Cellar Craft Sterling California Sauvignon Blanc

Kit #2 - Sterling California Sauvignon Blanc

I started my second wine kit yesterday - a Cellar Craft Sterling California Sauvignon Blanc - for my sis. I'm meh about white wine, but this smelt incredible! I think I'll be keeping a few bottles for myself, for quality control, of course. I told sis I'm getting into wine making and that I'm making some for her, but she has no idea how much it makes. I can't wait to see the shock on her face at the amount. Teehee!

My plan is a 90 day fermentation instructions then bottle. I'll give her a case for her birthday (around Halloween, so 5 months after pitching the yeast) and another case at Christmas. That will leave me a few to taste.

How do you count the age of wine? From yeast pitch? From the end of secondary? From the original kit instructions (4-6 weeks)?

Must temperature: 75*F
SG: 1.090 (1.092 with correction)
Heavy French Oak chips.

On the topic of smell, the CC Sterling Sauvignon Blanc smelled amazing, but my first kit, a WE World Vineyard Trinty Red, didn't. It didn't even really have a smell at all. I checked the sticker date on the Red, and it's 02 15. I found a couple threads where others were concerned about age, but it sounds like a year isn't too big of deal. The yeast was fine, which seemed to be the biggest issue.

Is the lack of aroma in the Red a sign of age or is it the quality of the World Vineyard vs the Sterling? Volume-wise, they're not much different, but the smells were different. The Red is currently in secondary, and I snatched a taste after checking the temp and SG, and if current flavors are an indication, it'll be a blasé table wine. I'm bummed, but I realized I could use it for sangria to boost and change the flavors.

We're fizzing away and down to 1.070. The thermometer says it's a little too warm, so I wrapped the bucket in a damp towel with a fan on it. Hopefully it wasn't too warm for too long to affect the flavor. The house smells good, the must still smells amazing, and I'm super excited about this one!

lilvixen, I have made several of the Cellar Craft Sterling white kits in the past and found them a great bargain. I am sure you will enjoy it.

Regarding the "aging" of wine, I start the count when it goes into bulk aging, i.e. at the end of fermentation. I bulk age my reds at least a year and my whites normally about 6 months. Others may start the clock at a different time but we are only talking about a few weeks in any case.

Good luck and welcome to the madness.

Temperature on the Sauvignon Blanc is back to the recommended range, and SG is at 1.026. I'll rack it to secondary on Saturday, since we're doing the family thing for Father's Day. It smells like a Sauvignon Blanc! It's still audibly fizzing, so I think all is well. I hope I didn't kill too much of the fruity notes and/or sis isn't big on the fruity notes.

I checked the temp and SG on the Trinity Red, and we're dry at 0.994, but I won't move to the clearing and fining stage until Saturday, when I have the time. DH and I took a small sip after checking the SG, and it was carbonated, but it exceeded my expectations. I retract my initial fears and believe that this will taste like a house table wine.

Looks like you're rolling right along. As @Rocky mentioned, people 'start the clock' at different times. For me, it's the day I pitch the yeast. But when you get down to it, when aging wine for many months or years, those few weeks difference really don't matter.

Racked the Sauvignon Blanc from primary to secondary this weekend. SG was 1.004. The thermometer said the must was 80*, which didn't make any sense because the room thermometer said that with the cold front we just had, the room was 65-70*, and fermentation wasn't vigorous. I had an order delivered from MoreWine during the day which included a stick-on thermometer - I'd been questioning the one I'd been using - and sure enough, the stick-on thermometer said the bucket was about 69*. So all the temps I've been recording are wrong, but the Trinity Red fermented to 0.994 just fine, and the Sauv Blanc picked up fermentation speed once moving to the carboy and the room warming to the low 70s, so I'll just make a note to ignore temps and move on.

A lot of sediment moved with the Sauv Blanc because I couldn't get the autosiphon to play nice. Hubby helped me out and has some ideas for the next racking to figure out what's going on. He thinks the kitchen counter to floor is too great a distance, so we'll try shortening the distance next time.

