WineXpert First Vintner Reserve Gewurtz kit

[biddle68]

Hello all, This is my first post and my first kit and I have a question. I am working on a Gewurztraminer and I am a bit concerned. I have followed the directions to a T and have been obsessive about sanitation and cleanliness when I am going through the steps. I have noticed during each step that the wine smells funky, a bit like yeast. I was a bit disappointed because I was thinking the wine would smell more like the finished product, which we all know is beautiful from this variety.

I just moved on to step 3 which was degassing, adding sulfite, sorbate and the F-pack. My question is this normal for the step that I am currently on or has something gone massively wrong?

My primary and secondary fermentations went well, temps were good and my SG's were spot on every time I checked them.

Any ideas? Am I over thinking this one? I am really hopeful that this turns out well because I hope to do more kits and some of the bottles from this kit are supposed to be Christmas gifts this year.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer.

Cheers

 

[richmke]

It is going to smell (and taste) yeasty until you rack off the yeast, and let it clear.

Keep the faith. You are doing fine.

 

[Boatboy24]

Yep, what richmke said. It smells like yeast because, well, there's a lot of yeast in there. And it is active right now. As it settles out and you rack off the sediment, that will fade. Sounds like everything is moving along perfectly.

Welcome to WineMakingTalk!

 

[David219]

Welcome! I'll echo what others have already posted, but it sounds like everything is going just fine. Maybe I'm weird (OK, scratch the "maybe"), but I love that yeasty smell during fermentation!

The only thing I might add is that, as Christmas is fast approaching, you won't have as much time in your favor regarding degassing. The kit instructions give the most optimistic time line for getting the wine in the bottle, but additional time does wonders for degassing. I've gone to a more lengthy timeline in the stabilization and clearing stages to let gas escape that I was unable to "whip" out by stirring vigorously. I also purchased an All in One vacuum pump, which not only makes transferring wine between vessels easier, it also helps degas.

Mt first couple kit wines were not perfectly still. I followed the directions exactly. They just had the slightest "fizz" to them. If you need to hold to your time line, the warmer the wine is, the better it will degas. Cooler wine will want to hold on to the CO2.

Good Luck! I'm sure it will go well, and your friends and family will really enjoy the wine.


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[sour_grapes]

Welcome to the forum!

Like the others, I will assure you that everything sounds fine. Regarding your timeline, I will go a little further than David: I would encourage you to rethink giving these as Christmas gifts this year. The wine, frankly, is unlikely to be pleasant in one month. This is the only chance you will ever have for your friends/family to taste your wine for the first time. Unless they are very understanding, they may forever associate your wines with this first effort.

 

[David219]

@sour_grapes: yes, the timeline is very tight. But there are a couple things going in Biddle68's favor. First, it's not a higher end kit that would normally benefit from more aging. Second, it's a white. My experience is that the whites are drinkable earlier than a comparable red. But there is also bottle shock to consider...maybe instruct people to wait a month or more until they pop the cork?


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[biddle68]

Thanks for the info, help and encouragement! I just gave it a whiff today when I got home from work and it is definitely coming along better than the other day when I degassed. Another good bit of news is that it is clearing out well and a beautiful golden color, still 9 days or so of clarifying (per instructions).

My wife and I were going to attach a little card around the neck of each bottle to let everyone know to let the bottle age at least one month before opening.

Thanks again and I look forward to jumping in on some more conversations.

Salud

 

[heatherd]

Welcome!

You are doing fine. Stir the heck out of it to degass.

Heather


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[Dhaynes]

As others have said, I think your wine is coming along fine. No need to worry. However I strongly suggest you rethink your plan to give these as Christmas gifts this year even if you ask people to wait a month before opening. There is a time honored saying, "You only get one chance to make a good 1st impression." I don't think you or your gift recipients will be very happy with a wine that was started in November if you drink it in January.

Our rule of thumb is that we always age our Vintners Reserve white wine kit for a minimum of 6 months after add the stabilizers and clarifying agent. The red ones we age 9 months. We sometimes sample them at 3 months but there is always a big difference between the taste at 3 months and 6 months. The single most important virtue in wine making after cleanliness and sanitization is patience. This is your opportunity to begin learning some If you still want to give them as gifts consider attaching a card that says do not open until June. You'll be glad you did.

In the mean time consider starting an Island Mist kit. These kits are fast drinkers because of the flavor pack that you add at the end of fermentation. The flavor pack tends to hide a lot of the harshness of a young wine which makes them drinkable about 30 days after bottling. However we usually try to wait at least 3 months. If you do an Island Mist kit consider mixing in 2-3 pounds of additional sugar before pitching the yeast. The IM kits have a low starting SG and end up with a low alcohol content that is closer to a beer that a wine. This can make them taste a little thin. Adding 2-3 pounds of sugar up front will significantly improve the taste of the finished product.


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[GaDawg]

Adding 2-3 pounds of sugar up front will significantly improve the taste of the finished product.

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i've made 2 Orchard Breezin Watermelon Wave kits. The 1st one I added 3 pounds of sugar (simple syrup) before pitching the yeast. The 2nd I added 5 pounds of sugar. The 1st kit was way too sweet, but the 2nd kit with the 5 pounds of sugar was not as sweet! The extra sugar (alcohol) made the sweetness less sweet!

 

[Dhaynes]

Hi GaDawg I think I am somewhat hijacking this threat away from the VR kit topic so just one last comment. I agree that adding more sugar up front to any of these "wine cooler" type kits to boost the final ABV will make them taste less sweet at the end. It's weird that what the mouth interprets as sweetness is affected by the alcohol level and that higher alcohol levels taste less sweet but that is the way it works. In our case we like sweeter wines so the 3 pounds works out well for us. For those who like their wines less sweet the higher ABV is the way to go. One other benefit to the lower ABV is that you can drink more of it and still stand up

Now going complete off topic, we're going to be making several trips to Atlanta in the next few weeks so maybe we can meet up for dinner or something and swap a few bottles of wine. We'll just have to agreed to stay of the topic of football since I was raised from birth to be an Alabama fan and I'm a Ga. Tech alum


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