WineXpert Ahh I did it now 2 kits

[Dend78]

Just picked up my first 2 kits

First is the Island Mist Peach Apricot Chardonnay

Second Island Mist Blackberry Cabernet

im going to be starting one of these shortly after they arrive, once i empty up my good primary.

 

[Wade E]

You may want to boost the abv on these by adding about 3 lbs of sugar to primary. It really helps balance out the sweetness and make it shelve much better but it will void the warranty and extend the fermentation a little.

 

[Terry0220]

Just picked up my first 2 kits

First is the Island Mist Peach Apricot Chardonnay

Second Island Mist Blackberry Cabernet

im going to be starting one of these shortly after they arrive, once i empty up my good primary.

Not sure about the Chardonnay, but the IM Blackberry Cab is one of our favorites!! Fisrt time, followed the instructions topped with added water was good, but the next time was topped with a bottle or so of Cab that we had on hand,,much better, no water down taste, the third we bumped up the starting sg with some sugar in the primary and topped with a bottle or two of the previous batch,,,much much better!

so you can make as the instructions say,,but tweating it alittle will result in a better tasting wine.

Good luck!

 

[Dend78]

....but it will void the warranty and extend the fermentation a little.

like im gonna send it back

it seems like everyone is on the same page with this stuff bump the ABV up and enjoy, I will use this thread as my how this is how the kids are going thread and update it to show progress, i dunno i almost feel cheated not having to post up my recipe

oh well im stoked lets get em going!

 

[Sammyk]

We did the IM Blackberry Cab too and it was too sweet so all IM kits after that one we added 4 pounds of sugar to the primary too. Don't get me wrong, it was good just too sweet for our liking and of course not much alcohol (6.9%). Age it some even though it is an early drinker because aging makes it better.

 

[the_rayway]

Awesome dend78! Yum yum yum
We're totally addicted to the Peach apricot, and I've got a Green Apple Riesling and the Blackberry Cab on the go right now for my 'wine co-op' We're doing a Cranberry Malbec and a Strawberry Merlot next month. This stuff goes down like juice! The Green Apple is the first one I've bumped the ABV up on though.

Let us know how yours turns out!

 

[Dend78]

This stuff goes down like juice!

oh no thats a scary phrase

okay for those of you that have done the blackberry how close is it to a Mogen David's blackberry?

 

[Dend78]

got my kits last night, after some back and forth action I went with the blackberry first. Wow how easy are these things? Seriously no mesh bag, no measuring spoons, no scales nothing just put in 2L of hot water in primary add contents of package #2, stir, dump in juice, stir, add warm water to 6 gallons, stir, check SG, (add more sugar cause 1.045-1.052 doesnt cut it ), wait til water temp is a 72-75*F dump in yeast. now wait for a few days then stir and rack to carboy.

super simple i love it!

 

[grapeman]

Don't forget to check the SG after adding sugar so you know where you began and calculate your ABV.

 

[Dend78]

Don't forget to check the SG after adding sugar so you know where you began and calculate your ABV.

yup i did it was sitting around 1.075ish, i forgot to add that into my shortened instruction breakdown

 

[the_rayway]

We added the fpack to our blackberry a few days ago. I was initially worries that it would be too sweet, like the one at the store (non-alcoholic, of course). It's much less sweet than I thought and looks like it's going to go down like liquid-awesome. Uh oh

 

[Dend78]

We added the fpack to our blackberry a few days ago. I was initially worries that it would be too sweet, like the one at the store (non-alcoholic, of course). It's much less sweet than I thought and looks like it's going to go down like liquid-awesome. Uh oh

liquid-awesome, I love it!

 

[Dend78]

transferred to carboy last night its a lil early 1.012 but .002 doesnt bother me, now its bubbling happily under airlock

 

[Dend78]

this stuff is bubbling like crazy still i figured it would be done today but i could hear it without even opening the door to the closet, good strong bubbles in the airlock

 

[Dend78]

well all activity has stopped in the airlock, do you folks usually give it the 10 days then stabilize or do you just go ahead and stabilize once you hit 0.996/dry?

 

[GreginND]

well all activity has stopped in the airlock, do you folks usually give it the 10 days then stabilize or do you just go ahead and stabilize once you hit 0.996/dry?

By stabilize, do you mean sorbate? Or just sulfite? I usually rack after primary is done and then rack about a month later. At that second racking I'll add potassium metabisulfite. I would not even bother with sweetening and sorbate for at least several months and another racking or two. You want it as clear as possible and you want to minimize as much yeast as possible when you do that.

Edit to add: I see that you are doing a kit and my suggestions are based on making wines from fruits. I haven't made kit wines so you may want to pay more attention to the directions. Given that my personal opinion is that kits tend to rush things a little. I would add a some time to their instructions.

 

[cpfan]

well all activity has stopped in the airlock, do you folks usually give it the 10 days then stabilize or do you just go ahead and stabilize once you hit 0.996/dry?

In my experience, Island Mist kits will probably drop to around .992 (although I haven't made any in a few years). Make sure that the fermentation has stopped (sg stable) before adding the K-meta, sorbate, and F-pack. If you don't, the yeast will probably ferment the sugars in the F-pack.

Steve

 

[Dend78]

right this is where I am leaning i haven't checked sg yet it says to give it 10 days after racking to secondary, which is getting close, then it says to stabilize i didnt read much further into it because its so simple its like well i dump in package blah blah and package blah blah and stir until my arm falls off then pick up with the other arm and stir some more. the add insinglass and f-pak. i think it even wants me to wait a bit longer before adding the f-pak but i dont recall i was just looking at the 10 days and well i have the patience of a 3yr old and i wanna do it now!

GreginND

why do you wait to clear before adding f-pak? dont you have to wait for it to clear twice at that point? Im guessing you do this to help eliminate all chances of fermentation restarting but just curious.

to answer your question i think its sorbate and k-meta they are having me add in but im not 100% sure on that like i said these things are stupid easy with no need to read ahead to much. it also says package #4 or package #2, you read a little more on the packs and it says what it is.

 

[GreginND]

GreginND

why do you wait to clear before adding f-pak? dont you have to wait for it to clear twice at that point? Im guessing you do this to help eliminate all chances of fermentation restarting but just curious.

Exactly. Sorbate does not kill yeast. It only prevents it from reproducing. If you have a lot of active yeast in the wine when you stabilize it will start eating the sugar. Sulfite can knock that down some but most wine yeasts have some sulfite tolerance. So, I always wait months and let it get as clear as possible before I sweeten. It doesn't hurt the wine at all to age for a few months dry.

 

[the_rayway]

Hey Dend,
I just follow the directions with these kits - 4 weeks really isn't that long to wait - is it? (I know, it totally is!)

I have never had an issue with these by doing it 'by the book'. The only thing extra I do is to at least double all of the degassing, as per my LHBS owner's instructions.
Ray