Cellar Craft CC Super Tuscan

[K&GB]

I started my Cellar Craft Super Tuscan Saturday morning, and it's off to a great start.

Yes, this is the same one that Masta's doing. (In know...copy cat)

It's my first kit to come with a grape pack, and boy was it a big one. Plus two kinds of oak for primary and hungarian oak cubes for later. Per Fine Wino's suggestion, I put the oak pulp in the strainer bag with the merlot and cab grape skins.


By Sunday morning, the bag was floating on the top and fermentation was gearing up. The directions say to push the strainer bag back down a couple of times a day or find a way to weight it down. So I tried to get creative and trap it on the bottom with a heavy metal colander. No dice.

By Sunday evening fermentation was picking up steam, and the bag was back on top.I had to fish the collander off the bottom of the primary,

but being stubborn, I tried it again.

This morning fermentation was so vigorous that I found the whole colander floating on top on its side with the bag barely pinned underneath.

So I gave up and removed the collander. Besides,having to "punch down" the grape skins every now and then isn't so bad really. Now, two out of the ten times a day I go peek at the wine, I actually have a legitimate excuse.

 

[Wade E]

I dont worry about going crazy with it. I punch down the cap and give it a good stir once a day when I get home from work. You dont have to go nuts with it.

 

[K&GB]

I racked theSuper Tuscan into a carboy this evening for secondary fermentation.SGwas 1.008. The strainer bag with the grape skins had shrunk significantly. I squeezed and twisted the heck out of it trying to get every last drop out. I sloshed the primary a bit, so it was hard to tell where the wine ended and the lees began. After the carboy was full, I wound up dumping the last half gallon (lees and all) into a gallon jug.I hope to recover some wine from that and add it to the carboy next time I rack. Edited by: K&GB

 

[Wade E]

Thats gonna be a nice wine!

 

[K&GB]

Okay, now that I have the picture resizer thing working... here's the pics.

 

[grapeman]

Good looking kit Ken, but I need to ask "What are you doing playing with the raisins in a bag?"

Just kidding. I had read the post above.


That primary sure looks full!


I see you got to wear the official Wine Maker clothes this time.

 

[K&GB]

Here's a few more...

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<DIV align=center>Day 1
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<DIV align=center>Day 5

 

[K&GB]

Good looking kit Ken, but I need to ask "What are you doing playing with the raisins in a bag?"

Just kidding. I had read the post above.


That primary sure looks full!


I see you got to wear the official Wine Maker clothes this time.

Yep, directions said to mix it up 2-3 minonce I put the bag into the fermenter. Thebag was so big and sank right to the bottom,so hands-on was the only way I could figure to mix it. (Not to mention that it was fun

)


And yes, for this special occasion I wore my winemaker duds.

Now they're stained purple...

 

[laneygirl]

For future purposes...I have made a few CC kits and ended up using one of my plastic (foodgrade) homebrew spoons to hold it down in the bucket. I actually have one where the spoon part broke off and so it's just the handle, which works evenbetter than the whole spoon.

 

[Wade E]

I can taste it from here. Looks good.

 

[Jack on Rainy]

Was that a six gallon carboy you racked into?
I am starting that kit today and your picts sure are encouraging. Thanks!

 

[K&GB]

Jack,


Yes, a six-gal carboy. Had about 1/2 gal left over.


This wine fermented down to .990. Haven't seen one go that low. Maybe the paper in my hydrometer slipped or something.

Anyway, I racked, stabalized, and added clarifiers this past weekend. A little early, but I was concerned because I kept the lees at the first racking. Didn't want to leave it on the lees too long. Besides, fermentation was clearly finished.


When I racked, I found it difficult to separate the wine from the sediment in the 1-gal jug. Just couldn't get my auto siphon to work, so I tried pouring it through coffee filters. Got most of it...lol.

With addition of the third oak pack, there was no need to top up the carboy. Filled right up to the neck.


The kieselsol/chitosan worked fast. I won't check for clarity for three weeks, but there's already athickaccumulationof sediment at the bottom. My plan is to leave the oak in until I rack again in three weeks. Then I plan to bulk age.


Good luck with your kit. Keep us posted on its progress.


KenEdited by: K&GB

 

[PigPen]

Keep informed on how this is coming out, this was one of my first picks but being a roockie i want with someithing easier

 

[Jack on Rainy]

I have this kit in secondary as of yesterday. I am considering extending lees contact as discussed in this forum in a Mosti thread Alljuice Petite Syrah. Anybody tried that with CC kits?Edited by: Jack on Rainy

 

[geocorn]

I have not had time to start my Cellar Craft kit.

My guess is that all wine kits would do better with some extended aging on the lees. Look what Tim V. told us about the battonage or sur lees technique. The only real issue is the clarifier. I haven't looked to see what clarifier(s) CC uses, but if it is isinglass or chitosan, you will probably need some SuperKleer to fine.

 

[K&GB]

I racked this wine today, three weeksafter addingk-meta, k-sorbate,clarifiers and the final round of oak. The wine is clear, a dark garnet color, and has nice body. It tasted rich and powerful, though young. I can tell this is going to turn out really good. The clarifier supplied in the kit was super kleer (chitosan and kieselsol.

 

[uavwmn]

Ken &amp; Gina, my my, that super tuscon is going to be sooooo good!!
I may try that as my first Fall kit for 08.
I have the Piesporter and the Mango Citrus in the carboy for the last 2 kits.
As you know it gets way too hot in AZ!! So, I am taking a hiatus until Sep.
Let me know how the tuscon turns out.

 

[Okie1]

I love the CC Rosso Super Tuscan so muchthat I bought the company! Just kidding, butIdid buy3 kits.


I knew they would have super huge grape skin packs, so I developed a plan to get the most out of the massive amount of skins.


During fermintation I bought3 additional red wine kits that did NOT come with grape skins. They were WELimited Chilean Carmenere/Cab, WE Napa Valley Stags Leap Merlot, and a WE Island Mist Blueberry Pinot Noir (although now i wished i would have gotten the IM blackberry cab instead of the blueberry pinot for this project).


Then when primary fermentation of the CC Rosso's was done, I squeezed the skins bag and then put1 bagin each of the 3 freshly started must kits on day 1 of their primary ferm. Wow, that was fun and fermintation was off and running in less than 1 hour of placing the pre-used skins bags in the raw must of each of the 3 non-skin kits. Of course the skins bags were just loaded with premium live active hungry yeast.


The reason I used the Island Mist was so hopefully I could get a taste of the experiment a year or so earlier than otherwise of what I could with the Premium reds, lol.


I plan to age all 3 on med. French Oak chips or cubes. I also plan to try the Oak super smoother on the IM.


What do you think? Pros' vs Con's on donig this. Good idea or bad idea? Let me know if you think I might have wasted 3 non-skin kits.

 

[masta]

I do know that Winexpert doesn't recommend reusing their Crushendo grape packs after the initial primary fermentation. The skins are processed to a point that all the goodness will be extracted within 7 days and using them beyond this point will extract nothing but harsh unwanted tannins.


The difference here would be how the skins are processed by CC compared to WE.

 

[Jack on Rainy]

I decided to extend lees contact with this one. Racked it off the gross lees, the second racking, today with SG =.992 @ 70F. Got too much in the carboy to add the oak cubes and had about 700ml left in a bottle with air lock. Think I will take out another half liter and add cubes.
Question, I don't think I should sanitize the cubes with Kmeta. If not, what should I use?