when good wines gone bad

[joeswine]

Zesting continued

ZESTING FOR FUN AND FLAVOR WEATHER YOUR MAKING A FPAC OR A CELLO ZESTING IS YOUR PARTNER THE PROCESS CONTINUES

 

[joeswine]

Blackberry pino nior

THIS KIT TURN OUT DEEP AND LUSCIOUS FOLLOW THE PROCESS BOTTLING WILL BEGIN VERY SOON.....

Blackberry Pinot Noir​

​

We purchased a medium grade kit (~$80-$90) Pinot Noir Winexpert Kit. We wanted Blackberry Pinot Noir so we purchased 1.5 lbs. of blackberries to go with this.

The Winexpert box includes the following:
 Large bag of juice
 1 Pack of Redstar Champagne Yeast
 2 Chaptalisation Packs (bags of sugar)
 Package #2 (bentonite)
 Package #3 (Metabisulphite)
 Package #4 (Sorbate)
 Package #5 (Chitosan-(Fining Agent)
 Mesh Straining Bag
 1 package of oak chips
Just for reference, I’m sure everyone knows by now if they have been following the posts, that you will need certain equipment to make this kit. For the newbies, I’m going to put it below so you know what you need:
 Primary Fermenter (minimum 30 Litres/7.9 US gallons capacity)
 Long stirring spoon (Plastic or stainless steel)
 Measuring cup
 Hydrometer and test jar
 Thermometer
 Siphon rod and hose
 Carboy (6 US gallon capacity)
 Bung and Air lock
 Solid Bung (if you are bulk aging)
 Unscented winemaking detergent for cleaning (we recommend Onestep or any other oxygenating cleaner, including Kmet....JUST NOT BLEACH!)
 Metabisulphite Powder for sanitizing
 30 wine bottles, thirty corks , thirty seals
 Corking machine (there are various types, we use an Italian floor corker.)
The Process:
 As always, sanitize anything that comes in contact with the wine. Including yourself. 
 Add half gallon of warm water to the primary fermenting bucket with the bentonite packet and stir until dissolved.
 Add the large juice package. (Be careful, it’s heavy!) Rinse out the bag with a little bit of spring water to make sure you get it all.
 Top up your bucket until you reach a 6 gallons. (I marked my primary before hand so I know where 6 gallons are.)
 Now, we took our SG reading and it was 1.08. We added simple syrup to bring the SG up to 1.10. Our logic is: We wanted at least 12% alc. At the finish because we know the blackberries are going to pick up the flavor at the bottom end. (The blackberries will overpower the flavor if we didn’t have a higher alch. Content. It would just be juice with not much alch.. This is how we do it, I’m sure others have their own opinion.)
 Next, we added ½ tsp of oak tannin.
 Then we added the oak chips and prinkled yeast on top of that. Don’t stir, just let it sit.
 Then here comes the blackberry. We created a homemade F-pak out of blackberries. (We are going to write up a separate tutorial for this.) Note: an F-pack doesn’t always have to go at the end of the wine, you can add them to the beginning. An F-pack in the beginning will blend well with the wine but will not usually over-power the taste of the wine. If you add it at the end, the predominant taste of your wine will be the F-pak.
 We added the the F-pak to a mesh bag and tied it in a knot then added it to the primary.
 We added bellie-bands because it’s chilly in the winter. It’s about 64 degrees in here. After that, I hung my tag on the side, put a towel on top. And we wait. 
　
(REWRITE WHAT IS BELOW TO MAKE IT GO W/ THIS WINE.)
Secondary Fermentation:
Now that we fermented dry (SG reading is 1.010), now it’s time to rack it.
Notice the grape skins on top? This is the cap that formed from the grape skin packet that was provided in the Wineexpert Amarone Kit, along with the addition of California Raisins (that I added to add more body).
We racked this down to a carboy but it is pretty gassy. I’m going to let this settle out for a few days and degas some on its own. Over the weekend, I will force-gas it (If I have to) by giving it a good old-fashioned stir. Once I feel that it’s de-gassed enough, I will stabilize it with the potassium sorbate packet, K-Met Packet, and packet of Chitosan (clearing agent).

