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!
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!