I degassed the Trinity Red, but I think the must temp was too low. I drained the battery on my old drill using the whip, and I was still seeing bubbles when I switched directions. I'll wait till tonight or tomorrow night when the house should warm back up to the mid-70s and try again. PS: The whip is amazing, I can't imagine doing that with a spoon!

I bought a furniture dolly, mooching off ideas from someone else on here (I don't remember whom, I'm in information overload with all my reading), and put that under the tupperware container holding the carboys. This way it's easier to move from the dining room corner to the kitchen and eventually to the master closet. I also re-purposed a wire shelf rack with some new tupperwares for all my equipment so that I don't have cardboard boxes bordering the dining room. Everything looks much better!

Lastly, I delabeled and cleaned 15 bottles. The Italian and French bottles were great - the labels just slid off. The California bottles though... UGH! If I have to delabel many more like those, I'll cave and buy bottles from the LHBS (I don't actually know what this acronym means, but I'm assuming it's Local Home Brew Store, if not, oops!).

In conclusion, my feet hurt and my body is sore, and I'm sooo glad I opted for the lightweight Better Bottles. Little 5'3" me is already having a hard enough time with plastic containers. Hubby has been my muscles when moving the primary buckets to the counter, because I'm not even willing to try that. Eventually, I'll look into getting an all-in-one, because I have a feeling it'll be better, but for now, I'll get a few wines under my belt and spread out my cost investment. A vadai is also on my dream list, but I doubt I'll be able to keep it full often enough to warrant the investment. But maybe some day.

It's been a week since moving the Sauvignon Blanc to secondary, and the SG only dropped from 1.004 to 0.999. The temp has held steady at 72* according to the stick-on thermometer. This is still ok, right? Do I only start worrying about stuck fermentation if it goes another week with no change? Is there anything (besides time) that I should be doing, like stirring? Because of pets, I'm keeping all fermentation stages under airlock, so the must doesn't get any air unless I'm paying it attention. There are no off-odors, and I took a sip last night when I checked the SG, and it's fizzy and a little sweet, but otherwise tasted like white wine. The Trinity Red was warmer, so it fermented to dry much faster. I'm sure this is just a newbie concern, but I'm still a newbie.

When moving to secondary at close to 1.000, things are going to move pretty slowly. At 0.999, you are not stuck. If that's where you finish, that's where you finish. As long as you're below 1.000, all is well. Give it a little stir - that may kick the yeast into action to find any remaining sugar. Otherwise, don't worry. In another week or two, you may be down a few more points, but don't worry if you're not.

+1 what Jim said. You might be surprised that in a week or so your gravity drops a bit more. I had two Pinot Grigio juice buckets that hit the brakes at 1.001. I racked them and they just slowly kept getting dryer and dryer (I'd get a "blurp" in the airlock maybe every two or three minutes). They are both down to .990, so I added Kmeta and they are slowly clearing. Took three weeks longer than last years batch. Might have been temperature, might have been the juice (it is different every year), maybe I didn't talk to it and encourage it as much as last year? Who knows, have a glass of wine and all will be good in the end, you'll learn not to worry, I eventually did. If you drink more wine you'll forget to worry (trade secret).

Thanks, Jim and Craig!

I gave it a stir before dinner - it had settled and cleared significantly - and enjoyed a nice glass of Chianti with some homemade chicken parmesan. I'm feeling more calm about it now.

Is talking to wine like talking to house plants and the garden? I've always sucked at that stuff; I'm much better with the affection and silent attention. Hopefully that's enough for my batches

I gave the Sauvignon Blanc a few stirs this week and checked the SG tonight - it's still at 0.999. The fermometer says 73*, so with correction, it may be around the 1.000 mark. I'm going to hold off from moving to the clearing stage for another couple days or a week, just to make myself feel better. The instructions say a white should be 0.996 or lower, so I'd like it to drop a smidge more.

