New at making wine

[rchessie]

Have a kit wine, green apple country mist. This is my first batch ever and I already made a mistake. I forgot to add the bentonite on the first day. Should I add this now? I am on day 14 and will be transferring the wine to my carboy tonight.... I believe they call this racking? Would appreciate any tips!! Thanks, Randy

 

[Wade E]

Dont worry about the bentonite at this point, if for some reason this doesnt clear using the supplied fining agent the try adding this after racking off of the other stuff so.the wine isnt sitting on all this stuff too long. Welcome to our site and ask all you need as thats why we are here.

 

[tonyandkory]

I did the same thing awhile back making a Malbec.
Turned out fine with out it.

 

[Julie]

Hi rchessie,

Welcome to winemakingtalk.

 

[rchessie]

I did the same thing awhile back making a Malbec.
Turned out fine with out it.

So you didn't add the bentonite at all then eh?

 

[rchessie]

Thanks guys, this is a great app. Im sure I'll be using it lots. I'm looking forward to getting experience in wine making. It seems to be a great hobby so far. So tonight I will be racking from my fermentation bucket to my glass carboy... Any general tips that you know of?

 

[tonyandkory]

So you didn't add the bentonite at all then eh?

Normally I do on every batch.

Racking is easy.
try not to disturb the lees.
tilt the bucket towards the end to get as much wine out as possible.
have a taste(or two)

 

[rchessie]

Have a taste even though my flavor won't be added for another two days?

 

[jswordy]

Have a taste even though my flavor won't be added for another two days?

Yes, please do taste a small mouthfull of your wine at as many phases in production as you can. It will aid you immensely in learning the phases it goes through from must to wine to finished wine to aged wine. Once you learn these, you will grow more and more confident of your abilities to manipulate the results to get what you want.

I know many winemakers who never taste their wines until bottling time. I think that's a mistake. Enjoy all phases of the process, and welcome.

 

[rchessie]

That's a great idea, makes sense, really. I'll probably let you know how I make out tonight. Have a good afternoon

 

[winemaker_3352]

Welcome aboard!!!

 

[EdwardLongshanks]

Yes, please do taste a small mouthfull of your wine at as many phases in production as you can. It will aid you immensely in learning the phases it goes through from must to wine to finished wine to aged wine. Once you learn these, you will grow more and more confident of your abilities to manipulate the results to get what you want.

I know many winemakers who never taste their wines until bottling time. I think that's a mistake. Enjoy all phases of the process, and welcome.

I don't even taste my wine now until it is a few months old in the carboy. I smelled my 5 week old Malbec tonight while I was checking for clarity and that new wine smell is almost enough to make me gag. Luckily It always disappears after awhile.

 

[rchessie]

Got it all racked into the carboy. Did just as you said and tilted the bucket to get as much wine as I could while leaving the sentiment. I had a taste and it didn't taste rotten, tasted pretty good actually. Once I had the wine transferred, I sanitized my fermentation bucket and all the other equipment. I think things are going well. Thanks for all the help guys!

Randy

 

[K5MOW]

Welcome to the site.

Roger