Stirring kit wine

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stevolution

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Ok I am currently in the middle of my very first wine.. It's a island mist strawberry merlot.. Primary fermentation is completed and racked into carboy. My instructions say nothing about stirring at this part of the process but it seems after a couple days the wine seems to clear and sediment settles to the bottom.. Won't this effect SG, should I be stirring the wine to keep the ingredients balanced thought the wine...
 
Do not stir. Specific gravity should just about be fixed i.e < 1.00 or will soon be so. You are now in the clearing phase. When specific gravity is less than 1.0 and no longer dropping it means fermentation is over and your ending alcohol percentage will not increase. Secondary fermentation is mostly a clearing phase.
 
What you are seeing is normal for your kit. The sediment, aka lees, is simply a collection of yeast cells, pectin, etc. There is no need to stir a kit, unless the instructions advise you to do so...and this kit will not have you stir the must like a non-kit wine. Your instructions, as you read in "2", will tell you to leave the thick sediment behind when you rack...so you want this to start clearing. And "3" tells you to eventually stir, which has to do with the formulation of the clearing process in a kit.

And to clarify:
-the primary is a fermenter, a bucket-carboy-bin-lug, etc., in which the initial ferment starts;
-a secondary usually means the contents of primary are transferred to a "secondary container" to allow initial ferment to complete, most commonly the secondary is a fresh carboy.
-to complicate matters there is 'secondary fermentation', meaning a second fermentation is induced, ie malolactic bacteria(MLB) are introduced, or sometimes it is spontaneous. Kits typically do not go thru secondary fermentation, though I've read of people adding MLB to kits.
--You will find the play on words related to secondary container vs secondary fermentation is quite common & most think it is due to wording in kit instructions. Even your WE kit has 1 Primary Fermentation, 2 Secondary Fermentation; this can quickly confuse new winemakers, especially when starting with kits.
 
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Steve, you owe me one monitor cleaning and one keyboard. Your Av made me spew left over pad thai and corona over both.
 
Our Strawberry did ferment to dry .99 and we did not stir. The coconut that we started the same day stalled out and would not drop any lower than 1.010 even though we gave it an extra week under air lock in a primary. Now I wished we had stirred it because it was too sweet even though the instructions said not to stir. We had to add Everclear to cut back on the super sweet taste. We make a lot of these types of kits and they always go to at least .99. From now if they stall out, we will stir. We have blueberry pinot noir and black cherry pinot noir going and this time we will still if they stall out.
 
cimbaliw said:
Steve, you owe me one monitor cleaning and one keyboard. Your Av made me spew left over pad thai and corona over both.

Hahahaha I must apologize... Maybe I should think about changing it or you may want to rethink your eating/drinking habits around electronics... I read this to my wife of a minute ago and she is still laughing... As I was reading I was like "why do I owe this person anything" the I read on... Thnx for e laugh
 
saramc said:
What you are seeing is normal for your kit. The sediment, aka lees, is simply a collection of yeast cells, pectin, etc. There is no need to stir a kit, unless the instructions advise you to do so...and this kit will not have you stir the must like a non-kit wine. Your instructions, as you read in "2", will tell you to leave the thick sediment behind when you rack...so you want this to start clearing. And "3" tells you to eventually stir, which has to do with the formulation of the clearing process in a kit.

And to clarify:
-the primary is a fermenter, a bucket-carboy-bin-lug, etc., in which the initial ferment starts;
-a secondary usually means the contents of primary are transferred to a "secondary container" to allow initial ferment to complete, most commonly the secondary is a fresh carboy.
-to complicate matters there is 'secondary fermentation', meaning a second fermentation is induced, ie malolactic bacteria(MLB) are introduced, or sometimes it is spontaneous. Kits typically do not go thru secondary fermentation, though I've read of people adding MLB to kits.
--You will find the play on words related to secondary container vs secondary fermentation is quite common & most think it is due to wording in kit instructions. Even your WE kit has 1 Primary Fermentation, 2 Secondary Fermentation; this can quickly confuse new winemakers, especially when starting with kits.

