Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/101495
WineEast Winemaking Need Cold? A low-cost solution for cold stabilizing small lots By Richard Carey I f we winemakers had our druthers, we would not always cold stabilize our wines. Unfortunately, consumers in the United States don���t like finding those ���wine diamonds��� in the bottom of their bottles and wine glasses. Therefore, winemakers need the ability to cold stabilize, preserving the pristine clarity of freshly bottled wines. Historically, wineries east of the Rocky Mountains have taken advantage of cold winter temperatures���either to set their wines outside and let Mother Nature cold stabilize them, or to open the winery���s doors and let her do the job inside. In recent years she hasn���t cooperated in supplying reliable cold temperatures and, as a result, winemakers must find another way to cold stabilize wines. One way to cold stabilize on a regular basis is to purchase fully jacketed tanks that can do the job. However, these tanks are some of the most expensive types a winery buys���and not all wineries, especially small ones, want to spend money on those insulated tanks. Several years ago, when tank space was limited at my winery and I needed to cold stabilize a relatively small lot of wine, I looked for Need a Better Cork Supplier? All Natural Cork Closures Fresh Corks Directly From Portugal 4th Generation Family Cork Producer Free Branding Free Shipping Free iS Better Ask about our Progressive Discounts Experience the Slimcork�� Advantage CALL TODAY phone (203) 681-7743 Cell (860) 335-0667 email: reliablecork@gmail.com www.reliablecorksolutions.com 150 W in es & V i ne s JANUARY 20 13 Stainless steel cooling coils (above) were inserted into a plastic Flextank as part of an experiment to achieve cold stabilization in wine. a way to do the job using equipment I had at hand. We had a 2,000-liter stainless steel tank with 1.7 square meters of cooling jacket, but we knew from experience that it could only get wine down to a uniform 6��C. The lower part of the tank could get close to 0��C, but the total volume would never achieve cold stability. Wine East HIGHLIGHTS: ��� The author, a seasoned winemaker, shares his method for efficiently cold stabilizing wines in plastic tanks. ��� Using a cooling coil designed for fermentation, he was able to quickly cool wine to -3��C by adding insulation to the tank exterior. ��� The inexpensive solution involved a cooling coil cost of about $1,200 and polyurethane covering at about $250. Cold stabilization in plastic I also have a large number of 1,135-liter plastic Flextanks that I use for small lots of wine. My next step was to take the stainless steel cooling coils (which had 0.5 square meters of cooling area) that I designed for use in our Flextanks to control fermentation (see photo above) and try to use them for cold stabilization. Flextanks are made of plastic that has a reasonably low heat-transfer rate compared to stainless steel, and I hoped this would allow cold stabilization in these tanks without extraordinary effort. If you think back to your high school physics class, you will remember that heat transfer is any differential in energy level from (Continued on page 152.)