Cold Stabilization?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mikefox

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2010
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Location
middle of
Hy, I was just wodering if sweet mead(or wine) can be stabilized only by cold crashing it like it sais on Jack Keller's website because I don't have access and don't want to use chemicals like Potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite.

"If the wine is not bone dry, it may be cold stabilized at 30-32 degrees F, for 3-4 weeks. This will kill all popular strains of wine yeast. If you cannot reliably reduce your wine to this temperature range for an extended period, you can chemically stabilize it."

So will I end up with bottle bombs ifI do that?
 
Cold will not reliably kill wine yeast. Many will go dormant, only to awaken later when things warm up - especially the Champagne yeast.

If you don't want to use chemicals, there are other alternatives including sterile filtration, pasteurization, and pushing the yeast to their alcohol tolerance level (but one must use caution and be patient).
 
Even sorbates and sulfiting doesn't reliably kill yeast. It just helps prevent renewed fermentation.

The ONLY way to pull this off is to use a yeast that will consume ALL sugars from the honey, or filter after primary to strip the yeast out, which is also going to strip some aromas and flavors.
 
Back
Top