UPDATE:​

We finished bottling our super-awesome, Winexpert Selection International Amarone Kit. We are quite happy with the results. Our end result is a dark, inky-color, rich, full bodied, wine. It has a spicy-earthy, sour cherry aroma, dried fruit, bitter almond, from the huge volume of tannins.

For a kit wine that started just 2 1/2 months ago, the results are quite impressive. (We started this kit on August 22, 2013. We bottled tonight, 10/24/2013. After doing this kit, we would def. recommend this one for any true Italian red-wine drinker.

We would like to thank Winexpert for giving us the opportunity to present one of their finest wine kits they have available. We would definitely recommend this kit to the novice and experienced winemakers alike as it truly is exceptional.

We are looking forward to our next tutorial now that this one is complete. Please give us feedback and recommendations of what type of wine you would like to learn how to make.

 

[joeswine]

Black berry fpac

THIS IS A EXCELLENT ELEMENT TO WORK WITH....FOLLOW THE FLOW

 

[codeman]

So the oak is just free floating around? How do you go about straining it out?

 

[joeswine]

Straining the oak

EASY ENOUGH TO DO WITH A HAND STRAINER and as i make the wine I'm adding tannins also which will dissipate as well as settle out ,if you need to do that process use a hand strainer

 

[joeswine]

Grape fpacs

ALL IT TAKES IS A LITTLE THOUGHT AND PLANNING AND YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN GRAPE PACK ON YOUR OWN...DO YOU WANT TO??

FOLLOW THIS EASY PROCESS AND YOU'LL BE THERE........................

WASH GRAPES
DE STEM
PLACE IN NON STICK SAUTÉ PAN / ON LOW HEAT
ADD 1/2 CUP ANY WHITE WINE
SIMMER GRAPES AND WINE TILL GRAPES BECOME SOFT/THE ACHOLO WILL BURN OFF
GENTLY SMASH THE GRAPES UNTIL STARTING TO SPITTING AND SOFT/ LET COOL AND PLACE IN AIR TIGHT VACUUM BAGS OR ZIP LOCK BAGS
FREEZE UNTIL NEEDED...THAT'S ALL FOLKS.

 

[joeswine]

Sharaz with black corithian grapes

WERE GETTING CLOSE TO BOTTLING TIME ON THIS ONE SO LETS REVIEW THE FLOW AGAIN,

 

[joeswine]

Sharaz continued

SHARAZ CONTINUED FOLLOW THE FLOW

Wineexpert Shiraz Kit​

Here is our kit that we received from Wineexpert. This kit had the bulk of the items listed below included (we added the Corinth grapes, simple syrup, different yeast, and extra tannins).

The box includes the following:
· Large bag of juice
· 1 Lb Corinth Grapes (we crushed them)
· 1 Package of ICV-D254 (this kit came with a red-star premium yeast packet, I choose this packet. More info below.)
· 2 Ball Jars of Simple Syrup (each ball jar equates to 1% abv)
· bentonite
· Metabisulphite
· Sorbate
· Chitosan-(Fining Agent)
· 1 Hungarian Oak
· 1 tbsp wine tannins
The Process:
· As always, sanitize anything that comes in contact with the wine. Including yourself. J
· Add half gallon of warm water to the primary fermenting bucket with the bentonite packet and stir until dissolved.
· Add the large juice package. (Be careful, it’s heavy!) Rinse this out with a little bit of spring water to make sure you get it all.
· Now, we take the SG reading. We’re at 1.080.
· Now, here comes the Hungarian oak!
· Here comes the fun part. YEAST! This kit came with a Red Star Premier yeast. I however choose to use ICV-D254. Cover with a towel and wait 5-7 days, gently punching down the grape skins.



These are the characteristics and the reasons why we choose the yeast we choose:
ICV-D254 (when used with Shiraz) makes wine that has a big mouth feel and rounding of tannins, intense fruit, more dried then fresh along with a nice spicy quality if present in the fruit. Helps with color, stability and its useful for adding body to blends.

