Hey Ron, keep us posted on your progress.
WineXpert LE15 Gewürztraminer Verdelho Muscat
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GaDawg
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I haven't tried ice bags. I have places the primary in a plastic tray of Ice water with a t shirt attached to the outside of my primary. The cold water will wick up the t shirt to cool the primary. And I have lowered the temp even more by putting a fan on the primary to increase evaporation.
There is an inherent risk depending on how many ice bags you use. It only takes a small prick or a ziplock seal to fail and once your ice melts you have just diluted your must. A small chunk or two of dry ice will cool the must down just as well if not better and it will evaporate into thin air.
The soaked tee shirt is a something that I hadn't thought of. Thanks for the idea.
The ice bags aren't working out as good as I'd hoped. The temperature drops when I refill the ice bag but then goes up again when the ice melts. It's like a yoyo. The wine reached 78.8 degrees at one point last evening due to its active fermentation and my inattentiveness as a result of being out for dinner.
I'll look around tomorrow to morning see if I've got what what's needed, a bin and a small fan, to effectively dress up the primary fermenter with a tee shirt chiller.
Just an update for anyone that may still be following this thread.
You were right, Mike. The seal for one of the ice bags that I repeatedly us failed; melted ice water got into the wine. I abandoned the ice bags after that incident and draped wet towels over the top of the primary fermenter to cool it down. The best that the wet towels accomplished was a few degrees decrease. Next time I make a white wine during a Miami heat wave, I'll prepare ahead with a tee shirt, water bucket and fan as per GaDawg's recommendation.
Most of the wine's fermentation ended up being done at a temperature in the low 80's. The room temperature was at 76 but the wine generated its own heat from fermentation.
I followed up fermentation with stabilization, degassing and the addition of the Fpac. Today, I racked it off the sediment and will leave it for a few weeks before bottling. I'll taste the wine at that point to make sure that it's OK to drink. Hopefully, my batch will clear as well as Varis' did.
You were right, Mike. The seal for one of the ice bags that I repeatedly us failed; melted ice water got into the wine. I abandoned the ice bags after that incident and draped wet towels over the top of the primary fermenter to cool it down. The best that the wet towels accomplished was a few degrees decrease. Next time I make a white wine during a Miami heat wave, I'll prepare ahead with a tee shirt, water bucket and fan as per GaDawg's recommendation.
Most of the wine's fermentation ended up being done at a temperature in the low 80's. The room temperature was at 76 but the wine generated its own heat from fermentation.
I followed up fermentation with stabilization, degassing and the addition of the Fpac. Today, I racked it off the sediment and will leave it for a few weeks before bottling. I'll taste the wine at that point to make sure that it's OK to drink. Hopefully, my batch will clear as well as Varis' did.
Ron, I hope the bag didn't have much water.
Varis,
It was no more than a cup after the ice melted. I'm more concerned about off flavors from the freezer effecting the wine. The liquid will have a minor dilutive impact.
I just stumbled across this thread while looking for peoples results with this kit. Mine has turned out very nice so far. It's been in the bottle for maybe 6 or 7 months. It's been a couple months since I opened a bottle for tasting. I'm going to have to give it another go tonight.
But what I have question about is the F pack that everyone is talking about. The only F pack I've encountered is from an Island Mist kit that I tried. I don't remember adding anything additional after fermenting. It's possible that I added it along with the juice pack thinking it was an extra pack to bring the juice volume to 18L or whatever is was with that kit. I chucked my notes and instructions after I bottled it so I can't go back and look at my values, but I know that the starting SG was what the instructions said it should be. Are there different versions of the kit that don't have F packs?
But what I have question about is the F pack that everyone is talking about. The only F pack I've encountered is from an Island Mist kit that I tried. I don't remember adding anything additional after fermenting. It's possible that I added it along with the juice pack thinking it was an extra pack to bring the juice volume to 18L or whatever is was with that kit. I chucked my notes and instructions after I bottled it so I can't go back and look at my values, but I know that the starting SG was what the instructions said it should be. Are there different versions of the kit that don't have F packs?
Sounds like you added the whole fpack in primary.
The fpack was like 1L of concentrated juice in a shiny silver bag.
The fpack was like 1L of concentrated juice in a shiny silver bag.
I just finished my 4 months of bulk aging. My ph is 3.5 (recently calibrated) but I would like to add tartaric acid to lower ph to the 3.2 range. Is there a calculator somewhere that will tell me how much acid to add. Thanks in advance.
1.0 g/L addition of Tartaric acid will increase the TA by about 1.0 g/L and will decrease the pH by 0.1 pH units.
Always add 1/2 of what you think you need. Check pH. Add more if necessary.
Acid Calculator
Always add 1/2 of what you think you need. Check pH. Add more if necessary.
Acid Calculator
Thanks Mike, lowered pH to 3.3 just as planned. I am blue-yellow color blind and I am having problems telling if the color is appropriate for this style or if has slightly oxadized. First 2 are with lights on and others are with flashlight. What do you all think?
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Looks great to me! Color is appropriate. The more volume you are looking through the darker it will appear to the eye. You might try lowering it even more down to 3.1- 3.2 range. Pull enough for a glass out and sprinkle in just enough tartaric acid and check the pH and use your tongue to see if its more to your liking. Commercial whites are more in that range usually. I have found kit white wines to be slightly flabby most of the time and a little addition of tartaric acid seems to really brighten/crisp them up. YMMV.
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