Thnx for the clarification.. I understand how miss leading using the wrong word can be..
 
Sammyk said:
Our Strawberry did ferment to dry .99 and we did not stir. The coconut that we started the same day stalled out and would not drop any lower than 1.010 even though we gave it an extra week under air lock in a primary. Now I wished we had stirred it because it was too sweet even though the instructions said not to stir. We had to add Everclear to cut back on the super sweet taste. We make a lot of these types of kits and they always go to at least .99. From now if they stall out, we will stir. We have blueberry pinot noir and black cherry pinot noir going and this time we will still if they stall out.

Thnx for the info.. Nice to find someone who did this kit. We just checked the SG on day 9 of step two and it came in at .996 spot on for the next step but I'm going to give it one more night before adding the remaining ingredients and degassing.. I must say the wine smells so good at this point, I can't wait to see how it's going to be after adding the fruit pack...

Thnx for all the info...
 
Steve we really like it! We did add 4 pounds of sugar to the primary to boost the ABV. You might want to add the f-pack slowly and taste as you go. Done per the directions and using the entire f-pack makes the wine too sweet, at least for us. We have made about 20 of these type kits and after the first one we started adding about 4 pounds of sugar to the primary to get a SG of around 1.080. Our grown daughter loves them and buys them for us to make. She ends up with better than half of them for herself and friends.
There are lots of threads on here about the "mist" type kits.
We started a watermelon kit wine last week for a friends wedding in August. It is an outdoor wedding and they wanted something that makes one think of summer. We will vary the f-pack at different levels of sweetness.
 
Sammyk said:
Steve we really like it! We did add 4 pounds of sugar to the primary to boost the ABV. You might want to add the f-pack slowly and taste as you go. Done per the directions and using the entire f-pack makes the wine too sweet, at least for us. We have made about 20 of these type kits and after the first one we started adding about 4 pounds of sugar to the primary to get a SG of around 1.080. Our grown daughter loves them and buys them for us to make. She ends up with better than half of them for herself and friends.
There are lots of threads on here about the "mist" type kits.
We started a watermelon kit wine last week for a friends wedding in August. It is an outdoor wedding and they wanted something that makes one think of summer. We will vary the f-pack at different levels of sweetness.

Hmmm ill have to try that.. A the entire "f-pack" is not needed? I'm still Leary about straying from the instructions. Still not sure as to what can be modified and what can not.. How much do you add at a time? Should I start with about half? Do you not too off with the removed wine to fit the f-pack? Just add a little, stir and the sample?

I'm really excited to try this one.. Hopefully about two weeks.

Also I had a question about when adding sugar. To use an example you said you add four lbs of sugar to these kits witch jumps the SG to 1.080. Will this change the final SG or will it still need to be the instructed .999 or below. Will just take longer to reach.

Thnx Sammy
 
We made the first one as per the directions and found it way too sweet so we began to experiment. No, it does not take any longer. When you add the fruit pack add a little, stir and taste, repeat until you find the right amount for your taste. While we do use a hydrometer, each kit had a different reading that we felt was "right" for that particular variety. Here is a link to another thread that tells what others do http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f84/share-your-island-mist-aging-experience-38600/
Don't be afraid to experiment. You can make some great wines from these type of kits.
We make fresh fruit wines (not much grape except for our own muscadines) but when there is not any fresh fruit in the winter months, these kits are nice to build up your supply.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f84/share-your-island-mist-aging-experience-38600/
 
If you only use part of the f-pac consider freezing the remainder as it can be used at a later date if you make a batch of something else, can be added to sweeten/flavor sangria, even tea or soda. Yep, nothing is wasted here.
 
Will do. We should be adding shortly as soon as we finish coffee and get motivated.. Lol..

