SG on selection kit with grape pack

[Billy8998]

Hello everyone

I am a new member to this site.
I have recently started a Selection estate tempranillo with grape pack. I was very surprised to see my starting gravity at 1.080. I recently made a napa valley merlot selection kit which started at 1.100.
1.080 seems very low to me and likely to produce a red of just shy of 12%.

Does the grape pack release its sugars slower? meaning it will be fuller bodied and stronger after all?

Also anyone with a review of either kit would be welcomed.

Billy

 

[rjb222]

Hello everyone

I am a new member to this site.
I have recently started a Selection estate tempranillo with grape pack. I was very surprised to see my starting gravity at 1.080. I recently made a napa valley merlot selection kit which started at 1.100.
1.080 seems very low to me and likely to produce a red of just shy of 12%.

Does the grape pack release its sugars slower? meaning it will be fuller bodied and stronger after all?

Also anyone with a review of either kit would be welcomed.

Billy

This is quite a normal SG to start a kit wine at. The begining sg will depend on the grape and body of the wine style of the kit.

 

[Boatboy24]

Welcome aboard.

When using a grape pack, your SG will rise for 12-24 hours. When using kits with packs, I've started taking 3-4 SG readings during the first 24 hours or so and use the highest as my starting point.

 

[Bartman]

Yes, depending on how long you wait to take the initial S.G. reading and how well you 'stir' in the grape pack (or do whatever to release the sugars into the must). In my experience, the grape packs add about 0.020 to the S.G. of the must alone, but only after 24-36 hours after mixing it all up. Using the cheesecloth (which I highly recommend) slows that down compared to just dumping the contents of the grape pack directly into the must - if you do that and stir it well, you should get an accurate S.G. reading within ~hour, but you'll have a mess and a headache when you transfer it out of the primary bucket.

I just made a Cellar Craft Tempranillo kit a month ago, and had a similar S.G. *before* adding the grape pack.

 

[Billy8998]

Thanks guys very reassuring. I did use the cheese cloth and pitched the yeast pretty much straight after so sadly I'm not going to get a chance to retake an sg. I am however pretty satisfied over the course of the week the grape pack is going to pack an extra punch.

Plus, I love the idea of the oak cubes for a second oak hit down the line.