Cleared and bland .. now what?

[suecasa]

I have a Coastal White cleared and "ready" to bottle .. but i'm thinking it's a little bland. I need to bottle a bit of it just to get the carboy available .. but if i put 3 gal of it into the smaller carboy .. what could i add at this point to maybe perk it up a bit??

 

[Julie]

maybe add some peaches or strawberries?

 

[ffemt128]

Check you acid levels and see if they are where they need to be.

 

[suecasa]

i've made dave's skeeter pee so have added fruit in primary … how do you do it at the "end" .. need to add sorbate or kmet?

i dont have testing equipment yet …other than hydrometer, of course .. doing kits for the most part .. what testing equipment gets used frequently (how do you test acid) .. not able to invest in anything very pricey..

 

[Abrnth3]

Try some Mascuto grape or other consentrate juice. Will sweeten and increase flavor.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...inexpert-white-grape-concentrate-1-litre.html

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/winemaking/wine-ingredients/grape-concentrate

 

[saramc]

I would say do not add anything at this time, it is just super young. But you could check pH/TA to see where you are. If you have to bottle, you have to bottle.

The Acid Test kit is about $6. You can find wine pH test strips for $4-7, or spend $11 on eBay for an inexpensive pH meter... http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=380521533210. (Mine lasted 3 years, until untimely accidental death; it had been.compared against a Hanna pHep5 for each year and it always had same readings). Having a pH meter makes the acid test (TA) so much easier because you do not have to monitor for color change, just a particular reading on pH monitor.

*Sara*

 

[botigol]

Blending some of your Coastal Red into it to make a blush/rose could be nice. I found a couple of blending levels that I think are tasty. When did you start this Coastal White?

 

[suecasa]

I started the white 2 months ago

sara … Looking at the ph meter on ebay .. how do they work? do you need other chemicals or strips or anything?

what is a good level for acid and pH? how do you go about adjusting if you are off?

 

[saramc]

It should come with calibration reagents. You can order more as needed. It is a digital probe, so you calibrate with reagents then check your sample to obtain pH.

There are likely tutorials on adjusting pH/TA here, but easier to simply use web search engine for 'adjusting acidity in wine' and you should get many responses to review. As far as how you can address,it can vary from addition of water, adding acid, use of calcium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate, cold stabilizing, etc.

 

[botigol]

At only two months I would suggest waiting a bit before making changes. My batch was just ok at 2.5 months, better at about 4.5 and the tropical fruit flavors really showed around 5-6 months. A tiny bit of backsweetening during those early months helped the fruit flavors to come out as well. I was adding about 1ml of simple syrup per bottle.