UPDATE:​

 

[corinth]

Fpac raspberries

HI JOE,
I i was to make a FPAC out of raspberries, what type of wine would I use?
Corinth

 

[joeswine]

Adding to the mix

using raspberries is a great enhancer, partnered with SHARAZ,or a Cabernet, with good balance of both grape and berry you can't go wrong, PINO NIOR goes exceptionally well with blackberries as do raisins and amarone and tampranello, using plums with the cabernet works very well also. All you need to do is look at the taste profiles and THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX.

 

[joeswine]

Sharaz and corinthian grapes

AS ALWAYS FOLLOW THE PROCESS THIS IS HOW WE GOT HEAR AND READY FOR BOTTLING NEXT THURSDAY...............

 

[joeswine]

Sharaz with black corithian grapes

PROCESS CONTINUED,THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE EARLY DRINKING AND SOT ON WITH BALANCE................

Wineexpert Shiraz Kit​

Here is our kit that we received from Wineexpert. This kit had the bulk of the items listed below included (we added the Corinth grapes, simple syrup, different yeast, and extra tannins).

The box includes the following:
· Large bag of juice
· 1 Lb Corinth Grapes (we crushed them)
· 1 Package of ICV-D254 (this kit came with a red-star premium yeast packet, I choose this packet. More info below.)
· 2 Ball Jars of Simple Syrup (each ball jar equates to 1% abv)
· bentonite
· Metabisulphite
· Sorbate
· Chitosan-(Fining Agent)
· 1 Hungarian Oak
· 1 tbsp wine tannins
The Process:
· As always, sanitize anything that comes in contact with the wine. Including yourself. J
· Add half gallon of warm water to the primary fermenting bucket with the bentonite packet and stir until dissolved.
· Add the large juice package. (Be careful, it’s heavy!) Rinse this out with a little bit of spring water to make sure you get it all.
· Now, we take the SG reading. We’re at 1.080.
· Now, here comes the Hungarian oak!
· Here comes the fun part. YEAST! This kit came with a Red Star Premier yeast. I however choose to use ICV-D254. Cover with a towel and wait 5-7 days, gently punching down the grape skins.



These are the characteristics and the reasons why we choose the yeast we choose:
ICV-D254 (when used with Shiraz) makes wine that has a big mouth feel and rounding of tannins, intense fruit, more dried then fresh along with a nice spicy quality if present in the fruit. Helps with color, stability and its useful for adding body to blends.


(
A Grape that isn't a Grape but is a Grape
Lon Rombough
If you've ever had currant buns, or any other baked product with "currants" in them, you, like 99.9% of the public, thought the "currants" were the little red fruits that grow on bushes. Nope.
The dried "currants" used in baking are actually a true raisin, a dried grape. Called "currants" because one of the names of the grape they come FROM is "Zante Currant" also known as Black Corinth, and many other names, THIS is the variety dried INTO "currants" that are used in baking.
Black Corinth is the name you will usually find it under in America, though in recent years it has become known as "the Champagne grape" due to advertising by a produce dealer who specializes in it. Ironically, there is an old American grape called "Champagne" that is a very coarse, rough tasting labrusca grape of low quality, about as far FROM Champagne as you could get.
Black Corinth is a very odd grape in many ways. In it's natural state, the clusters have very few berries and they are hardly bigger than pinheads. In wild grapes, the sexes are in separate vines, male flowers on one, female flowers on another. This is true even in wild Vitis vinifera, the classic grape of commerce. Black Corinth is an "almost male" in that the flowers have well developed anthers, and very tiny ovaries, probably representing a first step towards evolution of a perfect flowered grape. Hence, when it does set fruit, there are only a few per cluster and the berries are tiny and seedless. However, the variety was doubtless kept as a source of pollen so that the female flowered varieties would set full crops.
How did Black Corinth come to be used at all, if the berries are so few and tiny?
It's a very old variety, probably Greek, and the story goes that a donkey was tied to a vine of it and the animal started going around the vine until the halter rope rubbed the bark off. Instead of dying, the vine healed the wound and the grapes, which were minuscule in other years, were large enough to eat after the vine was girdled. There is certainly a grain of truth in the fable as girdling was a standard practice in increasing the set and size of seedless grapes until the discovery of the plant hormone gibberellic acid and it's ability to do the same thing with less labor.
Girdling, or hormone treatment, causes the clusters to set full crops, though the berries are still tiny. Because the stems also remain tiny, the berries can be eaten with the stems on. This makes the variety seem very dainty and rather glamorous (thanks especially to articles showing frosted clusters of them with glasses of champagne - hence the "champagne" grape) and home growers who have seen this decide that Black Corinth would be fun to grow., which is too bad because it's NOT a home grower's grape.
First, of over 200 varieties in my collection, it is the most susceptible to powdery mildew. As pure Vitis vinifera, it is also completely susceptible to all the other diseases of grapes - downy mildew, black rot, etc. And since it comes FROM such a mild country, it can't be counted on as being hardy to much more than 0°F. But more than anything else, unless the vine is treated with hormone at bloom time, or girdled, the berries are minuscule and the clusters are straggly. So while it looked romantic in the magazine, it's NOT worth the work for most homeowners. Buy the fruit in the store, if you must, but don't bother trying to grow it.
Black Corinth - the grape that's a Currant (Zante) that's a grape.

