Page 28 - Grapevine May-June 2020
P. 28
In The Winery
one pound. These bricks must be handled with ice with the wine to be a detriment.
extreme care and caution due to their tempera-
ture at -109 degrees F. These bricks may be used Carbon Dioxide is known to dissolve into liquids
in their entirety into tanks being transfer to, from readily. It is always recommended to warm any
or both. When topping tanks weekly, with airlocks wine, driving off the carbon dioxide, before bottling
on them, winemakers may open the tank, drop in a and to potentially check the amount of dissolved
brick or any portion of a brick deemed appropriate gas in the wine before bottling or other critical
to fill the headspace and latch the lid. Warning : control points that having dissolved carbon dioxide
Make sure the tank does have an operating airlock in the wine may be a detriment. This may include
on the vessel. Depending on the actual tempera- finings.
ture of the wine, the brick may take several hours
to dissolve while slowly topping the headspace with Please adhere to any and all M.S.D.S. sheets or
CO2. safety data related to these gases and their use.
Notes of Warning
Spicing it Up
Do understand you are dealing with a gas that
is/may be harmful to humans and/or animals. Some winemakers have successfully scaled back
Extreme caution and care needs to be exercised the amount of carbon dioxide used during harvest
when using and handling this gas as well as the by attaching a small hose to a fermentation tank
other gases mentioned in this article. and topping down tanks with that naturally pro-
duced carbon dioxide.
Some may argue that the intense cold of dry ice
contact with the wine may harm the wine if the ice Years ago research was being done to see if car-
comes into contact with the wine. I am unaware of bon dioxide from wine fermentations could be cap-
any winemaker that has found this contact of dry tured, compressed and used to top tanks or even
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