WineXpert WE Selection Enigma

ceeaton said:

To add to that, I think these higher end kits probably don't require it. They are supposed to be fool proof and are guaranteed to work.

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Challenge accepted...

The primary is bubbling away nicely. Smells great, too. Will check the SG tonight after 3 days in there. I'm going to guess it will be somewhere in the 1.06 range.

Current SG is 1.02. So, we've cranked out nearly 10% ABV so far. Yay.

Going to add tannin with the next racking, then a spiral of French oak in the finish.

That yeast you used is really moving right along. What temperature is the room the fermenter is sitting in? Just curious if you have it in your cooler basement or a warmer area (or maybe your basement is warm now). The one I'm doing has been from 71 to 73*F and is the quickest one I've done up to this point.

Ambient temp is about 73* down in the wine room. The rest of the house is about 78* (my wife is a cheapskate and only runs the AC to the extend she absolutely has to).

On the plus side, my stags leap merlot that's bulk aging seems to be really letting go of the CO2 on its own.

I set the A/C at 76*F but there are corners that definitely run cooler (like the back of the kitchen where I'm allowed to put the fermenting buckets). Most of the house runs 74 or 75 (Wifey still wears a sweatshirt at times in the summer), but in the basement I had added an adjustable vent to the backbone duct the air/heat distributes through and can open that a little more in the summer to keep it 65 to 68 down there, depending on how much the A/C runs (if not outside or in the garage cleaning bottles I'm down there browsing this site).

Planning on doing the Eclipse Chardonnay next, but might wait till fall until the temp drops in the basement a little more. I have a Selection Sangiovese that would work better at the current temperatures.

ceeaton said:

might wait till fall until the temp drops in the basement a little more. I have a Selection Sangiovese that would work better at the current temperatures.

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Agreed - It will be October before I get to the SE Symphony or Eclipse Sonoma Chard (I have a buddy who offered an "I'll buy if you fly" and split the proceeds).

So here's a question:

I'll be home tonight and am hoping that the SG is sub-1.000. The folks at WE say this should only ferment down to 0.996 or so, but folks on this forum have said they got theirs down to dry with no problem.

I want this to ferment to dry. What can I do to insure that it gets there??

Got home and was surprised to find the Enigma at 0.992 @ 73*.

I racked it to a carboy and found the color is substantially brighter cherry than I thought it would be.

I put it up against the Stags Leap merlot for comparison. Take a look.

Jim, have you sampled any yet? Is it full bodied as advertised? Is there noticeable alcohol aroma at this point from the simple syrup you added to bump up the ABV? That will fade, waiting to see if you oak it and how much. Actually like the color, reminds me of a Chianti.

I'm taking a second a second sample of it right now (from the cloudy remains). You know... Just to be sure.

I degassed it just to get a better sense of it. It's got some decent legs, but more medium bodied than full. Alcohol is very much forward right now. I will bulk age this with a spiral of medium toast French oak and maybe that tannin you're sending over. But right now, it's taste is along the Valpolicello line (red berry, no sense of tannin).

Personally, I'd like it a bit darker. But my wife and I both like it now and see some real promise here. When it clears, it will be a bright current/cherry color. And I will bet that's what I'll get on the nose.

It was a good call adding the simple syrup. And, I'm glad to be able to ferment this to dry.

I think that most of the kits will go to dry unless they added some sort of unfermentable sugar. Also think about how many ways people can mess up not following directions. We are pretty new to this so following the directions are in our best interest. Glad to hear it went dry!

This will darken a lot as the sediment falls from solution. You are just seeing light scattering from suspended solids.

I hope so.

I just tucked this one in for the night (and started the super Tuscan - more on that tomorrow).

The Enigma is throwing off lots of CO2. It's sitting at about 74* in a carboy for the next 10 days.

I think you are making a mistake believing it is not dry unless you have a S.G. reading of <0.996. I stop checking the SG once it gets down to 1.000 because I know any wine (with sufficient sugar and nutrient) will get as dry as it can, with a bit of patience.

Bartman said:

I think you are making a mistake believing it is not dry unless you have a S.G. reading of <0.996. I stop checking the SG once it gets down to 1.000 because I know any wine (with sufficient sugar and nutrient) will get as dry as it can, with a bit of patience.

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Bart - I'm not sure I understand your comment. The instructions say that this would not ferment below 0.998 (or somewhere in that range). But, like others have experienced with this one, mine fermented down to 0.992 before I was able to transfer the wine out of the primary and into a carboy.

I would bet that the next time I check (10 days), it will have fermented to bone dry 0.990.

My point is only that, in a general sense, "dry" is not as simple as 0.996 vs. 0.992 or that "bone dry" is 0.990. It depends greatly on the grapes/juice, the starting SG, the yeast, and several other factors (such as temperature, etc.). Personally, I can't tell a difference in the "dry-ness" of a wine that finished .998 or .992 - they are both "dry" to me.

Remember, pure water has specific gravity of 1.000, pure ethanol has specific gravity of .787, while juice starts out higher than 1.000 because of the dissolved sugar (mostly). As it ferments from sugar to alcohol, the S.G. drops, but inevitably, there is going to be a range of final S.G.s for different dry wines.

Good info, Bart. I had no idea.

It's releasing co2 really well in the carboy. I'm going to give it the full 10 days it recommends to wait before going to the next step.

Hoping to get a better sense of whether to add tannin or a spiral of oak later.

Got an interesting suggestion from the folks at LP. To improve color and body, without changing the taste, they suggest adding some red grape concentrate before moving to stabilizing the wine.

It seems to me I'd need to move back to the primary to avoid the wine volcano. Also, the wine was already boosted with 2 cups of simple syrup. So, I feel like I need to be careful not to over-tweak the kit (if that's a thing).

Thoughts?

Um, that will change the taste. Maybe not by much, if you only add a little. You'll restart fermentation doing this if you aren't properly sulfited and sorbated.