicals after having it ferment
> initially. At worst, it'll stay as it is now. At best, it'll clarify
> further and or improve.
>
> I want to know if this is poor thinking, and that I should be putting
> all this into bottles ASAP. I could be waiting up to 2 weeks for a
> chance to get to my friend's place to do this. I can make alternative
> arrangements if it seems there would be a problem letting it sit.

As Joe said, if you have racked it off gross lees it is fine. But if it is
still clearing and has a noticeable sediment I would not go more than 3
months between rackings. If there is no sediment, 6 months or longer is
fine.

Ray

"Adam Preble" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks for the patience so far. By now, I should be done with the chilean
> merlot I have been making from a kit. However, everything is being stored
> at a friend's house. He has been busy with work and we haven't had time
> to get together and rack the wine into bottles.
>
> Letting the wine sit awhile longer doesn't disturb, but I wanted to make
> sure my thinking is correct. At this point, the wine is just
> clarifying--I have added all the chemicals after having it ferment
> initially. At worst, it'll stay as it is now. At best, it'll clarify
> further and or improve.
>
> I want to know if this is poor thinking, and that I should be putting all
> this into bottles ASAP. I could be waiting up to 2 weeks for a chance to
> get to my friend's place to do this. I can make alternative arrangements
> if it seems there would be a problem letting it sit.

No hurry. I have waited as long as a year to bottle a kit, with no ill
effects. If the airlock has some appropriate liquid in it (sulfite, or
vodka, or ???) and the bung is firmly seated, the wine should be OK
indefinitely. Certainly longer than you'll be able to wait! :-)

Doug

Adam Preble wrote:
> Thanks for the patience so far. By now, I should be done with the
> chilean merlot I have been making from a kit. However, everything is
> being stored at a friend's house. He has been busy with work and we
> haven't had time to get together and rack the wine into bottles.
>
> Letting the wine sit awhile longer doesn't disturb, but I wanted to make
> sure my thinking is correct. At this point, the wine is just
> clarifying--I have added all the chemicals after having it ferment
> initially. At worst, it'll stay as it is now. At best, it'll clarify
> further and or improve.
>
> I want to know if this is poor thinking, and that I should be putting
> all this into bottles ASAP. I could be waiting up to 2 weeks for a
> chance to get to my friend's place to do this. I can make alternative
> arrangements if it seems there would be a problem letting it sit.


I've generally found that bulk aging for an extended period of time
results in a much better final product than just bottle aging. (IE - if
you age for a total of 1 year, the lot that was bulk aged for 9 months
and only 3 months in the bottle will generally have a better overall
quality than the lot bottled at one month and spent the last 11 months
in the bottle - assuming no air leaks, lees, etc).

Woods

Joe Sallustio wrote:
> Once wine is off the gross lees there is no reason to rush to rack. I
> don't know what chemicals you added but I'm sure one of them is sulfite
> and it will protect the wine. As long as the wine does not have an
> offensive smell, is topped up and the air lock has water in it you can
> let it sit for months.
>
> Joe
>

Thanks Joe, you've now made me paranoid that my friend hasn't been
keeping water in the air lock. Well, I've left him some messages to
check on it but I haven't talked to him in this time yet. I don't know
if he has checked yet. We've done some beer in the past and never left
it around so long that the airlock water could be a problem. I can
imagine myself busting into his place tomorrow just to look at it.