Cellar Craft quartet syrah

[rrussell]

Just received my cellar craft quartet syrah with crushed grape pack. It has 2 packs of oak with it that is supposed to be added to the primary. The question I have is, If I put them in the straining bag with the crushed grapes will I get the same amount of oaking as I would by adding them directly to the juice or is it better to dump it into the juice directly? My thinking is that it will be easier to rack to the secondary. Thanks for any imput. Ron. By the way, this kit looks great with the crushed grape pack.

 

[Wade E]

It would be a little to tight in there IMO, maybe if you have another fermenting bag, that would be better so that they could be more free to expose themselves to the wine and get a good oaking.

 

[moto-girl]

I usually use a 5 gallon paint straining bag from Home Depot. I put the grape pack and all the oak in it. There is plenty of room and clean up is a breeze.

 

[rrussell]

Moto-girl, any concerns about a paint straining bag being sanitary enough for food products?

 

[moto-girl]

I always sanitize it with the rest of the equipment before use. 8 kits and no problems. I wouldn't make a grape-pack kit without it.

 

[rrussell]

Thanks, I will get some tomorrow since I work at Home Depot.

 

[K&GB]

I've done it both ways with grape pack kits. It's definitely easier to take samples and rack without oak all mixed into the must. But I don't know what effect it has confining the oak into a smaller space. If you wait long enough (per directions) most of the oak will sink into the lees. But it still clogs up my wine thief when checking SG during fermentation.

 

[rrussell]

I usually do some extra oaking anyway so I'm not too concerned about how much oak flavoring I get from the supplied oak. I was more concerned with fighting the oak chips during racking. Thanks everyone for the imput.

 

[rrussell]

I would like to add some yeast nutrient to this kit to ensure that it ferments to complete dryness. The instructions say not to rack to secondary until it reaches sg of 1.00 which seems too late to add nutrient. my question is at what sg reading would it be good to add nutrient to the primary fermenter. thanks, Ron.

 

[Dean]

that is usually never required in kit wines, but if it were fruit or grape based, I'd do my 3rd and final nutrient addition between 1.030 and 1.020.