Packlab first time making costco wine

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timmer73

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hello all

I decided to give winemaking a go here, local wine store use to make for me but thought I would try to save some money and take up a new hobby.

I got the Costco euro Barolo/cab for $39. I realize this is a cheap kit but my wife and myself don't mind it .

Long story short, I followed the directions to a T, but after 2nd ferm, I noticed that the smell was a little off. Being doing lots of research and I think I have narrowed it down to 2 possibilities, I used reverse osmosis water to top the kits up and did not use any nutrients, or I did not degass good enough. after reading people recommend using spring water or tap water.

I used the copper pipe trick and it worked a bit, I have some reduless on the way, should be here tomorrow. I'm hoping that the reduless will get rid of the rest and then I'll some glycerin and hopefully it will clear it up.

I just racked to secondary today on the same kit (different batch)and the wine smells so much better this time around. I used tap water this time.

Do you think it was just the stripped down water?

All the SG's where correct when I followed the steps.

Any suggestions or input would be great

Thanks.
Tim

P.S. I also have a argentina ridge in clearing and it smells wonderful but it was a juice kit, did not have to add any water.
 
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Keep in mind that a young wine will not necessarily smell or taste all that great compared to the final product. You shouldn't have had to add nutrients to the kit, so I can't see that being an issue. Then again, I'm not sure as to the quality of these kits. In the future, I would just top off with a similar wine rather than just water. You will only dilute your finished wine otherwise, which is doing no favors for something a Barolo/Cabernet blend. What yeast came with this kit?
 
Keep in mind that a young wine will not necessarily smell or taste all that great compared to the final product. You shouldn't have had to add nutrients to the kit, so I can't see that being an issue. Then again, I'm not sure as to the quality of these kits. In the future, I would just top off with a similar wine rather than just water. You will only dilute your finished wine otherwise, which is doing no favors for something a Barolo/Cabernet blend. What yeast came with this kit?

I used the water to start the kit, I topped up with similar red wine. The yeast was javelin 1118.

I'm thinking the yeast did not have enough nutrients and got stressed from using the reverse osmosis water?
 
timmer73 said:
I used the water to start the kit, I topped up with similar red wine. The yeast was javelin 1118. I'm thinking the yeast did not have enough nutrients and got stressed from using the reverse osmosis water?

I misread your original post regarding topping up. EC118 has low nutrient needs, and there should have been nutrients in the kit already. It's not an easy yeast to stress out.
 
I misread your original post regarding topping up. EC118 has low nutrient needs, and there should have been nutrients in the kit already. It's not an easy yeast to stress out.

Would not degassing enough give it an off smell? My wife says it smelled a little "poopy" before I used the copper pipe. It defiantly smells better now but I am still going to use the ruduless before I bottle.

Just trying to figure out the cause. I'm leaning towards the water I used as this last batch is much better smelling using the tap water.
 
Although I haven't made any of the Costco kits, I have always used RO water to hydrate the kit. Never added extra nutrients, never a problem.

I don't think that dissolved CO2 (ie wine not degassed) leaves a funny smell.

BTW, AFAIK the Argentia Ridge is not an all-juice kit. It is a concentrate kit (possibly with some juice) that has been reconstituted. Check the ingredient list to be sure.

Steve
 
Not sure if RO water is like distilled or not, but if it is, your problem could be lack of oxygen. Yeast needs oxygen to function. Your tap water would have it
 
Not sure if RO water is like distilled or not, but if it is, your problem could be lack of oxygen. Yeast needs oxygen to function. Your tap water would have it

I'm guessing that is it. Yeast was stressed out and produced the bad small. I'm hoping the ruduless fixes the problem and we can enjoy our wine
 
did I miss somethng?

I'm not sure if I'm reading this right, but it appears your wine is stinky, and it hasn't reached the stabilization point yet. If this is the case, you should be doing nothing, as it is perfectly normal. There is nothing wrong with RO or even distilled water for reconstitution, as it is still h2o, and you will incorporate plenty of air when you stir vigorously stir it before pitching your yeast. If your hydrometer readings are in he normal area, just leave it alone. If you notice it is still off weeks after stabilization, some intervention may (or may not) be required then.
 
I'm not sure if I'm reading this right, but it appears your wine is stinky, and it hasn't reached the stabilization point yet. If this is the case, you should be doing nothing, as it is perfectly normal. There is nothing wrong with RO or even distilled water for reconstitution, as it is still h2o, and you will incorporate plenty of air when you stir vigorously stir it before pitching your yeast. If your hydrometer readings are in he normal area, just leave it alone. If you notice it is still off weeks after stabilization, some intervention may (or may not) be required then.

Its been about 3 weeks since I racked from the clearing stage. And about a week since I racked over the copper which helped. This is a 4 week kit, and has now been sitting for 6.

Ruduless should be here today, I'll pitch that in and see if it combats the off smell.

It has to be the water, my last batch here is so much better smelling.
 
You really need to slow down some, you are trying to solve a problem that I don't think is there. You have not said anything about a rotten egg smell, you have not posted any sg readings and what do you mean by 2nd fermentation? Are you trying to do an MLF on a kit?

The smell you smell is probably just normal fermentation, 1118 can be a pretty aggressive yeast and could create off smells.

If fermentation is complete, I would rack and add kmeta and leave it along for a little while.
 

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