I posted on the intro board yesterday and spent all day reading through the forum picking up helpful tips, and wanted to post my progress so far and ask a few questions.
I've started out with a 7-10 day 23ltr pinot kit from wineworks (no racking or secondary ferment required)
Primary fermentation took a while as I struggled to maintain the temperature in my old, draughty house (start SG 1073). After 8 days I tasted my wine (SG 1015) and it was very sharp with a slight fizzy burn on the tongue. I panicked and thought I'd ruined it as I had no idea what it should taste like at that stage!
After 12 days my SG stayed at 995 and the taste had improved so yesterday I siphoned the wine into the other container, added the stabiliser and I'm de-gassing my wine as per the instructions (it's still quite frothy).
Today I'm supposed to add my finings and then leave for 24 hours to clear.
I've had another taste this morning and it's still quite sharp with a little hint of a burn (no tingle or fizzing) and a pretty clean aftertaste...so, my questions are;
Is the burn coming from the remaining CO2, and will that continue to die down as the wine ages?
If my wine still tastes sharp after it's cleared, what's the best way to tweak the taste...can I simply add juice or sugar?
Any help appreciated!
I've started out with a 7-10 day 23ltr pinot kit from wineworks (no racking or secondary ferment required)
Primary fermentation took a while as I struggled to maintain the temperature in my old, draughty house (start SG 1073). After 8 days I tasted my wine (SG 1015) and it was very sharp with a slight fizzy burn on the tongue. I panicked and thought I'd ruined it as I had no idea what it should taste like at that stage!
After 12 days my SG stayed at 995 and the taste had improved so yesterday I siphoned the wine into the other container, added the stabiliser and I'm de-gassing my wine as per the instructions (it's still quite frothy).
Today I'm supposed to add my finings and then leave for 24 hours to clear.
I've had another taste this morning and it's still quite sharp with a little hint of a burn (no tingle or fizzing) and a pretty clean aftertaste...so, my questions are;
Is the burn coming from the remaining CO2, and will that continue to die down as the wine ages?
If my wine still tastes sharp after it's cleared, what's the best way to tweak the taste...can I simply add juice or sugar?
Any help appreciated!