I think we will start with about 1/4 to 1/3 of the f-pack bag and go from there..

As far as adding sugar I guess I'm still a bit confused.. Sorry if I seem slow on to topic... But when adding sugar and raising the initial SG on would think it would take much longer to ferment down the appropriate .999 is this not the case? Or willit not reach the same finale SG it would with no sugar.... For example no sugar initial SG was 1.050 and and final is .999 adding sugar initial would be 1.08 will it still end at .999 or be the equivalent at around 1.03. Hope this makes sense, it does in my head but that's not saying much..
 
If you add sugar it will ferment to dry .99. It may take a few extra days but the end product is not so sweet. We generally add all the fpack but not always because we taste as we go. Start with some fpack, stir and taste. Add more of the fruit pack to your taste.
Caution about freezing the remainder of the fruit pack. It will not freeze solid so would need to be used in a reasonable amount of time.
It does sometimes take awhile to "catch on" but keep reading and you will learn more as you go.
 
Sammyk said:
If you add sugar it will ferment to dry .99. It may take a few extra days but the end product is not so sweet. We generally add all the fpack but not always because we taste as we go. Start with some fpack, stir and taste. Add more of the fruit pack to your taste.
Caution about freezing the remainder of the fruit pack. It will not freeze solid so would need to be used in a reasonable amount of time.
It does sometimes take awhile to "catch on" but keep reading and you will learn more as you go.

Thnx this was exactly what I needed... I think I may try adding sugar next time depending on how these first two turn out ..ill let you know how much f-pack we add to our strawberry today.. This will also be the first time we taste it sense it was started :D
 
Ok we just finished adding the rest of the ingredients to our strawberry wine.. We ended up adding the entire f-pack. We started out adding a quarter at a time and tasting after each addition .. Decided the the whole bag would be just fine.. Now we wait. Tw weeks till bottling.. And while we are on the subject of bottling what is your take on soaking corks. My local wine retailer recommending soaking corks in Luke warm water for 15 minutes prior to corking to help them go in. I'm using new non synthetic corks. Also how well do I need to clean new bottles ? Should I just rinse them and run some easy clean non rinse through them and then hang on the tree just before bottling..

I'm thinking of straining into a primary just before bottling too just to help remove any unwanted sediment from the mix.

Thnx
Steve
 
You should not soak non-synthetic corks as the moisture in the cork can interfere with the seal plus corks break down given time. Sanitize via vapors of k-meta cleaning strength solution and make a corkidor. Place solution in bottom of a container, place a strainer resting atop solution, not touching solution, corks in strainer, seal container and in 15 minutes or so the SO2 vapors have done their job.

Bottles need to be cleaned and sanitized. EZ Clean and bottle brush, (I say rinse), then sanitize with a rinse with k-meta solution. Bottles are ready for immediate use, even damp.

You will want to allow wine to clear and rack serially, ideally wanting a 60 day timeframe of no addl sediment dropping before you bottle. So it may go like: follow last steps in your kit, rack again in a month if sediment has dropped, then rack in 60 days, repeat every 60d as long as sediment drops. With the mist-kit, you can do 14d to 30d sequences, instead of the 30-60-60 sequence if really itching to get at that wine.
 
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Anyone have any good ways to remove the plastic floaties left behind from the bung on the whip degasser ?
 
throw the bung away if it is falling apart. you shouldn't even need the bung. just use the whip

that said i have used a strainer tip for a paint spray gun on the end of my racking cane to siphon without picking up oak chips, they fit over the end are made of plastic and have a fine mesh all around. not sure where you are but in canada they have them at princess auto
SKU: 0450030

cheers

filter.jpg
 
I did throw it away I read alot of bad about the bungs after using it.. I'm trying to find a way to get them out without rackig as the wine is in its clearing stage .. I was thinking about sucking them out with a turkey baster, then straining that and adding back into carbon
 

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