[Daytonwineaux]

I also make beer. I have a tendency to want to test my wine sooner than I should and had the idea of putting aside some "testing bottles" bottled in 12 oz. beer bottles and capped. I realize the smaller bottles may age more quickly but is there any reason not to do this? Opening up 3/4 of a liter of wine everytime I get an urge to taste and finding that it still needs time seems like a waste and I just thought this might allow me to satisfy my curiosity and have more wine to drink when its "ready".

[MedPretzel]

I do it all the time.

[Psyguy]

In another thread, Pat said that he used 375 ml bottles (close to the same volume as 12 oz beer bottles) to see how his wine was doing every few months. He figures that the wine ages in the smaller bottles about three times as fast as it does in 750 ml bottles.

[bdavidh]

I use beer bottles all the time to use as a reserve for topping off, and when I can get away with it, taking to sporting events. While everyone else is drinking beer, I've got my wine.

[Hippie]

I have put lots of wine in beer bottles with crown caps. No problems at all.

[kcdc]

I LOVE small bottles. I take them with me when I travel and think I won't finish a bottle, or when I don't want to have an open bottle for as long as it will take me to drink it when on the road.

I also love having them to test to see the development of a wine.

Since the small .375 bottles tend to be more expensive than the larger bottles, I also used, USED to buy beer bottles. Since I don't have a "crown capper" (is that the right term?), I just used corks.

One evening I opened one to find that it had oxidized. So I opened another, and another, and ultimately 19 more. All of which were bad.

So either consider how you cap them or get the small wine bottles.

kcd

[Hippie]

Yep, the cork doesn't contact glass very far down the neck. They are not 'cork finish'. The caps and cappers are a dime a dozen......

[cpfan]

Gang:

According to Vineco's wine chemist, crown caps are a better seal than corks. Not sure how that affects wine aging.

Steve

[Hippie]

Studies have been done......I think maybe somebody posted some of them one of the 2nd page threads.

[Envchemist]

Just curious here--why does wine age 3x faster in the small bottles than the larger ones? That holds hope, if that's true, that our port is going to be mighty fine a lot earlier!

Nydia

[P Cuthbert]

Nydia;

Wine ages faster in smaller bottles for several reasons.

The smaller volumes react quicker to temperature changes.
The smaller volumes have a higher amount of oxygen in the bottle.
The smaller bottles less wine to react as time passes. With the smaller volume, there is less wine to react (mellow).

This process will slow after about a year, and the small bottles will then progress at about the same rate as the larger bottles.

With the port, it will mature slightly faster in the small bottle. You can anticipate perhaps a year sooner for the maturation process, so you will be looking at 3 years for it to develop most of its character. If you fortify the port, it may take another year for the alcohol to mellow and blend into the wine fully.

Pat

[Vinmaker]

I think I will use this "small Bottle" trick to age some of my juice wines quicker. Always hard to wait two years to taste a new batch.

Thanks for the tips.

[Envchemist]

Pat,
I'll definately buy some more small bottles or use some of my beer bottles. I doubt I'll wait 4 years to drink some of the port. It was honesty very very good at bottling. I may have 1 or 2 bottles in 3 or 4 years...but we'll see.