after taste

[osborngj]

Ok, I've made a couple batches of wine. A kit pinot noir, a kit cab sav, and a from scratch strawberry (using fresh strawberries). All of them have the same issue if you will. They all have the same after taste to them. Its hard to say exactly what the the taste is though. It has some sort of bite,mmmm maybe straight alcohol after taste. Thats probably a horrilble explaination but I cann't really describe it. My Cab sav has been in bottles for 2 years now the same after taste remains. So I don't think its an aging thing. I know I don't get this same after taste from store purchased wines. So I'm at a loss. Any ideas?

 

[winemaker_3352]

How much and often are you adding k-meta in??

If you add too much to often it can remain in the wine for a while...

Have you taken any TA, PH, and/or SO2 readings to your finished wine??

What was the starting SG and ending SG - just to see what the ABV is.

 

[osborngj]

Lets take the cab sav as an example.

Started SG 1.093
Finish SG .998

As for testing all those other items. Don't know. Being that it was a kit I was under the understanding that you just add the chemicals per instructions.

As for the Strawberry I made.
I used PH test strips for acid readings. I believe it finished around 4.5 ph
The so2 titration kit I got always read really low even though I added the prescribed amounts of campden tablets. Crushed and dissolved.

 

[cpfan]

One of the big probelms for new winemakers is insufficient degassing. What does the wine taste if it sits out to breathe before you drink it? How about if you pour a glass, and swirl it around for a few minutes before drinking?

Steve

 

[winemaker_3352]

One of the big probelms for new winemakers is insufficient degassing. What does the wine taste if it sits out to breathe before you drink it? How about if you pour a glass, and swirl it around for a few minutes before drinking?

Steve

Good catch Steve!

I didn't even think about degassing - trapped CO2 can mask the true flavor of the wine.

 

[osborngj]

Well I have one batch that wasn't degassed properly and understand what that does to the flavor but that isn't the issue I believe. I got a bottle from another guy I work with that is making homemade wine. It also has the same after taste to it. Maybe its a home made wine thing.?

 

[winemaker_3352]

Could be - but really hard to say for sure.

Can you provide any kind of a description of the taste that might help?

Any off smells??

Oxidation is another possibility..

 

[jswordy]

Sure it's not the dilute CO2 that's making the "taste"? A wine can be still and yet have quite a lot of dilute CO2 in it.

Fill an empty wine bottle a quarter full with some of your wine, put your finger over the mouth and shake it. When you quit shaking, watch the wine and listen as your remove your finger. Did you hear a "pop" from pressure buildup? Did the wine seem to fizz at all?

Try the same with your friend's wine.

Another test is to be moderately aggressive in decanting the wine, then let it breathe, then taste it and see if it changed.

CO2 is one thing I can think of that could be common to both batches made in different environments by different people with different ingredients.

The other could be water, if you both were using the same municipal water supply. It is extremely rare for water that is potable to be a wine problem, but not impossible. The fix there is to use bottled water or get a purifier.

It's not a "homemade wine" thing, I assure you. I don't have after-tastes in my wines.

 

[Affe]

The other could be water, if you both were using the same municipal water supply. It is extremely rare for water that is potable to be a wine problem, but not impossible. The fix there is to use bottled water or get a purifier.

I may not have made much wine, but I've always used bottled water or filtered simply for the satisfaction of knowing what is (or isn't) in the water.

 

[robie]

Well I have one batch that wasn't degassed properly and understand what that does to the flavor but that isn't the issue I believe. I got a bottle from another guy I work with that is making homemade wine. It also has the same after taste to it. Maybe its a home made wine thing.?

Kit wines can have a pretty serious after taste until they age out some, especially reds. Of course any young, green wine is also gong to have a green, tart taste for awhile. That "kit taste" and/or the green taste will eventually subside.

About CO2, if it is present in a wine, it not only masks the flavor, it also seriously masks the aroma. Do try decanting a kit wine, especially if it still has too much CO2. The aroma will improve a lot.

As the wine sets in the decanter, the aroma will get stronger and better with each passing hour. Once the aroma is full, the wine is ready to drink.

If I have CO2, I slosh the wine around in the decanter about every 30 minutes. I have one early batch, which didn't degas well, that can stay in the decanter 8 hours before it starts coming around.

I like IBGLOWIN's suggestion to open a bottle, take a glass out, push the cork back in to seal the bottle, let it set 24 hours or so, then re-open and drink. It really works, with kit wines especially.

 

[jswordy]

I may not have made much wine, but I've always used bottled water or filtered simply for the satisfaction of knowing what is (or isn't) in the water.

I have no problems in that regard, my water is coming straight out of a 75-foot well that draws from a pure limestone aquifer. No chlorine or chemicals. It's similar to the water Jack Daniel uses up the road.

 

[osborngj]

I will try getting a bottle to a 1/4 full and give it a good shake just to verify its not a CO2 gas issue.

The flavor for lack of better words is almost a bitter flavor. You take a drink, you taste wine and then after the wine flavor subsides you get a very sharp flavor that almost overides your taste buds. Almost like a really hard water. Which I can say I've eliminated because one of the batchs I've made I used store purchased spring water. Which I tasted and didn't taste like hard water.