Cellar Craft CC Chateau du Pays with Grape Pack

Picked this one up just before the holidays while it was one sale. Only 6mo old juice (thanks George!) I have some very high hopes for this one. Châteauneuf-du-Pape is an amazing (and quite pricey) red Rhone wine and this one is supposedly crafted after it. It is a blend of Syrah, Carignan and Grenache although not sure what the % are of each.



BRONZE Medal winner and says so on the box! Brewbelt on as it is a constant cool 55 degrees in the winery!



Amazing DEEP ruby red color on this kit! Not much Oak, just 80 gms American (sawdust). No enzyme pack. Its hard to tell where exactly the juice came from CC has started being more cryptic on the package contents sticker and not stating exactly where the juice comes from only list all the generic different countries of origin of the different grape products. Nothing specific.



More pics as things progress!

looking good there

Looks like a lava dome there about ready to erupt..

Punching down the grape pack (volcano) 2X a day now. Primary temp was 77 this AM with the belt on so unplugged and will let the yeastie boys make their own warmth until this afternoon.

Looks like you are going to become quite a resource for us greener wine makers as to what a lot of these kits taste like when your group comes of age!!!!! I look forward to your input!!!!!!

My first thought was a volcano also! Good luck with it- it looks great and I bet smells even better, but I still don't have the USB smella-port hooked up yet. It is supposed to be plug and smell, but with this cold I can't tell if it is working right or not. My nose isnot working right.

I have one of ALOT of things bulk aging ATM. All different, all high end kits. Have 2 more fermenting now and and 2 on deck.

After that it will be time to take a fermenting break till at least Summer........

This looks real good, Mike. Thanks for the photos.

This guy has taken off like a rocket today! Waldo called it ! (day 2)

Good thing I turned off the brewbelt this AM as he is churning away all by himself. Here is a snap I took when I went home at lunch. Carboy temp is ~74 degrees. This was taken (with no flash) 45 minutes AFTER I punched him down. Easy boy, easy!

And the cats in the bag... (so to speak!)



Transferred to glass tonight. 8 days in primary as I wanted to give the grape pack a little more extraction face time .

Now off to rest for a few weeks in secondary. Nice aroma and great color!

Very nice.

Don't let the French see your label. They will object to your hijacking of their copyrighted name.

So that's why zee real stuff is soooo espensave!

You have to pay zee silly French for zee use of zee silly name!

It sounds delicious. Anyway, you were talking
about using a brew belt. I ordered one with my first equipment order but haven't gotten it yet,
so I haven't been able to read its instruction.





I ordered the belt, because this time of year my basement, where I will
setup for fermentation, is pretty cold at night and only slightly warmer during the
day. It runs between about 57 and 63 F. each day. It varies so much
because we lower out thermostat to 58 each night and don't intend on
changing this practice. In the summer it stays in the lower 60's and I understand that is too cold for fermentation.





Anyway, I will need the extra warmth of a brew belt for fermentation, at least to
start fermentation. (You mentioned taking the belt off after
fermentation started, because the process starts generating its own heat.) From what you said, am I right in assuming the
belt keeps putting out heat, even if heat is not needed? Otherwise you
wouldn't need to take it off.





Sounded like when fermentation starts and the process provides its own
heat, the belt comes off... utilizing the belt is pretty much a
manual (on-off, on-off) process, huh?




What happens if the temperature of the must rises and the belt is not
removed? I am not a physicist by any means. For example, if the must
is 78 degrees and the belt is, say 75, would that tend to bring down
the must's temperature or would the additional heat of the belt, even
though it is less, accumulate and raise the temperature?

Am I being too analytical?

Hi Richard,

The belt has no controls whatsoever. You just plug it in and it goes to a pre determined temp. With that said, you were diligent in purchasing one because you will certainly need it. BTW I am just down the road (I-25) from you so we have much the same altitude and weather conditions!

During the cold months on kits that need water added I microwave 1 gallon jugs for about 5 minutes (ea) to bring the final must up to ~72 degrees. Your kit will mostly likely be COLD when delivered this time of year (~50 degrees) so the extra heat will help to bring it up quickly to the required starting point to make the yeast happy. I always rehydrate my yeast and fermentation seems to start in as little as 3-4 hours. I leave the belt on but monitor the temp (either dip thermometer or one of the tape thermometer strips).If my temps go above 76 I will unplug the belt for 4-5 hours and let it come down to ~72. For a day or so the yeast will go crazy and you won't need much heat during the day but at night you should just leave it on. After it slows down you will pretty much go back to mostly on 24/7 to keep things progressing smoothly. The yeast in these kits are pretty amazing in that they can withstand a wide range of temps, pH, alcohol and work till fermentation is complete. Cooler is probably the worse of of the two evils as it will sloooow fermentation down and you risk a stuck fermentation if you are halfway through the fermentation process. So err on the warm side if you err but try not to go over 78 and not under 70 and things will go just swimmingly for you!

Also remember you will need the brewbelt (or a heating pad) as well once you transfer to glass secondary. I leave mine on until after I have degassed and added my clarifying agents and the wine has cleared. Usually day 22-25. After that you can remove from heat and let it sit until you are ready to rack off the fines.

Thanks Mike,

That helps. Wonder if a person could hook a heavy duty thermostat, like a baseboard heater thermostat, to the side of the fermentor bucket and use that to turn the belt on and off as needed. Bet there are 110v switchable thermostats out there that could do the job... as long as you don't get fried if it gets wet.

Glad to hear someone re-hydrates their yeast instead of just pitching it. Even to a total newbie, that seems like it would be a practical approach -

1) it would start the fermentation process faster.
2) it would determine up front if the yeast is still good.

I first read about re-hydrating on Jack Keller's web site. Sounds like he mostly makes fruit wines even out of unusual stuff like bark and acorns, but he seems technically to be very savvy. I enjoy his site.

Don't over think the brewbelt, unless your really bored!

You got me!!!

I also have a brew belt. I did not think you could put them on a glass carboy? Something about getting glass to hot and it could break. Or are you talking about better bottles?

I don't exactly remember where, but last week I did read that testing was done and the belt did not harm either glass or plastic carboy.

Testing can be very subjective.

Anyone had any notable experiences (good or bad) with a brew belt on a carboy?