RJ Spagnols 1st Batch of wine with ?

[jake77]

Started the Washington reisling 2 weeks ago. I had to taste it the other night and it is a bit tart. Too much for my likeing.We prefer winea little on the sweeter side. The kit does not come with a conditioner or F-pack. My question is, should I get some conditioner or sugar tosweeten it whenI rack it? Also, should I add more sorbate or anything else when I do it? Wehave always bought Reislingto drink and all of them are sweeter than what mine tastes like now. Or will it mellow alot with age and I should not worry about it? Thanks

 

[Wade E]

Welcome Jake. I would give it a awhile but you may want to sweeten it like you said. You can do so by making a simple syrup which consists 1 cup of boiling water and then adding 2 cups of sugar to dissolve. let it all cool down and add it to your stable wine. If you have added the sorbate that came with the kit along with the k-meta that came with the kit then you are safe to add it .

 

[K&GB]

jake77, we made the MM Alljuice Reisling and sweetened 3/4 of it at bottling as Wade described above. Both turned out excellent. The sweet version was our most requested this Christmas from family. But I prefered the dry.

Only one bottle left.

 

[jake77]

Thanks alot! Maybe I will try sweetening part of it and let it age to see which one we like better. That way I will know in the future. So, You recomend sweetening before bottleing after it has cleared and not during the secondary? Also, how much faster does a white age in bulk compared to bottles? I may go get another carboy so I can start another batch and let this batch age in the carboy if it will make it better.

 

[vcasey]

I would go get the second carboy any way, maybe even a third. You would not want them to get lonely. I sweeten after stabilizing and before clearing. You can age the wine in either bottles or the carboy. I like using the carboy because some wines tend to drop sediment even if they look clear and temperature changes don't affect the wine as much.
VPC

 

[grapeman]

Thanks alot! Maybe I will try sweetening part of it and let it age to see which one we like better. That way I will know in the future. So, You recomend sweetening before bottleing after it has cleared and not during the secondary? Also, how much faster does a white age in bulk compared to bottles? I may go get another carboy so I can start another batch and let this batch age in the carboy if it will make it better.

You can't really sweeten it during secondary fermentation because it would just ferment out the sweetener and it would still be tart. Once the wine is clear and aged some, if you haven't already added both sorbate and k-meta, do so before sweetening. Some kits contain both, some don't. If you don't add both, you can't safely sweeten at home. When they are added and stirrd well, you can sweeten to the level you desire and then let it set for a few weeks to make sure it doesn't start refermenting and to clear up good after sweetening. Once those steps are taken, you can safely bottle it.

 

[jake77]

Just racked my wine as per instructions. Its in the carboy now with the sulfite, sorbate, kieselsol, and chitosane. I degassed it for a good ten minutes. After it sit for a minute I noticed it was dropping a what apeared to be a white gummy sediment and the bottom of the carboy is covered in it. Is this normal and what is it?


Im going to clean up my fermenter and start a piesporter this week as I bought another carboy this week.

 

[PeterZ]

Jake, yes, that's normal. This is what the clarifiers are there to remove. Leave it for2 - 3 weeks and then rack the wine off the sediment into a clean carboy.

 

[grapeman]

That's right Jake. In a white wine you will get the whitish gunk on the bottom and in darker red wines it will be a dark purple or red color. It is the dead yeast cells and such that drop to the bottom with the aid of the clarifiers. Left a while, they become more compact and don't move or cause cloudy wine as easily when moved.

 

[Wade E]

As said above the fining agent is floculating and will take down all solids in the wine and thats what clears your wine.

 

[grapeman]

As said above the fining agent is floculating and will take down all solids in the wine and thats what clears your wine.

Watch your language Wade. There are innocent ears around!

 

[grannytsb]

We are Riesling drinkers and George just put a kit in thats a little sweeter than most. Its the Auslese Riesling(SP?). Check it out. I think if you like a bit sweeter and less tart this one might be for you.


Granny

 

[jake77]

So, how long does it take to start clearing after the clearing agents are added? It has been three days now and I havn't noticed anything happening. I am wondering about temperature. Directions say to clear at a dark 59-66 degrees. It has been at a constant 62 degrees. The temps I have read for kieselsol and chitosan say warmer is better. Are the kit directions a little off?


BTW- This is a great forum with alot of helpfull people here.I have read through alot of posts since finding this site a week ago and trying to learn. Thanks!

 

[Wade E]

Each kit uses different fining agents and some like W.E. take longer then others. It will most likely take 2 weeks but Ive had problems using their fining agents a few times myself.

 

[vcasey]

I do remember it taking a while for my ice wines to clear and I am leaning towards it taking longer because of the viscosity of ice wines in general. I have noticed this on my Cab Franc ice wine and my OCP as well. Don't know if the temps had anything to do with it seeming to take a while but my wine temps average 70 - 75 all year.
VPC