WineXpert My first kit

[smurfe]

Well I thought I would give an update on my first kit.


The bottles are beautiful. A great looking maroon cap with a matching label. They are clean and really look like someone took care to make a great product. They really inspire confidence that the wine inside will be a work of art.


Upon pulling the cork I can see that George's corks are holding up nicely. They pull easily and so far no leakage.


Now the pour....As the berry filled Beaujalois hits the glass the first thig that comes to mind is..What the hell is that smell?? Is Beaujalois latin for STINKY FEETor ARMPIT? After a few minutes of decanting I realize that smell goes away and is replaced with the wonderful smell of rich berries run throughthe digestive system of a 1 year old and deposited in a diaper.


Now the taste....As I hold my breath and takea sip the first tasteto hit my palate is SMOKE GRENADE. It takes me back to my days in the military. If I had to give a color I would have to say Yellow. The second sensation is SULFUR. Not much, just enough to make your head shake violently side to side as you force it into your gut. Under it all is a layer of fruit to tantalize you of what might of been.


I amguessing I messed this up somehow.


earl

First question. Did you add any extra Sodium or Potassium Bi-sulfate to your kit like the directions say if you are wanting to keep the wine longer than a year? If so, too much might of been added. Also, most all wines will have a sulfur smell right after bottling but it shouldn't be anything overwhelming. It should decrease within a month or two. This is from Bottle Shock.


I would recommend that youjust putthe wine up on a shelf and go on to the next kit. Give it a couple months and then pop open another bottle and see if it has changed any.


You are going to read many many post on these forums about the "Kit Taste" Well, I have always been mystified but the "Kit Smell" which is sulphuric. It will decrease and go away with some time. Many think these kits are ready to drink right out of the carboy and in essence the VR kits mostly can be, BUT, once you bottle it, the wine is stressed and needs some time to relax and mellow out. Think of a new wine such as that as a new born child. As it ages it will grow and mature. Like I said, give it a month or two to rest and then report back to us if it has changed.


Smurfe

 

[PolishWineP]

Poor Bert says, "Shake the bottle and see if there's any CO2 in it." (That'd be bubbles.

) (You'll have to use a fresh bottle)


Don't you hate it when you're let down like this? I'm with Smurfe on this. If you don't have bubbles then put it away and do something else for a couple of months.


I hope this makes you feel better. Poor Bert is using his Fizz-X on our new batch of Australian Riverland (We call it Aussie River) and just made a mess all over the floor!

Right before that he brought me a sample and it once again smells like some stankie old river in August and tasted like an apple picked in July.

But I know that with proper handling and aging this will be a favorite with friends and family. Hang Tough!

 

[grapeman]

Earl,


I love your flair for putting your experience into words. Reminds me of a batch or two I made when I began. The directions read to put a ground up Campden tablet in a gallon of wine at bottling- I misread it as a tablet per bottle. That was 5 times the requested dosage. That wine ought to last about 150 years. It was only a batch of Apple wine, so no big deal, got lots of them - it smelt like my.... er...gas(figured i'd better clean that up)after having a big feed of venison. I'll try it again in about twenty years. I've gotten much better at this wine making thingy- everybody says, " You should sell this stuff. It's better than anything I can buy at the store." One girl told me her husband wanted to buy a case of the stuff. He loved what kind of effect it had on her.


Keep trying. I might suggest a Vintner's Reserve, Passport Series Australian Shiraz. Better than the bottled stuff from the store. Comples tastes after a month- to die for after 4 months. I'm down to my last three bottles. I decided to save them for myself after everybody else wanted more of them after tasting.

 

[earl]

Smurfe, I did put in the 1/4 teaspoon of K-meta like the kit says to if aging over a year, but that was it.


It has been in the bottle for about 6 weekswithout any improvement. I will definately give it more time and hopefully it will mellow.


I am going to order another kit,#3 on this little adventure, and give it a whirl.


My Green Apple turned out great.


earl

 

[masta]

Earl,


I have made three of these kits and they are ready to drink very shortly after bottling. From your description of the smell and flavor I would say it sounds like the batch is infected with some kind of bacteria. I have never seen this first hand before so I can't say for sure.


Did you taste the juice during the process and notice any off or bad flavors?


How many bottles have you opened and found the same problem?

 

[earl]

Masta


I did not taste the juice before fermenting. I gave it a taste just prior to stabilizing and it tasted pretty bad. I have opened about 5 bottles and they have all been like this.


This is unlike anything I have tasted before.


earl

 

[OilnH2O]

Earl -- you've made me a believer in "clean and sanitize" long before this -- Thanks for that...


But,can you post a picture of the bottle with label so we can see how great it looks ("looked")?? (Is it really "yellow" in the glass?)

 

[earl]

OilnH2O


Yellow is the type of smoke grenade it reminds me of. I've breathed a few different colors in my day.


The wine looks great but really tastes bad. If I can borrow a decent digital camera I will post a picture of the bottle. I wish I could post a picture of the aroma

. Or better yet a scratch and sniff

.


Man these little faces are neat

. They really express how I feel about my wine

. My wife gave me an $80 dollar budget to go buy some wine to make me feel better

earl


P.S. Masta if you want to try a bottle I will send you one. Does UPS ship hazardous materials??

 

[smurfe]

Hmm, didn't know you had it in the bottle for 6 weeks. I have to lean toward bacteria like Masta says. If this was a VR kit, it should be ready to drink now. 1/4 tsp of K-Meta is correct dose for preservative. CO2 can give a real funky smell if the wine wasn't de-gassed good but you said you put it in a decanter and it still smelled bad. The odor will quickly disperse if it is CO2 that caused the odor.


