Other Tweeking Cheap Kits

[jdwebb]

I need to keep it covered. The lid has the immersion chiller and thermowell attached to it. I try to ferment at lower temps.

 

[jdwebb]

I'm wondering if its too late to repitch some 1118 to get it going again. Its at 9% alcohol now, not sure if thats too much to kill the yeast or not.

 

[joeswine]

JbWebb

get the correction??

 

[jdwebb]

Yes I did Joe, thank you.

 

[jdwebb]

Showing signs of life this morning, gravity is at 1.024 down from .030. Temp is at a comfortable 74ºF.

Do wine yeasts belong to a union? Like WY Local 42? I hope this wasn't some kind of extended union break...

Will monitor closely and take another reading tonight. Haven't pitched the 1118 yet Joe.

 

[joeswine]

Temperature can and will control the process, stay the course.

 

[Spikedlemon]

Costco 7L kit update:
Merlot pitched last week onto the Lees/currants of the Amarone (it was EC1118). One cup of raisins (Thompson) added to primary and a dash of tannin in addition to the included pack of oak. The bucket was filled to 5gal (rather than 6). A couple days in: it smelt and tasted wonderful.

Transferred yesterday (or maybe it was the day before?) to secondary to rest next to the Amarone.

I added a note to myself to ignore until Aug 1 while they hang out in secondary before I'll transfer and fine/degas. This aligns close with the timeline for the Amarone (a 6wk kit)


The first Merlot kit is ok but I think I added too much tannin too late in the process. These bottles can hang out and age right now. The nice thing is that my dad likes it a lot (which was unexpected).

I've got a 7L Cab Sauv that just arrived (was on sale) from Costco to do next (i'll start in Aug)

 

[joeswine]

Who haven't we heard from lately, it sounds like the adventure in cheap wine kits is a successful venture, you have some pit falls but all in all its nice to put your touch on your wine and as always think outside the box.

 

[wineforfun]

@joeswine
Concerning the Fontana Green Apple Reisling, would you cut it to 5.5 gal. instead of the 6 gal.? Or go all the way to 5 gal.?
Oh, and it does have an fpac if that makes a difference in the starting volume.

 

[joeswine]

Make the full volume as long as it had a fpac, how's everything else going

 

[wineforfun]

Ok, I thought you had said to drop it to 5.5gal.

Good, heading out to Winter Park, CO to see my son. Going to take a bottle of that Malbec for him.

 

[joeswine]

you can't be to sure on how these whites finish out not the ABV, but the sweetness, your correct I did a 5.5gallon but that was with out a fpac, am I correct, witch kit was I referring to?

 

[wineforfun]

Yes sir, you are correct. I will make it 6 gal., bump the ABV to 11% and add the full fpac in the end. Hoping for a sweet wine for the wife.

 

[joeswine]

Sounds good, stay the course

 

[jdwebb]

Temperature can and will control the process, stay the course.

Finally winding down fermentation in primary, gravity now at about 1.008, I suspect over the next few days I should see 1.000 so I can transfer to secondary. Its been doing fine now after giving it a boost with 4g of yeast energizer when it was stuck at 1.030. It is doing nicely at 69ºF. I would like to bulk age this on some Hungarian Oak.

 

[joeswine]

cheap wine kits

Cheap wine kits, are fun and you can make you learning curve errors on them without much cost overall.

 

[joeswine]

have a great hoilday

 

[joeswine]

have a great holiday

 

[Spikedlemon]

No new update. Time is just ticking by.

If I started the Amarone Jun 8 (by looking at my post online): the Merlot is a week younger (@3wks). I'll starting thinking about racking from secondary in the next couple weeks. The airlock is still sitting high though no bubbles on both so I'm not terribly concerned right now (and my juice bucket's instructions were to leave it alone in primary for 3-4 weeks).

I need to free up some bottles before I start planning a bottling day (I don't want to buy more).

 

[joeswine]

SpikedLemon

There is never a rush if you worked your plan, I would check the SG. If your at a low enough SG,I would then rack from the secondary into a clean Carboy then that is the smart move, even if your short carboys rack to a sanitized bucket, clean the carboy and refill with the rack wine. How do you create a seal?vacuum,nitrogen or not?