The SG has been holding steady near the 0.999 - 1.000 mark for nearly a week, so I figured I'd move to the degassing stage of the instructions tonight. When I did an SG check, however, it dropped to 0.998, so I'll hold off till this weekend. The instructions say an extra week in secondary is acceptable, so I'll leave it be without any extra attention for a few more days. I will add the sorbate to this kit just in case. It's only my second kit, and since the majority of the bottles will go from my high elevation to sis' sea level elevation, I don't want a change in air density (however that affects things) to cause an issue.

DH and I took a sip after I check the SG, and besides being fizzy, it's good! Hooray!

I added the clearing and fining agents last night. It probably isn't necessary, as the wine has been clearing on its own for the last week or two, but since this is my second kit ever and first CC kit, I'm following the instructions to see the process of each manufacturer. I've been sending sis updates, and she seems pretty excited. She's coming to town this weekend, so if she has time to swing by my house, I'll let her have a small taste.

Sis was able to swing by last weekend and got to taste her wine. Her eyes popped, and she said, "oh, this is good!" And it was warm and still not fully degassed, so I think she'll really enjoy it. She then said, "so you'll be making me wine every year forever, right?" And I said yes, although of different varietals; next year, I'll split an Italian Pinot Grigio with her.

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I'm planning to bottle at the end of August. I don't think it's fully degassed because it's been about 70*, and I still don't know the balance between degassing and aerating, so I went gentle on it, knowing I could still degas up until bottling. I'm going to order a Brew Belt to warm it up a bit and finish degassing it, so I need some advice.

If I'm bottling in 4 weeks, and it's currently sitting on fine lees after all the clearing and fining agents, what's my timeline and how do I do this?

- Do I need to rack it off fine lees before degassing again?

- Should I add 1/8 tsp or 1/4 tsp kmeta at this time? I added the kit kmeta last week. The instructions say to add more if you degas again or if it'll age longer than 6 months. I'll be doing both.

- Is a week appropriate for it to settle after degassing before bottling? I'm guessing whether I rack off fine lees may affect this timeline?

- Lastly, how do I know when the wine is fully degassed? We tasted commercial pinot grigio and the last bit of the top up sauv blanc, and they both had a slight fizz/bite on the tongue that I don't feel with red wine. Is that the acid? Should I just strive to get my kit to feel the same as those?

- I'm planning on renting a floor corker from my LHBS, as I bought 1+1 corks, which said they're nearly impossible to use with a hand corker. Any tips for this part? I'll be bottling the Trinity Red and this Sauv Blanc on the same day to fully utilize the corker rental, so this will be my first bottling and corking experience.

After running into a bit of gas around bottle #23 of bottling the Trinity Red, I held off bottling the Sauv Blanc. Last night, I took the whip to the Sauv Blanc, and I wasn't really getting anything for the 10 or so minutes. Now, I've been using the whip as far into the carboy as it would reach, thinking I need to swirl the CO2 from the bottom and it would naturally rise out of the wine. I learned by accident that that is not so! For some random reason, I lifted the drill and whip higher and suddenly there were bubbles and foam everywhere! WHAT?! So I drained a battery whipping the top 1/3 of the wine, and next weekend, I might rack to a bucket, hit it with the whip once more, and bottle from there. I now understand why bottling from the carboy with the Trinity didn't have issues till the last 1/3 - I was drawing from the degassed bottom for most of it and ran into the CO2 stuck in the top section of the carboy. Why have I not read about raising and lowering the whip when degassing?! Is this supposed common knowledge? Anyway, now I think I can fully degas my wines, as it means don't just degas at the depths, degas at the top too!

Oh, the epipany.

Cat,
Nice thread. My first time looking at it. A couple of thoughts:

1. Have you calibrated your hydrometer? It's not unusual for one to be off up .004 or more, so your .998 could have been .994. If you haven't calibrated it, just get some tap water at about 72 degrees and put the hydrometer in it. It should read 1.000. If it doesn't, then the difference is the correction you would make to all of your readings when you're making wine. I have two hydrometers. One is accurate and the other is off. My problem comes in when I forget to use the same one on the same batch.

