Cajun Wine Man
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I have ordered a Williams California Muscat Kit, and will be kicking it off in a week or two. I like Beringer Muscato, and wolud like to mimic it if possible. Any advise.
Other California Muscat
- Thread starter Cajun Wine Man
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Cajun Wine Man said:
Hi Cajun,
Did you receive the Muscat kit? I have some questions if you don't mind. Is it all Muscat juice? How many liters? Where did you get it? I am interested because when I was a kid, our family used to blend Zinfandel and Muscat grapes in a 3:1 ratio for an Italian table wine. I would like to re-create this if I can. It is rather easy to find Zinfandel, but almost impossible to find pure Muscat. Thank you for your help.
I ordered a kit from Williams Brewing which consists of two cans of Muscat concentrate and purportedly makes 5 gallons. I plan to take one can at a time (i.e. 2.5 gallons) and mix it with a 6 gallon Zinfandel kit, making an 8.5 gallon batch. The ratio will not be quite what we used to make at home from grapes, but it will be close. We used a 3:1 ratio and this one will be 2.4:1. I will see how this works out and perhaps adjust it for the second can of Muscat.
Bert, I am not sure at this point. I have an AllJuice Zin going at present and I am leaning toward the Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel - with "Crushed Grape pack" that George is featuring this month which is a big kit at a good price. Do you have any recommendations? Thank you.
Hi Wade, Thank you for your input.
Can you tell me why you would choose the AllJuice over the Old Vine Zinfandel? Is there something in using 23 liters of juice to blend rather than a 16 liter concentrate? I have already ordered the Old Vin Zin but I could just make that a pure Zin (we really like Zinfandel). At first I thought I would just get a low priced Zin to experiment with but since George had the Old Vine on sale, I went for it.
I am interested in your viewpoint. Thank you.
Can you tell me why you would choose the AllJuice over the Old Vine Zinfandel? Is there something in using 23 liters of juice to blend rather than a 16 liter concentrate? I have already ordered the Old Vin Zin but I could just make that a pure Zin (we really like Zinfandel). At first I thought I would just get a low priced Zin to experiment with but since George had the Old Vine on sale, I went for it.
I am interested in your viewpoint. Thank you.
I like the all juice kits but IMO the grape skin kits do more justice for making a truer fuller red wine and that I wouldnt want to hide. If the All Juice kit was instead a Meglioli Id be saying to use the other kit and leave the Meg alone. Just my thoughts!
I put my wine on today, which I am calling Ricetta di Stefano, in honor of my Father-in-law, who made it this way. I used 1 can of Muscat and a Zinfandel kit that should make about 8.5 gallons and targeted a starting SG of 1.110. I want it to be big and have some punch, just like Steve's did. Best thing about this is my wife is very excited to see how it turns out.
Hi Wade,
I went with the Cellar Craft Old Vine Zinfandel that George had on special for the month for the following reasons, not necessarily in order:
1. it was what I considered the "best buy" for a 16 l kit at $103.49. The next best kit would have been the Vinifer Cru at $106.19 and the All Juice at $110 and change, plus a higher shipping cost.
2. it has the skins that we had when we made the wine
3. I figured the best quality kit would give me the chance for the best quality wine.
I have it going and it looks and tastes great at this point. It is really starting to ferment and I am confident that I will have a good approximation of what we used to make. I have it in a 10 gallon fermenter and it is about 2 inches from the top. I still have a 96 oz. can of Muscat and plan to make another batch using something else for comparison.
I went with the Cellar Craft Old Vine Zinfandel that George had on special for the month for the following reasons, not necessarily in order:
1. it was what I considered the "best buy" for a 16 l kit at $103.49. The next best kit would have been the Vinifer Cru at $106.19 and the All Juice at $110 and change, plus a higher shipping cost.
2. it has the skins that we had when we made the wine
3. I figured the best quality kit would give me the chance for the best quality wine.
I have it going and it looks and tastes great at this point. It is really starting to ferment and I am confident that I will have a good approximation of what we used to make. I have it in a 10 gallon fermenter and it is about 2 inches from the top. I still have a 96 oz. can of Muscat and plan to make another batch using something else for comparison.
I have never seen such an active fermentation! I break up the grape skincap a couple times a day but the gas blows through the cap. The skins are actually floating completely above the surface of the wine. The SG this morning was 1.068. The taste is really good and I am very excited about the outcome. I will be making another batch of this later this year. I am currently out of equipment and have to wait until bottling to free up some carboys.
Fermentation has slowed somewhat and SG is down to 1.040. Ambient temperature is 74.5 degrees F. Color and taste are great. Sure reminds me of "way back when."
Wade, I am about to order my next kit for the "home made" (Zin/Muscat) wine and I am going to order the AllJuice Zinfandel this time. Would you recommend ordering a grape pack also? Thanks for your help.
This wine is doing very nicely. This morning, the SG was 0.996 so I took it out of the primary thru the spigot into two 5 gallon carboys so I could degas. In taking it out of the primary, it had a lot of grape skins and debris so I strained it thru a fine funnel back into the primary before adding the K-meta,K-sorbate, Kieselsol and Chitosan. Back in my 10 gallon primary I got a really good degassing with apower drill stirrer. I then put it back into two carboys, a 5 gallon and a 3 gallon and added the airlocks. It looks and tastes really good. Steve would be proud.
