toping up with....?

[Coaster]

These are about ready to rack and I'll need to top up. The local store didn't have any of these, what shouldI use?
Black Current
Soave
Muller Thurgau

 

[ScubaDon]

I was just thinking about going to the local wine store "Total Wines" and seeing if they have any Black Current. All of the talk about it on the forum has me itching totry it. Is this a wine thatcan be found in stores or only home made supplies? I had never head of it before.

 

[Coaster]

I am headed to Vino100 tomorrow to see what they have, might have to call the wife to come over, they do a good bit of sampling for a decent price there.

 

[alley rat]

Hey coaster, I've been having pretty good luck using welches 100% pure
grape juice to top up. The way I figure it, that gradual introduction
of sugar between rackings can bring the alcahol content up just a tad,
plus it comes in both red and white. would be very intrested to hear
what some of you more experienced folks have to say regarding this
tactic.

 

[sangwitch]

Kits are designed to be able to take an extra liter of water for topping up. At least that's what I've read for the WE kits. Now... I've never been one to want to pour water in my wine so what I do now is make a bit over 6-gallons. I add extra sugar to make sure my SG is where I want it. When it's time to rack to glass I leave some head room in the carboy and rack everything else into a gallon jug, which I use to top off from in later steps. Doing this procedure probably voids the warranty for the kit so I don't recommend it to anyone... I'm posting for entertainment purposes only.
I've read other posts where people, after secondary is complete, will rack to a 5-gal carboy with teh extra going in a 1-gal jug for topping up during later rackings. Havent' tried this method.

 

[Coaster]

The Soaveis a 23L kit. It filled the carboy perfectly when racked from the fermentor and it says do not top up with water, use only commercial wines or a previous batch.


I could use water on the Balck Currant if it's not too much because I aimed a little high on the starting SG and I do have about 375ml in a seperate bottle (but I know I am going to need more than that).


On the Muller-Thurgau I might be able to use a Riesling I think.


I could rack to smaller cargboys but I don't have any 1 or 5 gal ones. I suppose I could use marbles to but that might be a lot 8O).

 

[sangwitch]

topping up is one of those topics that keep coming round and round. I'd actually like to hear some comments from the more seasoned wine makers about my technique of making a little more than the batch in order to have some for topping up. Anyone else do that?


I have also topped up with similar commercial wines in the past, but that always bothered me to do that. I have no problem topping up with wine that I've made however.

 

[PolishWineP]

And if you only need to top up a little, there's always my friends, sanitized marbles. (It also helps me to keep track of them. I hate losing them.)

 

[sangwitch]

I lost my marbles

 

[Joanie]

I lost my marbles

Hehe yes, but are you hic-upping?

 

[otto6183]

On occasion, I have successfully used Private Preserve, a commercial 'wine preserver' consisting of three inert gases, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and argon. I think it might be especially handy for those unusual or hard to match wines.

Cheers

 

[Coaster]

I scored 2 bottles at a specialty store of Soave. It took 1 and 3/4 to top up (and I got tight down to the lees when racking). That left me one glass to enjoy. My first Soave is fruit forward (I taste apricots), sharp, and dry.


I bought a 5 gal carboy and a lot of 750ml #2 bungsin case I need to rack smaller on the Black Currant or the Muller Thurgau.