WineXpert Australian Shiraz question.

[UBB]

This is the Selection International kit.

I am at the stabilizing and clearing stage. After the first racking it seemed to me that there was an tremendous amount of sediment left behind with the oak and everything which resulted in a much less full carboy then the directions suggested. The wine level is aprox. 2 inches below the shoulders of the 6gal carboy.

The next step says to top up with cool water or reserved wine from an F-Pack addition (there was none). So I really am not comfortable topping up with so much water.

Would you: A: rack into a 5 gal carboy instead or
B: top up with a store bought Shiraz?

The wine looks like it threw a lot of sediment again after the first racking so I imagine there will be more topping up after the clarification step.

Thanks for any feedback in advance!

 

[Brian]

Thats strange I made this kit about a year ago and did't have that big of a difference. I would rack to a 5 gal carboy if you have it. The wine will be better if you don't water it down to much. If you get ready to rack it again you might think about using marbles to take up the space. I have done that a number of times. I just went to the dollar store and bought bags of glass marbles and then just sanatize and reuse them over and over.

 

[Rocky]

UBB, if you have one of the Italian 6 gallon carboys, they are actually closer to 6.5 gallons. I would rack to a 5 gallon carboy. I woud not top off with water. I would not even top off with wine since you have the 5 gallon carboy available. I feel that when you do that, you are "investing" the bottle of store bought wine and you will never get back as much as you add so it is a bad investment.

 

[robie]

Never top off with water. I really can't understand why any of the wine kit manufacturers would ever recommend using water to top off a kit, which is gong to be thin to begin with.

Use a like wine or since it is a red, a Merlot, which tends to have a neutral taste profile compared to others.

You can save that sediment in a sealed container and let it settle for a few days. Then you can siphon off the clear top layer of clean wine and safe it in the frig for topping off at the next racking. By doing this, at that first heavy sediment racking, you can many times recover a full 750 ml bottle of wine. This is something I do routinely and at every racking.

 

[UBB]

Never top off with water. I really can't understand why any of the wine kit manufacturers would ever recommend using water to top off a kit, which is gong to be thin to begin with.

Use a like wine or since it is a red, a Merlot, which tends to have a neutral taste profile compared to others.

You can save that sediment in a sealed container and let it settle for a few days. Then you can siphon off the clear top layer of clean wine and safe it in the frig for topping off at the next racking. By doing this, at that first heavy sediment racking, you can many times recover a full 750 ml bottle of wine. This is something I do routinely and at every racking.

Good idea. This is what I'll do from now on with these kits. Thank you.

 

[robie]

Good idea. This is what I'll do from now on with these kits. Thank you.

Store the settling sediment in as small a container as possible to cut down on the amount of oxygen present.

Again, you will be surprised how much wine you can recover this way.