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victank1

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confused about why my wines taste sour. Booth the Kit (white Zinfandel) and the strawberry made from scratch. I followed the instructions to the letter and it taste okay, but still a little sour. Also the strawberry I put up even after addind some simple sugar that seemed okay to start but after about 2 weeks it again seems a little sour.Booth are older than 8 weeks, am I asking too much too soon?Help PeterZ, Wade, Appleman
 
When you sweetened the strawberry, did you use potassium sorbate along with potassium metabisulfite before sweetening? If not, the left over yeast in the wine gobbled up the sugars you added and it is again tart. If you added them before, I am not sure why it tastes tart unless like you say because it is still so young. If you like a sweeter white zin, add the k-sorbate and k-meta and sweeten it a bit.
 
Are they still on sediment as some will perceive the yeasty taste as sour and other then the fact that Appleman (grapeman) has stated, I cant see how the kit would also be tart.
 
I did in fact use camden tablets crushed and added after the first racking to the strawberry and used the packs in kit at first racking on the white zinfandel
 
What do you mean by first racking, was it done fermenting? If not this could be the problem.
 
The only thing I can say is to let it age some then as Im at a loss of words why the kit would taste sour.
 
You said you used campden tablets for the strawberry batch. If you didn't use the sorbate, chances are extremely good that any sugar addition would just get eaten up by the yeast.
 
On the White Zin, did you add the F-Pack after you stabilized with Sorbate and K-Meta? Also, on the strawberry if you didn't use Sorbate in it I agree that it just kept fermenting and has converted the sugar solution to more alcohol. Many think K-Meta is going to stop your fermentation and stabilize your wine. It will not. It is an anti-oxidant that will protect the wine from oxidizing or turning brown. The Potassium Sorbate is the tool that inhibits fermentation.
 
On the Kit I followed all directions and in sequence. On the strawberry the camden was all I added, I will add sorbate and K-meta. Thanks guys
 
The campdenIS k-meta in tablet form. Probably no need to add more, just the potassium sorbate. It takes about 1/2 teaspoon per gallon to be effective. You can get it in a 2 ounce bottle I believe it is-plenty for small batches.


I have had one white zin turn out tart and fizzy. I don't think it had enough sorbate in the packet to be effective.
 
I'll get some sorbate This should help Thanks
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