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petey

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Reading these threads I went to amazon and purchased my first kit.a Zinfandel Blush. I'm thinking of pitching rc212 instead of the 1118 . I will increase sugar if needed for my SG 1.085--1.090 and probably go with lesser volume of water. The kit came with bentonite that gets put into must dry?? And comes with a stabilizer but states if I want to back sweeten to add sorbate, isn't that double stabilization? All new to kits was just wondering. Otherwise I'll just follow directions. Any feedback?
 
Cheapo kit. IIRC it makes 6 gallons, but you need to make only 5 if you want any real flavor. The kit stabilizer could just be a mega-dose of SO2, or some other chemical. Does it not say on the packet what it is?

It would not be double stabilization to add sorbate if the kit packet contains none.

BIG fan of the 212. That would be a good swap, I think. It will not appear to ferment as robustly as 1118. They put in 1118 to be sure even an idiot will get a nice bubbly fermentation.
 
It is a cheaper kit, so you will get what you pay for. It probably won't be as noticeable than if you did a red wine. I don't think switching the yeast on this particular kit will make much of a difference. For starters, it is a rose-style wine, and RC-212 is not usually a recommended yeast for that style...it's more of a red wine yeast. There are other yeasts you could consider, though, if you really want to play around with the yeast. Does this kit come from with any kind of f-pack? I assume it would for this style of wine. The addition of sorbate is usually only done by people when they backsweeten a wine (or add an f-pack that does the same thing). Otherwise, you would just add metabisulfite.
 
No Jim the packet just says stabilizer. Not even sure if I would back sweeten anyway. And there is no f pack included. I probably will use less water as I have read. But still a new and exciting adventure
 
It is a cheap kit that actually makes a decent wine. I have made probable every Vino Italiano kit that is made and with a little tweaking they can be as good as most $10 or less wines. I do not use their kits anymore because of availability of Juice buckets but would certainly use the kits again. On the Zinfandel Blush, I would make it exactly as the directions tell you. It really is what I would expect from a white Zinfandel.
 

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