crystals after bottling red wine

[dstelley]

last year I made a batch of French Concord red wine and the flavor was really good, so I'm trying it again.
The problem was that as the bottles are chilled, crystals form on the bottom of the bottles. I suspect its Tartaric acid.
Question(s) is there a way to eliminate them is the year old bottles? What is the danger of chilling, opening, filtering and rebottling?
For this years batch I'd like to chill the carboy for a week before the 2nd or 3rd racking in hopes of "catching" the crystals before bottling.
Is there a better way?
Am I missing some key step?

Thanks in Advance.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

These are wine crystals, it is actually a combination of tartaric acid and potassium, to avoid this, I usually cold stabilize all of my wines before I bottle, whites and reds, I put them at 32° for 2-3 weeks and most of the crystals will fall, to make things speed up a little you can "seed" your wine with cream of tarter, about about 0.24 g/L, this will move things along.
As far as the bottled wine, you can open them and filter it, but you run the risk of oxidation.

 

[Yooper]

These are wine crystals, it is actually a combination of tartaric acid and potassium, to avoid this, I usually cold stabilize all of my wines before I bottle, whites and reds, I put them at 32° for 2-3 weeks and most of the crystals will fall, to make things speed up a little you can "seed" your wine with cream of tarter, about about 0.24 g/L, this will move things along.
As far as the bottled wine, you can open them and filter it, but you run the risk of oxidation.

I've never "seeded" my wine, but the cold stabilization is key! Before bottling any wine, I put it in a cold place for a while and not only does it clear the wine (as even a seemingly clear will will drop sediment when the temperature drops), but the wine diamonds precipitate out as well.

 

[dstelley]

OK, I will cold stabilize. The question then becomes when. I live in the Northeast (Western NY) Cold is not a problem, but what about timing? Its been in secondary fermentation since mid Oct. I plan to do the first rack around the first week of Dec. and every 6 weeks thereafter till around May. 8 Months. The cold in the garage is only reliable through march. When is it best to cold stabilize?

I opened a bottle today of last years and it has really smoothed out! I'm glad I held a dozen or so bottles out. This next batch I'll try and leave alone as long as possible.

 

[Yooper]

OK, I will cold stabilize. The question then becomes when. I live in the Northeast (Western NY) Cold is not a problem, but what about timing? Its been in secondary fermentation since mid Oct. I plan to do the first rack around the first week of Dec. and every 6 weeks thereafter till around May. 8 Months. The cold in the garage is only reliable through march. When is it best to cold stabilize?

I opened a bottle today of last years and it has really smoothed out! I'm glad I held a dozen or so bottles out. This next batch I'll try and leave alone as long as possible.

Keep in mind that you don't have to rack on a schedule! You only rack every 60 days or so, if lees are dropping. If the lees stop, it's time for bulk aging and cold stabilization.

 

[dstelley]

The only "but" to that is that is that I cannot see into the must even with a good flashlight so Its quite difficult for me to tell when the lee's stop falling out. Late last spring I finally was able to start seeing some clarity to the red wine.

 

[Yooper]

The only "but" to that is that is that I cannot see into the must even with a good flashlight so Its quite difficult for me to tell when the lee's stop falling out. Late last spring I finally was able to start seeing some clarity to the red wine.

You can't see the bottom of the carboy at all? The lees are lighter in color than the wine, and are on the bottom and easily visible if you can look at the bottom of the carboy. Whenever you have lees 1/4" thick, or if it's been 60 days and there are ANY lees, that's when it's time to rack. If there aren't any lees, it's time for cold stabilization and then racking and bulk aging.

 

[dstelley]

OK, I'll try to discern a difference better. A couple times you mentioned bulk aging... I'm very new to winemaking, what does that mean? All I've done in the past was to keep re-racking after a time. (calendar vs looking for lees) Then at the end I'd stabilize and bottle for further storage and aging.
Now with the 3 batches I have I'll rack whenever there is 1/4 inch or better in lees at the bottom, and if 60 days (more or less?) goes with any lees would I the cold stabilize and bottle?

 

[Yooper]

OK, I'll try to discern a difference better. A couple times you mentioned bulk aging... I'm very new to winemaking, what does that mean? All I've done in the past was to keep re-racking after a time. (calendar vs looking for lees) Then at the end I'd stabilize and bottle for further storage and aging.
Now with the 3 batches I have I'll rack whenever there is 1/4 inch or better in lees at the bottom, and if 60 days (more or less?) goes with any lees would I the cold stabilize and bottle?

Yes. Here's a recent picture of racking day at my house:


You can see that the one in the middle has a TON of lees (from fresh fruit), while others have less. None of them are lees-less. They all have some, even the blackberry wine in the middle left.

The ones that don't drop any lees after 60 days can go into cold stabilization. That will drop some lees for sure, and then I rack and age a bit more. If no new less drop after 60 days, and it's totally clear, then it's ready to bottle.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

Yooper, I agree, I've never seeded my wine either, I try to keep everything that I don't absolutely need out of my wine (and beer for that matter).
I wouldn't cold stabilize until I've racked a few times, and as Yooper stated, racking shouldn't be on a schedule, you will be able to see when the lees have dropped and are sitting on the bottom of the carboy.
The beauty of making wine is that time is our friend! The wine will let you know (visually) when it needs to be racked.
Remember, cold stabilizing will also help some of the sediment to drop.

 

[chocotaco]

Potassium bitartrate - great for stabilizing meringues, or crush and mix with baking soda for homemade double-acting baking powder!