"Dick Adams" > wrote in message
...
> >>> Protein hazes occur at high temperatures. Your cold
> >>> stabilization is not quite complete. Commercial wines
> >>> are often held at 26 to 28 degrees for several days.
>
> >> The best I can do is 33*F for unlimited time. Will this
> >> "high temp" cold stabilization do anything worth waiting for?????
>
> > Sure. It will cold stabilize the wine down to a temperature
> > of about 33 degrees. Most refrigerators are set to temps
> > higher than 33 degrees so your wine shouldn't show very much
> > tartrate crystals when they are chilled for serving. But,
> > cold stabilizing at 33 degrees _may_ take several weeks.
>
> This is a very important issue for me as I am looking around
> for used front door freezer. Due to recent surgeries I can
> not use a top loading freezer.
>
> My older son put a 5 gallon carboy outside for me. Here in
> Baltimore (pronounced: Ball-a-mer - The City that Slurs) the
> temperature was 5F (-15C) and he didn't come home for four
> days. I couldn't carry it back in, but I went outside every
> day rotated the carboy enough to get circulation. It did
> stop the fermentation and I used rotgut vodka in the airlock
> so that had no chance of freezing.
>
> Now I am a Mead guy and want to use it to kill off fermentation.
> I had an experience with some Paul Masson wines several years.
> After a convention, I took several gallons home with me to store
> for later organization meetings. It was January in Chicago and
> I left them in the trunk of my car from Sunday evening to Tuesday
> afternoon. Night temperatures were -10 F. That's called a warm
> winter in Chicago. They froze and unthawed they had a significantly
> different taste. I am not a Wine guy, but the difference was
> obvious. Now 26F = -3.67C. Am I paranoid or is that low enough
> to freeze if left there for a week.
>
> Dick

Dick,
Alcohol depresses the freezing point of wine to -5 to -6 degrees C. Cold
stabilization is normally done above, but close to, the freezing point.
--
Lum
Del Mar, California, USA