Other Challenge for the wine kit makers

[St Allie]

Thanks Steve,

I have the toasted chips and thought I would add to secondary? Someone suggested it last time, being a valpolicella it can handle a bit more oak? will round the kit up to 5 litres ( it says it makes 4.5 litres) however with the extra blackberries and bananas and raisins.. I figure an extra half a litre won't dilute it too much.

initial SG is 1.090 and it's very syrupy sweet, tastes ok .. so

fingers crossed!

 

[cpfan]

Allie:

Again, watch the oak. I don't think that Valpolicella is a heavily oaked wine, as it seems to me to be on the light side. Of course, you have kicked it up a large notch.

Here are some notes on the oak included with some Valpolicella kits (these all make 6 Imperial gallons or 23 litres).

Ken Ridge Classic - 25g oak
Legacy - no oak in the kit - a very nice tasting Valpolicella, on the light side
Cru Select Valpolicella Ripassa with grape skins - 2 oak teabags plus 120g oak shavings

So you can see quite a range in oak. Unfortunately, I have only made the Legacy for myself.

Steve

 

[St Allie]

Thanks Steve,

Hey, it's interesting that those kits are so diverse in their treatment of this particular red wine. Will add the oak to the secondary.. it's a toasted french oak.. Are you going to make another legacy one? would you add more to it next time?

I'm rather enjoying this.. when we get the pinot gris kits.. might add some raspberries to it and turn it into a blush wine.


Coll? How's your shiraz coming along?

Allie

 

[cpfan]

Thanks Steve,

Hey, it's interesting that those kits are so diverse in their treatment of this particular red wine. Will add the oak to the secondary.. it's a toasted french oak.. Are you going to make another legacy one? would you add more to it next time?
Allie

Allie:

We aren't fond of a lot of oak. We regularly make a red without any oak, even wines that would normally be oaked (like Shiraz). So if I make the Legacy Valpolicella again, I probably wouldn't oak it.

However, I have wanted to make the Cru Select Valpolicella Ripassa for a couple of years. If we make that one, it will be oaked, but probably only HALF of the oak that is in the kit.

Steve

 

[St Allie]

hehehe Steve.. so many kits so little time...!

When you do get that one underway.. I'd be interested to hear what you do to it..

I might buy a heron bay kit for xmas. so doing my homework as to which ones get good reviews. Actually have just realised our local homebrew shop sells cellarcraft as well, will probably go with cellarcraft instead.

Allie

 

[cpfan]

hehehe Steve.. so many kits so little time...!

When you do get that one underway.. I'd be interested to hear what you do to it..
Allie

Allie:

I hope you're not holding your breath. I have NO IDEA when I will get to that Valpolicella Ripassa.

I have two reds on the go now (Pinotage just moved to carboy, and Meritage just started).

Probably won't start any more reds until the fall. The first limited editions come out at the end of August, and the rest are announced September/October. Those announcements will drive plans for next winter. Already thinking that some Shiraz (or Shiraz blend) is needed.

Steve

 

[St Allie]

That is, of course, why you are the procrastinating winemaker Steve hehehhehe

What brands are your pinotage and meritage?

my large primaries are all full of cider at the moment.. so the kit purchase will have to wait til the end of the year.

Allie

 

[cpfan]

What brands are your pinotage and meritage?

Allie:

Ken Ridge Showcase South African Pinotage - picked it up on special (20% off?) - been wanting to try this one for a while now - no oak in the kit

Cru Select Restricted Quantities Okanagan (British Columbia) Meritage - with grape skins, elderberries, and two oaks (50g and 60g)

My previous response reminded me that Vineco released a llimited edition Argentinian Shiraz Malbec back in February. I wonder if there are any kits left??

Kinda wish I had an inexpensive source of apples. Would probably try a batch. Made some crab apple wine several years ago with a friend who had two different varieties of trees. Turned out great. Unfortunately the friend lives a 2700 km drive away (one way).

Steve

 

[Boozehag]

Im moving the shiraz to secondary tonight. I added the toasted oak, only a 3rd of the packet which was what the lady recommended. Its in a stocking and I have sultanas in there too in a separte bag which I plan to remove tonight. Should I leave the oak in when I move it??????

I found the instructions very basic even to the point of putting straight into secondary and skipping primary which I ignored. Felt the sultanas were not a good idea in a carboy.
It also talks about adding a tiny bit of campden tablet to each bottle when I bottle it if Im not planning on drinking it in next few days? What the???? I thought a shiraz would definitely need aging and planned to all along. I just query the use of campden in each bottle, why do that?

 

[St Allie]

when you rack the wine Coll , you add a campden tablet.. to inhibit nasties.. just in case. of course if you're bottling a wine with a high alcohol, there is less chance of nasties surviving in it. It's just a precaution.. Add the whole crushed tablet to the wine before bottling. I won't be adding a 6th of a tablet to mine. Can you imagine sitting there chopping a tablet into 6 pieces?

Allie

 

[Boozehag]

Heck no, would do my head in!

I thought that sterlising the bottles and adding tablets at each racking would be enough. Dont want to get into the situation of over doing it AGAIN!

Just out of interest how many tablets can you add through the whole process and does it eventually disapate or does it build up?

 

[Wade E]

If you are bulk aging over time then you really should get a S02 tester because each addition gets different. Each time you add sulfite you actually will need more as less will be bound as free S02. Say you add 1/4 tsp per 6 gallons after fermmentation, out of that around 50% becoes bound as free S02. after a few months you will need to add another dose and out of that around 205 will become bound so more will be needed. after a few more months it again will need another dose and this time only around 10% will become bound. This doesnt mean that you will have to add more then 1/4 tsp each time but means that if you are striving for a certain free S02 that equation changes every time as there is alraey bound S02 in there but it will take a little more to get that extra little bit you are looking for. To put it in Layman's' terms, if it took you 1/8 of a tsp to get to 50 ppm the first time and you are now at 25 ppm then you will need almost the same amount to get it back up to 50 ppm the second time and if it were at 25 ppm again the third time you would almost have to add 1/4 tsp to get back to 50 ppm.

 

[Boozehag]

Oh thanks Wade clear as mud now!!!! Might give up now and go buy all my wine from the wine shop!!!!
If i can stuff up so badly with standard stuff Im not even gonig to try and get my head around this yet!

Ok so end of the day instead of worrying about that should I just drink it quickly and not store it too long? lol

 

[St Allie]

LMAO Coll !!

You can't drink it.. you'll have a hangover from hades... providing you can keep it down of course

Allie

 

[Boozehag]

Hangovers, what are they?

 

[St Allie]

I finally bottled the valpolicella and the pinot gris yesterday.

The red is lovely and soft, it was definately worth adding the banana juice, blackberries.... and fiddling with oak and raisins, it's not thin at all.. I'm looking forward to opening a bottle in 6 months to try it.

The pinot is a bit more harsh and young tasting and will definately need to be left alone for 6-8 months.. I added boyseberries to that one.. it's a lovely pink and my daughters preferred that to the ginger wine.

Allie