Cold Stabilization....

I needed a bit of TA and pH reduction on my St Croix so I needed to "seed" it and cold stabilize it to drop out some tartrates.

My other 66 gallons of wine was okay but I like to cold stabilize them anyway. I think it helps them to clear but more importantly it drops out tartrates now rather than later in the bottles.

My wine cellar is not able to maintain a stable 55 degrees all year. In the summer it "slowly" gets a bit higher to about 65 and then in the winter is "slowly" gets a bit colder to about 45 degrees. With these cold temps in the winter I was getting tartrates dropping out of my whites and a bit on the reds. So, now I do a cold stabilization before bottling to avoid the drops later in the cellar.

I bought a brand new refrigerator last year just for my wine making activities. It gives me the opportunity to freeze fruits until I get around to making wine with them (no room in our two chest freezers ... fruits, veggies, meat, etc. for meals). I still have a 4 gallon pail of Concord "Must" (crushed, destemmed, and with skins) in the freezer that I haven't done anything with. And, of course, it gives me the ability to cold stabilize my wines at low and constant temps.


I can fit 4 carboys in the refrigerator at a time. I can get temps down to as low 24 degrees (without an external regulator) so it does a real good job. The rest of the carboys get cold (but usually not as cold nor stable temp) by "waiting" in our "Arizona Sunroom". I attach a remote temperature probe to one of the carboys to monitor the temps but keep the carboys in plastic tubs just in case. We now have a heated garage so I don't keep them there anymore.