Other Ocean Breezin' & Island Mist Kits

[kayciemae]

Hello,

I started doing kits about a year ago and we have mostly only used the Island Mist and Ocean Breezin' (I think that's correct?) kits. Now the question I have is how to tame down the alcohol "bite". The kits do not tell you to add sugar but we add about 6 - 7 cups (i was told their alco. content would be that of a wine cooler if we didn't). I believe on almost every kit our starting SG has been around .098 (going off memory here - will have to check the books when I get home). Our kits usually make between 5 and 6 gallons.
We usually follow the kit and add the ingredients it says, let it sit in the bucket for about 2 weeks, then add the stabilizer and stuff to clear and transfer to the carboy for 2 weeks. I am unsure what the SG is at time of bottling - I will need to track that better.
These kits have pretty much all been 4 week kits. We leave them for another 2-3 before trying them to let them mellow out a bit. Some of our wines have gotten better after they sit a couple months, and some have not - they still have that strong bite. Is there a way to cover this up or tame it down? The place we buy all of our stuff is a little micro winery and they couldn't tell us what to do as ALL of their wines have that too.

Any suggestions would be great!

 

[Bartman]

When you say "strong bite" do you mean "alcohol" taste, that burns in your mouth like whiskey? If so, then you've answered your own question - the sugar you are adding is adding more alcohol than the manufacturers really intended. I have added sugar to those kits a few times as well, but not quite as much as you added. Scale back some of that sugar so the yeast has less to convert to alcohol, and the kits will be mellower immediately. Letting them age a few months after bottling will help a little, but not much since the alcohol will still be in there.

 

[Chateau Joe]

These kits have a brix starting about 1.050. If you actually ran yours up to 1.098, yeah you will have a some serious bite and your wine is out of balance.

Me personally I add enough sugar to my breezin' & mist kits to about 1.070. I find it gives them better flavor and a just a little more alcohol.

 

[robie]

I have not made a WE mist kit, but I routinely raise the SG of my Orchard Breezin' kits up to 1.090 or so (I always add 3 to 4 pounds of sugar each time). They can easily handle the resulting ABV level without being HOT or tasting out of balance. If an O.B., I doubt 6 or 7 cups could have raised it that high.

Could you be tasting something besides alcohol?

Which specific kit is it?