Other FWK Frutta Blackberry and Strawberry

[Dan M]

I will definitely make them again. The FWKs are my "kit of choice" moving forward. If I cannot figure out how to reduce the Frutta tartness, they will be for me, and I'll make boosted Island Mist kits for the family so they can get their sweet fix. I'm also experimenting with making wine from fresh juice buckets, which I'm processing similarly to kits (based on good advice from this forum). So far, so good...

 

[winemaker81]

Another think to watch out for is when I first stirred it, it overflowed. I have a nice blue pattern on my concrete floor now!

Stirring in the carboy is risky. If/when I make a Frutta again, at the racking after clearing I'll add packet D and both conditioners, transfer back to the carboy, top up with red wine, then bulk age 3+ months. At bottling time, if it needs more sugar, I'll add it after racking.

 

[Shurt1073]

The threads in the Kit Making Forums on the FWK have been interesting reading for someone like me. I've learned so much in the past few months and finally joined WMT five weeks ago. Winemaker81 will probably claim me on his taxes this year for answering all my needy questions.

I will definitely make them again. The FWKs are my "kit of choice" moving forward. If I cannot figure out how to reduce the Frutta tartness, they will be for me, and I'll make boosted Island Mist kits for the family so they can get their sweet fix.

Dan, we are in about the same situation. I might make the Island Mist raspberry kit, boost it with sugar for 11% abv, and maybe add some raspberry extract for extra flavor until FWK comes out with a raspberry. Based on what I've learned though, I'll not make the Island Mist in 5-6 weeks but take 3-4 months. My last two showed signs of sediment in the bottle after 8-10 weeks.

My blackberry FWK is 24 hr old and smells awesome.

 

[Dan M]

Dan, we are in about the same situation. I might make the Island Mist raspberry kit, boost it with sugar for 11% abv, and maybe add some raspberry extract for extra flavor until FWK comes out with a raspberry. Based on what I've learned though, I'll not make the Island Mist in 5-6 weeks but take 3-4 months. My last two showed signs of sediment in the bottle after 8-10 weeks.

I'm not a big raspberry guy, but I made the Island Mist Raspberry Mojito kit and my wife loves it. I was originally following the Label Peelers boosting instructions, but now I just add a 4lb bag of sugar in the beginning and it seems to mostly taste the same (much cheaper). I haven't had issues with sediment, but I tend to lose some wine in the first rack and sometimes second rack to help this. I did have sediment in one batch of white wine when I skipped the Bentonite. Your plan to age longer and maybe add an extra rack sounds good to me. I may do the same for future batches.

 

[winemaker81]

If I cannot figure out how to reduce the Frutta tartness, they will be for me, and I'll make boosted Island Mist kits for the family so they can get their sweet fix.

Add both conditioner packs to the Frutta, stir REALLY well. Then stir again (seriously). Taste it, and if it's too tart for your liking, add table sugar and stir like you did before.

I've proven to my own satisfaction that things don't mix as well as we believe they do, so stirring more and giving the wine time to meld makes sense.

Regarding adding sugar, I'm a dry wine guy, so I add in small increments, as low is 1/4 cup sugar in 23 liters. For folks who like sweeter, you can use larger increments, just keep in mind that taking sugar out is far more difficult than adding more.

I haven't had issues with sediment, but I tend to lose some wine in the first rack and sometimes second rack to help this.

You're going to lose volume with every racking. This is normal. I wrote the following post which describes my tactics for reducing wine loss.

Reducing Wine Loss – Bryan's Wine & Beer Making Site

wine.bkfazekas.com

 

[Dan M]

Hi Bryan. I enjoy dry red wine, black coffee, unsweetened iced tea, sour hard candy and hot chicken wings. My wife enjoys things that taste sweet and mild. She thinks food with black pepper is spicy. I like the tartness of my strawberry wine, but I am trying to reduce the tartness of the blueberry for her. So far, I've seen that a lot of sugar sweetness does not make the tartness go away. I have stirred several times and have delayed bottling to see if things blend better.

I've also read your whitepaper and use your techniques. I do tend to leave behind more wine in early racking because I know I can recover it by "Clearing the Remainder". Family used to ask me "What is that in the back of the fridge?", but now they know better. Anyway, that may be why I haven't seen many sediment issues.

 

[Shurt1073]

You're going to lose volume with every racking. This is normal. I wrote the following post which describes my tactics for reducing wine loss.

Reducing Wine Loss – Bryan's Wine & Beer Making Site

wine.bkfazekas.com

Can I top off my FWK blackberry when its in the carboy for clearing with a Island Mist blackberry I already made or ...... ?

 

[Brant]

Can I top off my FWK blackberry when its in the carboy for clearing with a Island Mist blackberry I already made or ...... ?

Thats a good question. What are people topping up these Futta kits with?

 

[winemaker81]

Can I top off my FWK blackberry when its in the carboy for clearing with a Island Mist blackberry I already made or ...... ?

Sure. You can top it with anything you want!

Seriously, the list of wine types that are reasonably compatible with a wine like the Frutta is legion. Even a white will work. I used a dry second run wine to top mine.

If it was a white or light, the choices are fewer, but still you can use a lot of wines. The stronger tasting the base wine, the less the topup wine will affect it.

 

[Dan M]

I think the kit directions suggest water. I've used white zin.

 

[She’sgonnakillme]

I always keep a couple extra pouches of Global wine conditioner on hand, you never know when you may want/need to sweeten a wine..

 

[Shurt1073]

Because of my lack of experience, I was shocked when I opened my FWK and saw two packages of conditioner. This will be my first time to really use it. We are sweet to semi sweet wine drinkers and will use both.

 

[Shurt1073]

Big day .... FWK blackberry is done fermenting so I racked it into glass today. Degassed, added D packet, and clearing agents so we wait .... wait a couple of weeks to clear. Gotta say, I've never made a true fruit wine like this and its so darn cool!

 

[winemaker81]

Gotta say, I've never made a true fruit wine like this and its so darn cool!

This made me smile. There's nothing more beautiful than enthusiasm!

 

[Shurt1073]

Big day for the FWK blackberry as its been well over 14 days for clearing. Racked into a clean carboy and added both conditioners plus about 1/4 of a third conditioner as we are sweet wine drinkers. I actually thought we would use more conditioner / sweetener but my wife liked it where it was so twala. We are now ready for bulk aging. We each got a small taste and this wine is different that anything I've ever made before.

So ... in 4-6 moths it will be ready to bottle but for now I gave my carboy a hug and wrapped a blanket around it. Yep, tucked away for the winter!

FWK needs to make a raspberry!

 

[winemaker81]

@Matteo_Lahm & @Matt_Pruszynski -- add Raspberry, Black Raspberry, and Cherry to the Frutta wish list!