RJ Spagnols Orange Blossom Muscat

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K&GB

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I started the RJ Spagnols Cru Select Orange Blossom Muscat kit today.
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The kit comes with 3.2-gal of juice and a bag of sweet reserve.


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The kit also comes with the standard additives: Bentonite, 2 packets of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast, K-meta, K-sorbate, Kiesosol and Chitsan.


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Directions were a little different than I'm used to- Don't add water. Pour the Bentonite directly into the must while stirring. Cover the primary and attach an airlock.There's also a separate slip of paper included that lists SG ranges for three different wines: Port, Muscat, and Icewine. For the Muscat, SG should range between 1.110-1.115. I measured the SG at 1.118. That'slike 30Brix with a potential alcohol of 16%.
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I can only assume the high alcohol level will be diluted somewhat when I add the sweet reserve after fermentation.


The must is a dark gold, almost caramel color.


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Edited by: K&GB
 
I bet that is going to be an awesome one..keep those pictures coming
 
This is such an incredible dessert wine! I did mine last year, and have been practicing the utmost willpower to keep it in the carboy. It's just those "how's this doing" check tastings that are awesome.
 
That looks so good it has me thinking I may need to try my hand at duplicating this one. I should have 3- 6 gallon carboys of a Muscat type wine when I rack it tomorrow. This wine smells absolutely incredible. The grape is NY 76.0844.24 - one from the Cornell breeding program. It tastes as good as it smells. The hardest part will be getting the Orange Blossom part down- maybe some orange concentrate in the Liquor Quick type. Let me know what SG this one finishes at please.
 
Mine is almost ready to rack to carboy and boy does it smell great. I didnt even read the instructions as I do all the RJS kits the old way where you finish fermentation in the bucket and there is no more activity in the airlock so will rack this weekend.
 
Oooo, Appleman, you need to do one as a Moscato d'asti type if you can, then 1 carboy as this type. You'll have to chaptalize to get the ABV up, and backsweeten to about 1.015 or thereabouts. The orange blossom character can probably come from orange blossom water that you can find in many middle east food stores. It provides a very subtle flavour that is not really orange like.
 
Looks good K&G, I do like a little Muscat now and then myself. Sure it will make a great Dessert Wine!
 
One correction. The primary bag of juice is not 3.2-gal. It's more like 2. I guess it'll come out to 3 with addition of the sweet reserve later.


I've been fermenting this in a 7-gal primary with the top sealed and an airlock attached. I checked SG today, and it was 1.004. The directions say not to rack into a carboy until fermentation is complete and you're ready to stabilize. But I felt uncomfortable with all that headspace in the primary, so I went ahead and racked into a 3-gal carboy.
 
Mine went up to about 2 5/8 of a gallon at least thats what it read on my primary bucket.
 
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Here it is in a 3-gal carboy. Fermentation has slowed considerably. Very little airlock activity.
 
I should of have mine in carboy on Tuesday but am running behind as Ive been in the basement working, i have to get this done today though, it is protected by lots of gas though as I ferment with lid on all the time. Looks good K&G.
 
Ken, how is yours clearing. Its only been a few days for mine with fining agent but usually it drops clear in a day or 2 and this 1 looks like fresh pressed cider after 3 days.
 
Wade, I haven't stabalized or added the clarifier yet. Looks like fermentation is done, but I'm too busy until Sunday. Hope yours clears. I've never seen Super Kleer not work. I'll let you know what happens when I get to mine.


Ken
 
Made some time during lunch today to rack, stabilize, and back-sweeten this kit. Post fermentation SG was .994 and the wine had begun to clear.


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According to directions, I was supposed to siphon off a liter, prior to adding anything, with which I could top up later. What I actually did was rack all of it back into the primary, stirred in the K-meta, K-sorbate, Kiesosol, and chitosan, degassed for several minutes, and then mixed in the 3-liter bag of sweet reserve. I checked the SG after adding the reserve juice and it was 1.082.
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So I tasted the wine and boy was it sweet!
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Smells wonderful too. I had just a bit left over after topping up, so I put it into a 375 mil bottle and stuck that in the fridge for later when I rack off of the Super Kleer.


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I'm concerned about the ending SG. This is the first wine I've made that had a reserve for back sweetenting. Is an SG of 1.082normal for a finished dessert wine?


Wade, by the time I got home from work tonight, the wine had already cleared almost completely. It's a dark gold color but completely translucent, with a good accumulation of lees at the bottom.


Waldo, it tastes really sweet but also very good.
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Post a pic when you get a chance and also retake the SG as I highly think that was accurate. That F pack is very thick and hard to blend in very well and its probably my problem for not clearing as when I degassed I didnt have to do much to be able to hold 22" of vacuum and I think I may not have mixed it as well as I should have cause even though I extracted some wine I was still pretty full and dint have much room to play with the drill mounted stirrer but it is clearing more just not like every other wine I have used SuperKleer on with the exception of an Apple Spice wine from scratch a few years back. Thanks Ken, Ill try and post my pics tomorrow, been pretty busy here lately.
Edited by: wade
 
Hers mine and its finally clearing nicely, just not what Im used to when using SuperKleer in a kit, usually it clears up overnight!
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