Other Tweeking Cheap Kits

[Bauer]

Why no raisins?

 

[joeswine]

Not the correct style or background characteristic for this wine

 

[BigSell]

Joe,
On tweeted kits, when do bottle and how long do you age until you start drinking?

 

[joeswine]

In the mix

You can bottle when your wine is cleared and still you can drink any of these wines when done or let age 1 to 2 mos.. remember their meant to be consumes young.....but that's up to up. don't be rushed take into consideration the ambient your making the wine in the additives you added other than the kit process and above all be creative and think outside the box.

 

[Bauer]

Thanks Joe!!

 

[Billpizzaiolo]

Thank you Joe,
Just checked the tweaked Fontana Cab Sauv I Started earlier this month, S.G. was 1.100 using your recipe. The S.G. today is 1.000, PH 3.6, tastes dry and fizzy. ABV is about 13.6%. I am going to rack it again at the end of the month, degas it and put it up to rest for a while. I think it has promise.
Bill

 

[joeswine]

in the mix

That's a good plan still a lot of gas,you know how to deal with that take your time, keep is informed. What did you think of the decrease volume trick ?

 

[Billpizzaiolo]

That's a good plan still a lot of gas,you know how to deal with that take your time, keep is informed. What did you think of the decrease volume trick ?

Hard to tell the mouthfeel and color now. The ABV is terrific and a bit strong for my usual wines. I just will have to drink less of it for the same effect. Once it clears I will know for sure. I think that it should be a better wine than just using the kit recipe and surely not like the "Acquada" that my wife's grandfather made to sell back in the day when he made wine in the basement on 109th St. NYC. He used Alicante and Zinfandel grapes and after the pressing he added sugar and water to the dregs to make Acquada. As I remember his wine always needed ginger ale or 7 Up to make it drinkable. Boy have things changed now.
Saluté
Bill

 

[joeswine]

The intention is to increase the body of the wine with Out deleting the base, and yes it's not my grandfather's basement Wine,that use to get me high then I wanted to go,two glasses of this cab iß enough with a good Pasta.

 

[wineforfun]

@joeswine Ok Joe, we are off and running. Started the Fontana Malbec Friday night. Water and juice up to 5 gal. mark. Had to add 40oz. of simple syrup and got SG up to 1.104. Also, had to go with half heavy toast American and half light toast American as I couldn't get ahold of medium French anywhere without ordering. Hoping the heavy/light mix works out ok.
After all additions pH was around 3.8 or so, using strips such as you do.
SG down to 1.050 yesterday so it is moving along nicely.

 

[joeswine]

In the mix

Have you ever notice that I rarely ever back sweeten? That's because when my product is finished its completed ready to bottle...when a kit manufacture supplies you with chems, they expect you to use them as a stop gap measure to ensure the finish product is a close to what they want as possible, when you start with the base wine and ,add a fpac,tannins,oak,fresh fruit ,always ,always add all the chems they give you whether you think you need them or not it's just to be safe ,for what if?down the road....................GOT IT!

 

[wineforfun]

Ok, my Malbec is down to 1.010 after day 5, it is moving along pretty good. Will rack to secondary tonight or tomorrow night.

 

[jdwebb]

Fontana Pino Noir

So, after making a crapload of mead, I want to venture into wine making. Bought a Pino Noir Fontana kit from Amazon for the wife. I would like to increase the "fruity" flavor a bit and was thinking of dumping a bag or two of frozen raspberries or mixed berries into the primary. I was also thinking of adding a bit of wildflower honey to it for added sweetness. Now, with mead I would add pectic enzyme and let it sit a day before pitching yeast.

So 3 questions;
Am I on the right track with the frozen berries?
How much honey would I add if this is recommended?
Do I need to add the enzyme, or skip it?

 

[jdwebb]

Fermentation

One other question, I have a stainless steel 7 gallon fermenter with an immersion chiller. I would imaging this would work in place of the plastic buckets I see everyone using?

 

[joeswine]

Hi,no to the honey,reduce the volume of the batch to 5 gallons, bumponly use 1 lb . of the berries. In the primary, add 1/2 cup oak any type, use ec1118 for your yeast and filtered water,all this is done in the primary put a towel a cross the top if you have a heating belt us it ,it will help concrete the flavors let time do the work, cover and walk away.

 

[jdwebb]

Why EC1118? Isn't that more of a white wine yeast? And should I be concerned about temperature? Also 1118 develops a lot of SO2. Thanks for your help.

 

[joeswine]

ec1118 is a all purpose yeast good for low temperatures and higher, so unless you no the characteristics of your base wine and have experience with different yeast then go for it but if your not ànd till then EC1118 is a workhorse. Temperature and fermentation go hand and hand that's w4e experience count's read about wine make up ,yeast structure and temperature they go hand and hand.

 

[wineforfun]

@joeswine Malbec down to 1.002. Final ABV should be close to 14%. Racked over to carboy last night. Filled right up to within 1" of bung/airlock. A lot of action going on(bubbles in carboy and airlock) so we are still going strong. So far so good. Thanks for the guidance.
Also, add another tablespoon of tannin when I rack off sediment to another carboy, correct?

 

[joeswine]

Cheap kits

now just walk away for a week.....so far so good you'll probably be doing at least two racking's.....walk away...because we condensed down there is a little more work ,not much just time, got it!

 

[wineforfun]

That is the plan. Will probably rack again in a week or two, once it is dry. Then let sit for 1 to 2 months and do a final racking.