2. Welcome to the wonderful world of degassing. I won't start another holy war on the subject, but I will say that it's interesting you found that the top third of your carboy held more gas. That's not something I've seen mentioned before, but it does make some sense. The CO2 will rise out of solution, so maybe it does reach a point where it hits a 'bottle neck' at the top of the wine column when it's released from the bottom. Interesting.

I'm glad your wine turned out well. It's always encouraging to see other peoples surprise when they find out how good 'home made' wine is. We were having dinner with friends Saturday and wife said that she wanted a commercial wine from a bottle we opened the night before. I was a little disappointed because I had just opened an Eclipse Lodi Cab for my first taste from a batch that hit a year old this month. So she got the commercial wine and I got the Lodi Cab. A little into dinner I asked her to taste mine, without telling her what it was. After tasting it she immediately said "Oh, I want that, we can use this other one for pasta sauce". She's a good critic of the wine, so to hear her say that was great. The Cab did have just a hint of residual CO2, but not enough to make be degas them all.

Have fun.

@AZMDTed, the hydrometer I used broke, so I can't verify its calibration. It recorded the Trinity Red at 0.994, so it was accurate at one point, but I wasn't gentle with that hydrometer, so it's possible I shifted the paper inside when I was cleaning and sanitizing it - I have since learned to be very gentle with them. I'll check the SG again before bottling, for curiosity's sake.

Ugh, degassing. I've read a bunch of threads and watched a few youtube videos, and beyond knowing I need to whip it forever (do the tiny bubbles ever stop?!), I'm too inexperienced to have it down pat. Although, with this revelation of finding CO2 in the shoulders of the carboy, I feel better equipped to degas future wines.

Congrats on your one-year old cab! I can't wait until mine are that old. And how exciting that it won in a blind taste test with your wife. I don't have the hurdles of preconceived notions about homemade wine, as no one I know has made wine. Rather, none of us know what to expect; we drink commercial bottles that are at least a year old, and here we're sipping something I made that's a month or two old. But it sure is exciting!

I'm at a loss with this whole degassing thing. I degassed in the carboy for a while, then racked to a bucket to see if that made it easier. I couldn't tell when I was injecting air vs degassing when I get near the neck of the carboy. I used the wand and drill in the bucket, but I couldn't see any bubbles. I decided to try bottling, but the first bottle fizzed up and had carbonation throughout. I returned the bottle contents to the bucket and used the wand again. I still can't see bubbles in the bucket though. I racked back to the carboy through the bottling wand, and saw bubbles at the start but then they stopped. I thought that may have helped, so I tried one more attempt at bottling, but it again fizzed up. The carboy is now sitting under airlock again, and I'm frustrated. The wine has been between 72* and 75*, and I've tried degassing on four different occasions now, draining at least one battery each time. How do I degas this thing? It's 3 months old, and I'd like to bottle it so I can give sis her birthday portion in Oct.

Thoughts? Advice? Help?

lilvixen said:

I'm at a loss with this whole degassing thing. I degassed in the carboy for a while, then racked to a bucket to see if that made it easier. I couldn't tell when I was injecting air vs degassing when I get near the neck of the carboy. I used the wand and drill in the bucket, but I couldn't see any bubbles. I decided to try bottling, but the first bottle fizzed up and had carbonation throughout. I returned the bottle contents to the bucket and used the wand again. I still can't see bubbles in the bucket though. I racked back to the carboy through the bottling wand, and saw bubbles at the start but then they stopped. I thought that may have helped, so I tried one more attempt at bottling, but it again fizzed up. The carboy is now sitting under airlock again, and I'm frustrated. The wine has been between 72* and 75*, and I've tried degassing on four different occasions now, draining at least one battery each time. How do I degas this thing? It's 3 months old, and I'd like to bottle it so I can give sis her birthday portion in Oct.

Thoughts? Advice? Help?

Click to expand...

4 choices:

1. Bottle now and drink fizzy wine til it's gone
2. Do nothing more than you are, and bottle in several months when the CO2 has departed naturally
3. Try using a vacuvin or brake bleeder
4. Provide a source of mechanical vacuum creation, an electric vacuum pump / All in One.

Personally, I use number 4, then number 2, vacuum degas and bulk age.