Cellar Craft adding tannin

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ez2cy

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I make all Cellar Craft Showcase Reds. I bulk age in carboy for at least 6 months, more to a year. I have now in secondary a Amarone, Malbec and a Chateuna Du Pay (spelling? don't look back)

Is there any benefit to adding tannins? If so, when should one add them.

I don't have a good wine supplier here but bought a pack of Tannin. All I know about it is that it says it Contains European Chestnut extract.

Thoughts?
 
Sorry, I should add, I've never just let a wine clear on it's own. I would like to eliminate as much additives as possible. At the end of the 2nd stage, is there anything I HAVE to add before letting sit and clearing on it's own?

Thanks
 
Do you age with oak cubes, spirals? That may give you some flavor, as well as the tannin. The tannin powder is a source of headaches for me and I avoid like the plague.
 
tannin

I can't get spirals here, sometimes cubes. I mostly get chips or (almost a sawdust)

I add a new pack each time I rack. I rack kind of sporadically.
 
If those are all kits I wouldn't add tannins unless I was a very experienced wine maker. The kit manufacturers have folks with PhD's in wine making that have tried a large number of different recipes before settling on the recipe for the kit. Your odds of making it worse by changing the recipe are a lot higher than your odds of making it better. But if you want to experiment, why not siphon off a gallon into a one gallon jug and experiment on it? Just rack the rest to a smaller carboy to eliminate the head space if you remove a gallon.

To answer your last question, if you have fermented the wine to dry and don't plan to back sweeten, all you have to add is the metabisulfite. If the wine still has residual sugar or if you plan to back sweeten then you need to add the potassium sorbate.

Also, I'd be careful about how much oak I added. Most people seem to only add oak once when they start to bulk age. Takes about 6 weeks to extract all the flavor from the oak.
 
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I make all Cellar Craft Showcase Reds. I bulk age in carboy for at least 6 months, more to a year. I have now in secondary a Amarone, Malbec and a Chateuna Du Pay (spelling? don't look back)

Is there any benefit to adding tannins? If so, when should one add them.

I don't have a good wine supplier here but bought a pack of Tannin. All I know about it is that it says it Contains European Chestnut extract.

Thoughts?

I add tannins to my reds after they are stabilized (added kmeta) and while they are bulk-aging. I typically do 1 tablespoon per 6 gallons because I like the taste of them in a wine. If you're not sure that you like them, it would be good to do a test in a smaller portion of your batch.

Tannins can cause a wine volcano if added while the wine is still fermenting - this has happened to me twice now.

As folks responded, you have to add kmeta. Add sorbate if you are back-sweetening.

It will likely take a few months to clear and degass, which is what I do.
 
For the higher end kits, I have found that adding tannins are not necessary, especially on a grape pack kit. For the $40-70 kits, tannins add mouth feel (if that is a term) structure and body in otherwise thin and lacking wines. I make the cheap kits for everyday drinking and larger parties. The good kits I keep for special occasions and sharing with small parties and good friends. They are a must on a cheap kit.
 
I add tannins to my reds after they are stabilized (added kmeta) and while they are bulk-aging. I typically do 1 tablespoon per 6 gallons

I added 2 teaspoons to an rjs super tuscan with bm4x4 yeast and at the 1 month taste test I'm glad I didn't add more. very noticeable
 

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