I have to ask, what is an F pac?

[vvolf34]

I am new to wine making and have seen people mention f pac. What is it exactly?

Thank you!

 

[cpfan]

Originally the F-pack was a flavour or sweetening pack that was provided with certain kits. A few years ago, the term seemed to be used mostly with Winexpert kits.

These days (especially at this forum), the term is used to describe any flavour pack added to a wine after stabilization. For example, you are making a blackberry wine and wish to sweeten the wine after if ferments to dry. Select a portion of the blackberries at fermentation time, and create an F-pack (instructions can be found elsewhere on this forum). Once fermentation is complete, stabilize the wine (K-meta & sorbate), then add the F-pack.

Steve

 

[Tom]

I am new to wine making and have seen people mention f pac. What is it exactly?

Thank you!

Welcome to the forum
Steve said it right @ f-pac's.
Alot of us (me) use f-pac's on fruit wines.
What do you have fermenting?

 

[vvolf34]

Right now I have 5 gals of Edworts Apfelwein pitched 11-19-09

and

Mosti Mondiale Summer Breeze Black Cherry Shiraz kit pitched 11-27-09, just moved it to the secondary yesturday.

So far I am loving this!!

Next up is a change to the Apfelwein, 4 gal of apple juice, 1 gal of cranberry and using Wyeast 3086.

Thinking about trying Wade's Chocolate Strawberry Port or the Chocolate Orange Port kit.

I have 3 6 gallon carboys, 1 3 gal and 2 1 gal so far. plan on buying more 6, 5 and 3's pretty soon.

I think my biggest problem is going to be getting wine bottles!!

 

[Tom]

Can you tell me what Edworts Apfelwein is?

 

[vvolf34]

SUre got it off of homebrewtalk

5 gal Tree Top Apple juice
2 # corn sugar
Montrachet

Pretty simple, thats why I started that one first.

Others have done variations and say they like the Wyeast 3086 better, taste sweeter and more fruity.

The original recipe takes at least 3 months to age, but should really go 6 and at 1 year they say it's fantastic!

 

[rocket man]

I think my biggest problem is going to be getting wine bottles!!

I've been getting alot of mine from friends. Just ask them to save all of their's for you. Of course you'll have to repay them by giving them a full bottle when yours is done but it sure beats having to buy empty bottles. Another way I've gotten them is from a wine tasting party. All the vendors I went to after the party were more than happy to give me their emptys.

 

[ziggy13]

wow you have a lot of fermenters!

 

[vvolf34]

Ziggy:
Haha a lot of fermentors!! Well I don't think I have enough, because I plan on bulk aging each one for 6 months! If I do that then I won't have anything fresh coming down the pipe! I jump all in and go big when I do something! I figure I will have a mixture of 10 5/6 gal carboys and about 5 3 gal. Not sure if I will get more than the 2 1 gal I already have. So far I have about $500.00 invested in this new hobby! Maybe a $200.00 more for my carboys and I should be set for awhile.


Rocketman:
I was also thinking about talking to some resturants that serve a lot of wine and see if I can get them to give me their bottles! Anyone have luck doing this?

 

[Tom]

wow you have a lot of fermenters!

Look up some old posts about # of carboys. I know I have 25+ 6gallon and 7 - 5gallon carboys
Yes they ALL are filled at least once a year.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

Not sure if I will get more than the 2 1 gal I already have. So far I have about $500.00 invested in this new hobby! Maybe a $200.00 more for my carboys and I should be set for awhile.

you will have more than 2. many times we've fermented in a 7 gallon primary (w/lid just laid on there) expecting 5 gallons of wine. some fruits just get devoured by the yeast, so you get a bit extra. this is a good thing. the 1 gallon makes for an easy way to either exteriment or blend later. sometimes the 5's end up as 4 gallons and you need 1-3 gal and 1-1 gal, too.

great investment if you ask me!! got enough to do about ~120 gal's a year if you don't do your 6 months bulk aging and cut it down to 2~3 months. gotta turn em quick though.

 

[ziggy13]

wow you guys are serious! I guess I'm so used to brewing beer...it's usually ready to bottle or keg in less than a month...I have 2 carboys and 3 buckets and I have trouble keeping them filled.

 

[1st Timer]

As far as getting wine bottles- I have a pretty sweet deal going with the local manager of The Olive Garden (Italian Rest.) He saves me 3 cases of bottles per week and more if needed, I give him a couple of complimentary bottles to offset his troubles. Family & friends keep them coming as well!

Welcome to the forum....

 

[vvolf34]

Midwest Vinter:
Ok sounds like over time I will be buying more smaller containers, sounds good, my shop is only 15 mins away so not bad, if I had to run into town real quick. So after the 2 or 3 months you just bottle and let em age that way?

Ziggy:
Right now 2 - 6 gal are full, tonight the 3rd will be full. Hopefully by christmas or new years I will empty the Apfelwein into the 2 - 1 gal and the 3 gal. The 1 gal bottle will be used for the holidays, I am going to cheat a little and backsweeten it with some apple juice. The 3 gal will bulk age.

When I empty the Apfelwein, I hope to put something into it soon as well!! I am seriously thinking about doing the Chocolate Strawberry Port!!

I am a young wine drinker and therefor like the sweeter/dessert wines, I have heard this may change over time!

 

[vvolf34]

1st timer:
Thanks for the heads up on Olive Garden, we have one in town. Do you just ask to speak to the manager? Tell them what you do and ask for the bottles? Tell them right away you wouldn't mind giving him some of your product for the trouble. I am a little on the shy side, so just wondering what approach you take.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

Midwest Vinter:
Ok sounds like over time I will be buying more smaller containers, sounds good, my shop is only 15 mins away so not bad, if I had to run into town real quick. So after the 2 or 3 months you just bottle and let em age that way?

depends. even with alot of carboys (~90 gals worth give or take), in the last 2 years we have made 100 gal/year and it's not fun to have to try and bottle something to be able to rack something else. especially out of a fermenter where you have to get it done, so the extra 2-5 of various sizes allow you to rack into pre-cleaned carboys most of the time. carboys can get dirty and it's easier to rack into one that's been cleaned before hand and not from one you just racked out of. just makes it easy to work wine when you want to and not when you have to!

we probably could come close to maxing out at the 200 gal/year limit if we moved them faster. we just don't need that much per year to drink!

 

[arcticsid]

VV, wine tastings are another source of bottles. The people who own my LHBS sponsor periodic wine tastings. They recently gave me 17 cases of bottles.

 

[Wade E]

Welcome vvolf, do you also brew beer and if so ag or extract. We have a beer section here also so fill us in.

 

[arcticsid]

Heres a thread I started a while back about the "fpac"
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3553&highlight=fpac

Also type "fpac" into the search feature of this forum, all of this should give you a better understanding of what is refered to as an "fpac".

Troy

 

[Tom]

And you got alot of good info from some great winemakers