So, lets go over you process step by step. Think about your sanitation procedures. Did you rinse good after sanitizing? What was the water quality you used? Do you have more than one carboy? When you racked it did you have to rack to the bucket to clean the carboy? If so, did you sanitize and rinse the bucket and carboy?


Most bacteria issues come from sanitation problems unless the juice was spoiled prior to beginning the kit. Depending on the sanitation solution you use, you need to rinse the stuff or you will get an off taste but it shouldn't be anything like what you state. If this is a VR kit, I would say chalk it up to experience. If it is a Selection Kit, I would say let it rest a little longer but I have to say, it sounds like there is something rotten in Denmark (Pun intended)


Smurfe

Edited by: smurfe

 

[djcoop]

Question: the K-meta that we sanatize w/ does not have to be rinsed? correct?? please tell me that's correct. I rinsed the easy clean, then sterilzed w/ k-meta and didn't rinse. i'm crossing my fingers. tks-d


I was just reading something in one of my wine books today that talked about bacteria and the adverse effects on the taste/smell of the wine................

 

[earl]

Smurfe


You are correctamundo...there is no doubt I did not sanitize correctly. I had talked this over with George and he held out hope but I guess it did not work. Let me tell you what I did:


I got my kit, and with the enthusiasm of a Bull Elk in Rut I tore into it. I opened the box pulled out the large foil bag and gave a roar that I am suprise you did not hear. I took the primary fermenter and only washed it with LD Carlson easy clean. I did not use any K-meta. IN fact NO K-meta was used until I bottled. Well I used what was in the pack when I stabilized but that was it. No washing with it, no sanitizing, no swirling, no spritzing, no nuttin. In the heat of the moment (another Bull elk pun) I thought that the easy clean wouldSUFFICE, little did I know it would not SULFITE, those two words are similar but vastly different.


Let this be a lesson on the importance of K-Meta. You must hold it,coddleit, spritz it, swirl it, love it, re-joice in it, bathe your wine making utencils in it...in a nut-shell, adopt it as yourSTINKY little adopted wine making stepchild thatholds the key to yourwine making happiness.


WOW...I am glad I gotthis off my chest.


earl

 

[djcoop]

Earl~


Love your writing - very enjoyable. Stinky is correct. Today, I racked my first batch from the primary to the carboy. Went into work and a friend was like, "what's that smell?" Hmmm... just a little sulfite on my hands!

Oh well, I guess it could have been worse!

 

[Waldo]

Another good lesson for all the Newbies..."READ THOSE INSTRUCTIONS" they hold the keys to the success of your kit wines.

 

[smurfe]

Question: the K-meta that we sanitize w/ does not have to be rinsed? correct?? please tell me that's correct. I rinsed the easy clean, then sterilzed w/ k-meta and didn't rinse. i'm crossing my fingers. tks-d


I was just reading something in one of my wine books today that talked about bacteria and the adverse effects on the taste/smell of the wine................

You can sanitize with the Easy Clean, that is what I use. Even though it says it is no rinse, I rinse it off as it has a "taste" plus it leaves a white film on everything if yo don't and everything is pretty slippery if you don't. The only thing I use K-Meta is I add the extra 1/4 tsp at bottling. If I used it to sanitize with, I would rinse it as well. I rinse everything even though some you are not required to. Just personal practice.

 

[djcoop]

great.................. i hope my chianta won't smell/taste like stinky socks.

 

[OilnH2O]

Let me see if I got this straight.


I wash and clean everything, including wiping off the sink and counter, with "One-Step" -- THEN I sanitize with LD Carlson "Easy Clean" -- but I had not been rinsing since both of those products say you don't "need to..." in the instructions, and because I have a salt-based water softener. Yet Smurfe above, says he only uses Easy Clean and doesn't use k-meta, if I read that right....


Am I doing the same thing twice? Should I use a "Straight A" for a cleaner and then sanitize with either the One-Step or the Easy Clean? Am I just confused!?!?!?!???

Edited by: OilnH2O

 

[Brandst]

Easy Clean is listed as a cleaner and sanitizer, basically the same as One Step but a bit stronger from what I understand. Neither product NEEDS to be rinsed but most people recommend to and I believe thepackage does as well.All I used was the Easy Clean when I started my first batch, I did have a few minutes of contact time for every piece and only rinsed what would fit in the sink. I will be using the sulfite solution to spray onto things and to soak pieces in when I start the next batch, but so far the Easy Clean seems to have worked.





Steve

 

[earl]

Brandst


Did you have success with your first kit? I used easy clean on everything but it is almost un-drinkable.


earl

 

[MedPretzel]

The real key to any wine that you make youself is time. For example, I made my very first grape-kit wine in the winter of 03. I loved it, but it tasted thin, if I'll be honest with you (Zinfandel). I was disheartened and sad.





I made another, "bigger" red, and got similar results.





I left all the wines alone for a year. They have grown in complexity and have matured beautifully. I have some great reds in the cellar now which I have gotten wonderful reveiws about.





Don't judge a wine so early. Someone on a forum once said, "Can you buy 2005 vintages in the store yet?" The answer is no. There's a reason for that.

Patience, Podners!

 

[MedPretzel]

Another good lesson for all the Newbies..."READ THOSE INSTRUCTIONS" they hold the keys to the success of your kit wines.

Instruction sheets are your wine-bibles.