RJS RQ18

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Smok1

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First of the 2018 Restricted Quantity RJS limited edition kits arrived today.
Australia Shiraz Viognier 18L
Came with:
2 packs genuine winery dried grape skins
Nice labels
French oak powder
Benonite
Hungarian oak cubes(which ill be swapping for french oak)
Standard clearing agents (chitosan and kiesol) which i wont be using
Sorbate, also wont be using.
It comes with Bourgovin RC212(which im excited about because i havent seen a kit in a long time come with anything but ec1118)
Also came with gold shrink tubes for the bottles

Will be starting this one this weekend.
 

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I have not been using sulfite/sorbate or the clearing agents with the RJS Cru Select kits for about 2 years - for 5 years before, I DID use all the stuff that came with the kits. I have not noticed ANY problems in clearing nor in contamination/spoilage since NOT using PM/PS/chitosan/kieselsol.

I am at the clearing racking of 3 EP kits today, and have not planned to use PM/PS/clearing agents. Any thoughts? Am I being too cavalier? In Vines to Wines book by Jeff Cox, he frowns upon using potassium metabisulfite - feels it is not necessary.

Thanks for any advice.

Brad
 
In Vines to Wines book by Jeff Cox, he frowns upon using potassium metabisulfite - feels it is not necessary.

Thanks for any advice.

Brad

I have not read that book, but that is not the impression I get by looking at all the times he cites "sulfite": https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZaBE2GWjqEC&q=sulfite#v=snippet&q=sulfite&f=false

He does say he once added 10x too much, and nearly ruined the wine. Is that perhaps what you were remembering? He does recommend using as little as possible, but at one point he suggests 50 ppm.
 
Thank you for your thoughts. I am assuming by your post, that you DO add PM to your kits.

Mr. Cox discussed making wine from grapes, and DOES indeed add PM to the must initially to kill naturally occurring yeast - then adds the yeast he WANTS in the must. But after that, he seems against it.

Under title "The First Racking", he says you could add half a Campden tablet per gallon, but "since I have a bug about adding more chemicals to my wine than I absolutely have to, I seldom add sulfite at this stage".

I do add 1/4 tsp PM at 6 weeks when I rack to longterm carboy storage, and then another 1/4 tsp PM at bottling (typically at 18-22 months from fermentation - but that is the only PM I have adding in the past few years. Even the "extra" bottles I get at 6 weeks (often 1-3 bottles that don't fit into the carboy) which have NO PM whatsoever in them have tasted fine at 2 years.

I think I'll continue with my current approach with kits - but when I do make wine from grapes, I have every intention of using PM in the initial must to kill the naturally occurring yeast.

Brad
 
Yes, I do add potassium metabisulfite (which we tend to refer to as "k-meta" around here) to both kits and to wine from grapes. I have no qualms about using it.
 

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