How long?

You need @Scrungee for this I think. I don't make it from cartons but friends that do seem to drink it after maturing it for about 3 months onwards.

 

If it's not got a lot of tannin in it, neck it as soon as it's cleared

 

I usually leave it about 6 weeks to ferment out then clear, then de-gass and use a sachet of 2 part finings to clear if necessary. They cost £1 but work out cheap for me as I make 6 galls at a time, use 1 sachet and bought loads last year when half price at Wilkos. Then leave several more days for the sulphite to wear off and the taste of finings to dissappear (some/most ? people can't taste them).

Then put some more on in the empty fermenters. Stick to 1 litre of grape juice + 1 litre of another juice of the same colour (perhaps 2 others for red juices) don't overdo the sugar 700g to 800g max will keep maturation time down and maintaine the balance between flavour/body/alcohol. Try ading of glycerine per gall to smoothen it a bit (far cheapest in Boots the chemists). Avoid trying to get the fastest fermentation as that produces bi-products (other than alcohol) that wil defeat the object of of a decent tasting, quick maturing wine.

 

Longer, because it can ferment out in a week or two, then starts maturing before it's racked off. Some people fine as soon as it finishes and start drinking imediately, not even bothering to sulphite as it wont be hanging around for long, but I've never been that desperate.

 

About 30 mins to chill it in the fridge (I never bottle wine that isn't ready to drink as it matures better in bulk, so it's left in demijohns to mature).