How long should I let the wine sit before I give-up

[artieandgumbo]

I did my first kit and made several mistakes along the way. I just bottled it and it tasted a little off (watery, kind of bland, not at all like it tasted at the store). How long should I let it sit in the bottles before I determine that the wine will never improve and start over?

 

[cpfan]

First, exactly what kit did you make?

Second, when are you planning on starting a second kit (without the mistakes )? Maybe you need to try a better quality kit?

Steve

 

[Abby]

I did my first kit and made several mistakes along the way. I just bottled it and it tasted a little off (watery, kind of bland, not at all like it tasted at the store). How long should I let it sit in the bottles before I determine that the wine will never improve and start over?

And to add to what Steve said, what mistakes did you make? Some mistakes are correctable, but not all.

On my first batch, my dear hubby thinking our basement was a tad on the cool side, helpfully wrapped a battery blanket around the primary. This brought the temp up to 82F, whereupon all those helpful little yeasties, died a sad and sorry death.

With the help of my Guru, I got it started again in the secondary, but it was a slow process - really slow. This, of course, was not helped by the fact that the gradient inside my hydrometer was just the teensiest bit off and showed the SG higher than it was. I managed to stretch a 4 week kit into 3 months.
In the end, the wine wasn't going to win any prizes, and it was a cheap kit anyway, but it was better than I thought it would be.


Abby

 

[artieandgumbo]

It was a Wine Expert Chardonay. I put ALL the ingredients in with the primary fermenter right away.

It did seem to ferment and the sg did go down to where it should go. I got all the other ingredients to add after I realized my mistake and followed the instructions after that. The wine doesn't taste horrible, but it just doesn't have the flavor that I would expect. Very bland and watery.

I guess the lesson learned is to follow the instructions perfectly.

The second time I did it I followed the instructions perfectly and the wine tastes just fine.

 

[cpfan]

a&g

Which kits? WinExpert makes several chardonnays.

Steve

 

[artieandgumbo]

It was the French Chardonay.

 

[THEONLYNORM]

Admin Edit: Legally we can't allow discussion of distilling. Sorry