3,273. Checking the Wine

Terumos 5:24

Let’s say that someone checks a barrel of wine to ensure that it hasn’t turned and then he leaves it to take terumah from for other wine until all of it is terumah, when he will give it to a kohein. After some time, he checks the barrel again and finds that it has turned to vinegar. In such a case, we are sure that the wine didn’t turn for at least three days from the first inspection, with the result that his obligation to take terumah was certainly met for all of the wine whose terumah he took from the wine in that barrel during that time. After that time, there is a situation of doubt, so he must take terumah again.

Terumos 5:25

If one puts aside wine to separate terumah from, he must check it three times a year to ensure that it hasn’t turned to vinegar: when the east wind blows after Succos, when grapes form, and when liquid starts to fill the immature grapes. If one has wine in the vat, he can use it to take terumah for 40 days under the assumption that it won’t have turned.