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jgmann67

Rennaisance Man
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Just receive two kits for a late summer start and early fall finish. I'm going to start the Enigma in a couple weeks and am fishing for suggestions to tweak the kit.

There is no FPack and no Oak in the kit.

I looked at other posts here and saw the use of tannins and Oak in the secondary and may be game for that.

What about an FPack with 2 cups of raisins in the primary to raise the OG and give it some extra body?

I want to ferment to dry and wind up with a 14% wine with some good body, vanilla and fruit forward.
 
I tend not to make an Fpack. I'm typically looking to enhance rather than change the kits. Just me, though.

In Primary
What I do often is add a tablespoon of toasted oak powder to primary as a sacrificial tannin, with grapes/elderberries/raisins in a mesh bag.

After Stabilization
Then I'll put chips/staves in the carboy for aging. I add more tannins in the form of tannin riche/rouge/soft/blanc (whichever is right for the wine I'm making) at that time.

With the oak and tannins, I am typically aiming for a layered/nuanced/complex approach so it's a little of this and a little of that rather than alot of just one thing.

I found a great deal of info about grape and wood tannins on the Scott Labs website. There are fermentation, cellaring, and finishing tannins - intended for use at each of those phases. Obviously their goal is to sell their product, so take it with a grain of salt, but there's good info about what they are and when to use them, and which ones are good for which varietals.

Yeast selection, tannins, and oak are great ways to influence the character of our wine.
 
I tend not to make an Fpack. I'm typically looking to enhance rather than change the kits. Just me, though.

In Primary
What I do often is add a tablespoon of toasted oak powder to primary as a sacrificial tannin, with grapes/elderberries/raisins in a mesh bag.

After Stabilization
Then I'll put chips/staves in the carboy for aging. I add more tannins in the form of tannin riche/rouge/soft/blanc (whichever is right for the wine I'm making) at that time.

With the oak and tannins, I am typically aiming for a layered/nuanced/complex approach so it's a little of this and a little of that rather than alot of just one thing.

I found a great deal of info about grape and wood tannins on the Scott Labs website. There are fermentation, cellaring, and finishing tannins - intended for use at each of those phases. Obviously their goal is to sell their product, so take it with a grain of salt, but there's good info about what they are and when to use them, and which ones are good for which varietals.

Yeast selection, tannins, and oak are great ways to influence the character of our wine.

It may not make a difference, but the ABV for this kit is projected at about 13%. I'd like to bump it up a point to 14%. I'd also like to add some body and color.
 
I wonder if they added a non-fermentable sugar to make it off-dry without an F-pack???

Edited to correct: I originally suggested that maltose was a nonfermentable sugar, but the Googler disabused me of my ignorance!
 
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I read the directions tonight and it says that this wine will not ferment below 0.996. Really??

Is there any way to ferment it to dry?

I've done this kit twice and both times I got it down to .990
 
It may not make a difference, but the ABV for this kit is projected at about 13%. I'd like to bump it up a point to 14%. I'd also like to add some body and color.

You could add a little table sugar if you want to ensure the alcohol level is higher than the kit projects, but I wouldn't recommend it personally.

Body can be helped with some raisins in the primary and/or some tannin additions (during or post-fermentation).

I'm more interested in the color question - what color are you going for? Green? :h
 
So, I have six gallons of juice in the primary and the OG is 1.082. Low for my taste. This kit said the OG would be between 1.08 and 1.10. What to do to boost the OG at this point. I could do a simple syrup, but worry it's too much liquid. What about a raisin pack?
 
If you haven't added the yeast yet take some of the juice out and warm it up and dissolve your sugar in that (just don't boil). It will add a little volume but not as much as adding the sugar to additional water. I've done that before and has seemed to work well. At least the wine was drinkable. Plus the added volume won't go to waste when you rack it since you can use it for samples to check its progress. Get FermCalc if you don't already have it and it will help figure out the amount of sugar you have to add plus will let you know what the resulting volume will be.
 
I had a little room to play with. Simple syrup (1/2 cup spring water and 1.5 cups sugar) and another 1/2 cup of sugar into the must. OG now at 1.093-ish. Fermenting to dry will get me to13.5%. I'm happy. Now let's hope I can get this to dry. :)
 
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That's one of the ones in the Forza kit. Will be curious to see if it chomps away at those sugars in your kit as fast as mine has been doing. Used it a few weeks ago in an Orchard Breezin kit and it limped over the finish line. Maybe a few more nutrients in the Forza kit, but I always rehydrate in Go-Ferm and add Fermaid O as it ferments so I think my nutrients aren't deficient. Really like the aroma of the RC-212 so far, wish I could hit a time warp button and go ahead a year or two, try the wine, then come back to reality.
 
I think it was when I started doing a Cranberry batch back in February or March, some said that must was nutrient deficient and could lead to a stuck fermentation.

Since I started using the Go Ferm/Fermaid O combination I haven't had a wine that finished higher than .994, most go to .990. I picked up the Fermaid O because it is said it can be used later in the fermentation than the Fermaid K that has some DAP in it.

I follow the directions (1.5g of O per gallon of wine) and add about 1/2 (5g) when I notice airlock activity, then the other half (4g) when about 1/2 way through fermentation based on the SG drop (say original gravity was 1.100 and expected end is .990, I'd add around 1.045).

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. I think I use it because I have it. If I didn't I'd still go ahead and make the kit and expect good results.
 
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