Acid crystals?

[jonereb]

After months of racking, I have now caped my one gallon carboy of muscadine wine and refrigerated it for about 2 weeks. I noticed crystals at the bottom of the carboy -- acid crystals? How long will these fall? When can I bottle? And should I rack before bottling?

By the way, I tasted the wine and it is easily my best wine so far.

 

[Yooper]

After months of racking, I have now caped my one gallon carboy of muscadine wine and refrigerated it for about 2 weeks. I noticed crystals at the bottom of the carboy -- acid crystals? How long will these fall? When can I bottle? And should I rack before bottling?

Yes, you'll want to rack. They may be done falling, but I'd probably go 30 days at fridge temps to ensure that.

You're doing what is called "cold stabilization", and it makes a big difference in the flavor of the finished wine, losing excess acid like that!

Muscadine wine can be very acidic, but having the wine diamonds drop out will really help.

 

[jonereb]

Should I let the wine return to room temperature before bottling or does that matter?

 

[jgmillr1]

I would let the wine warm up to room temp. Cold wine will dissolve oxygen more easily, increasing oxidation risk. Though some of acid may dissolve back into solution, I've never had trouble with cold stability after letting it warm up before racking.

The key to cold stabilization is getting the wine as cold as possible (upper 20's if possible) and giving it enough time to drop the crystals. (I've even frozen the wine in food-grade plastic containers in my chest freezer!) You can help that process by gently stirring in a bit of powdered cream of tartar to jump start the process.

 

[Yooper]

Should I let the wine return to room temperature before bottling or does that matter?

Doesn't matter. The wine should be free of excess gas by this point, after several rackings, and you'll rack again off of the sediment to bottle it.