Kegging Wine - When to add Nitrogen? || Kegging of wine || Wine making

Hello, wine lovers! Today, we go on an exciting adventure into the world of wine kegging, a method that is revolutionizing how we preserve and serve our favorite vintages. Whether you're a seasoned expert or just starting out in the wine business, understanding the complexities of kegging, particularly with nitrogen, may take your wine experience to new heights. Join me as we explore the art and science of kegging wine and learn how to maintain your wines with nitrogen.

Why Keg Wine?

Before we get into the technicalities of nitrogen and kegging, let's first understand why kegging wine has grown in popularity among both amateur enthusiasts and professional winemakers. Traditional bottling processes, while ageless, can provide difficulties in terms of storage, preservation, and serving. Kegging addresses these issues by giving unprecedented ease while assuring consistent quality with each pour.

Furthermore, kegs minimize the possibility of cork taint and oxidation, two major enemies that can undermine the quality of bottled wine over time. Kegs maintain the freshness, taste, and fragrance of wine by keeping it under pressure in a sealed atmosphere, ensuring that each sip is as enjoyable as the first.

Introducing Nitrogen, The Guardian of Wine Quality.

Let's now focus on the star of the show: nitrogen. Nitrogen, an inert gas, is essential for wine preservation because it forms a protective barrier that keeps oxygen out of the wine. As any seasoned wine specialist will tell you, oxygen is wine's deadliest enemy, capable of irreversibly damaging its delicate tastes and aromas. By adding nitrogen to the keg, we can successfully reduce the danger of oxidation and increase the shelf life of our wines.

But how can we identify the best time to add nitrogen to our kegs?

This is when experience and knowledge come into play. As someone who professionally kegs a lot of wine, I've found that once it's in a stainless-steel keg, wine doesn't mature or change very much. As a result, kegging should be considered the final stage in the winemaking process.

Age the wines as you usually would, enabling them to acquire the ideal flavor profiles and complexity. Once you're pleased with the maturing process, think of kegging as the equivalent of bottling your wines. Ideally, the keg should be filled to the capacity to reduce headroom. If there is unavoidable headspace, it is critical to purge it with nitrogen or another inert gas, such as Argon/CO2, to prevent oxidation and extend the wine's life.

Best Practices for Kegging Wine With Nitrogen

Now, let's look at some recommended practices for kegging wine using nitrogen to ensure maximum preservation and quality:

Before closing the keg, purge the headspace with nitrogen to remove any remaining oxygen. This process is critical for establishing a protective atmosphere that keeps the wine fresh and flavorful.

Maintain Constant Pressure: Keep your nitrogen tank connected to the keg at all times and use nitrogen to drive the wine from the keg into the glass. To reduce oxygen exposure and protect the wine's integrity, avoid opening the keg too frequently.

Follow Beer Brewing Techniques: Borrowing from the beer brewing playbook, consider filling the keg with nitrogen and bleeding the pressure release valve many times to achieve complete oxygen removal. This process helps to remove any leftover air from the keg, preventing oxidation and deterioration.

 

Here is the table with most commonly used wine keg sizes.

Keg Type	Capacity (gal/oz)	Height (inches)	Weight (lbs)	Width (inches)
Mini Keg	1.32/169	9.875	13	6.75
Sixth Barrel	5.16/661	23.375	58	9.25
Quarter Bareel	7.75/992	13.875	87	16.125
Slim Quarter	7.75/992	23.375	87	11.125
Half Barrel	15.5/1984	23.375	161	16.125
Cornelius Keg	5.0/640	23	49	9

Advances of kegging your wine:

Serving wine from a stainless-steel keg may lack the romance and history of popping corks, but a 5-gallon (19-L) keg can carry 25 standard (750 mL) wine bottles. Stainless steel kegs, like glass bottles, are inert and will not change the flavor of wine, even when stored indefinitely. Because there is no cork, there is no risk of trichloranisole contamination (TCA, cork taint) or cork breaking, leaking, or chipping. You also do not require a corkscrew!

Kegs also minimize oxidation. The quantity of headspace as a percentage of wine in kegs is significantly lower than in bottles – you fill the keg to the very top. Second, the kegs have great seals since they are designed to withstand pressure, and unless damaged, they do not leak. Finally, before filling the kegs with wine, they are purged with bottled gas, which removes oxygen. This guarantees that the wine tastes precisely the same as the day you bottle it.

When you keg your wine, you can consume one glass at a time without having to open the entire bottle. If you do need a bottle (for a dinner party or a picnic), you can easily fill it from the keg and cork it as needed. Is there a party upstairs? Go down to the cellar with a carafe or jug, and you'll be ready to serve in no time. Because the wine discharged is replenished with oxygen-free gas, it remains fresh until the bottom of the keg.

Kegs also have the advantage of being highly environmentally friendly. Commercial kegs have a 30-year lifetime, but they are mistreated, banged around in storage and handling, and damaged by cleaning equipment and during transit. With care and maintenance, most of the kegs repurposed from the soda industry have many decades of use ahead of them, and each year they'll save cork, capsule, and label waste, to say nothing of cardboard boxes and bottles lost to breakage and shrinkage.

In the end, kegging wine with nitrogen provides several benefits to both amateurs and experts. Understanding the critical role of nitrogen in wine preservation, as well as following proper kegging procedures, can guarantee that your valuable vintages mature gently and thrill your taste with each sip.

FAQs about Kegging of Wine

Can wine be kegged?

Stainless steel, like glass, is an inert surface that does not affect the flavor of your wine. Furthermore, because the headspace may be purged with an inert gas, such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide, oxidation is reduced in your kegged wine. With your wine in a keg, you may enjoy a single glass without having to open the entire bottle.

How long does wine last in keg?

Sparkling wines have a two-week shelf life, whereas still wines have four weeks. The better the conditions, the longer the shelf life (assuming kegs remain refrigerated). Kegs that have not been opened and are kept appropriately will last for 12 months.

Why do you keg wine?

To keep wine fresh, it must be properly maintained (similar to a significant other), avoiding over-oxidation and/or overheating. Kegged wine makes this much easier because the wine never comes into contact with air or gas until it is ready to be given to a visitor, and a keg is less prone to temperature changes.

Can you ferment wine in kegs?

I ferment in a bucket since it would block any keg, and then when it's clear and no longer dropping sediment in a secondary carboy, I transfer it to the keg. So, absolutely, serve, bottle, or anything from the keg.

How do you keg red wine?

So, if you're kegging some red wine, you'd siphon it from your fermenter into the keg and then set your CO2 regulator to a low pressure - maybe 2-3 psi (7 kpa). Seal the lid, apply pressure, and then release the purge valve multiple times to clear any leftover air from the keg.

For more Viticulture & Enology blog articles Click Here!