 

[LoneStarLori]

Joe, I can't tell from the pictures. Did you ferment the Corinth grapes with the stems on? Nice pics, by the way.

 

[joeswine]

Corthinian grapes

yes ,simple because their tiny grapes and in some cases people eat the stems and all,also there was only about a lb.,not worth the trouble even if i could de stem them,.

 

[LoneStarLori]

I sure wish I could find some of those, fresh. I would really like to try that tweak.

 

[joeswine]

Sharaz and corinthian grapes

follow the flow this turned out to be quit successful and very tasty.............

 

[joeswine]

Sharaz continued

FOLLOW THE FLOW ADDING THE GRAPES MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DECENT WINE AND A GREAT ONE ,WOULD YOU TRY?

Wineexpert Shiraz Kit​

Here is our kit that we received from Wineexpert. This kit had the bulk of the items listed below included (we added the Corinth grapes, simple syrup, different yeast, and extra tannins).

The box includes the following:
· Large bag of juice
· 1 Lb Corinth Grapes (we crushed them)
· 1 Package of ICV-D254 (this kit came with a red-star premium yeast packet, I choose this packet. More info below.)
· 2 Ball Jars of Simple Syrup (each ball jar equates to 1% abv)
· bentonite
· Metabisulphite
· Sorbate
· Chitosan-(Fining Agent)
· 1 Hungarian Oak
· 1 tbsp wine tannins
The Process:
· As always, sanitize anything that comes in contact with the wine. Including yourself. J
· Add half gallon of warm water to the primary fermenting bucket with the bentonite packet and stir until dissolved.
· Add the large juice package. (Be careful, it’s heavy!) Rinse this out with a little bit of spring water to make sure you get it all.
· Now, we take the SG reading. We’re at 1.080.
· Now, here comes the Hungarian oak!
· Here comes the fun part. YEAST! This kit came with a Red Star Premier yeast. I however choose to use ICV-D254. Cover with a towel and wait 5-7 days, gently punching down the grape skins.



These are the characteristics and the reasons why we choose the yeast we choose:
ICV-D254 (when used with Shiraz) makes wine that has a big mouth feel and rounding of tannins, intense fruit, more dried then fresh along with a nice spicy quality if present in the fruit. Helps with color, stability and its useful for adding body to blends.


(from here on down is still info for amarone, we have to still edit it. We are not yet in the secondary for the shiraz)
Secondary Fermentation:
Now that we fermented dry (SG reading is 1.010), now it’s time to rack it.
Notice the grape skins on top? This is the cap that formed from the grape skin packet that was provided in the Wineexpert Amarone Kit, along with the addition of California Raisins (that I added to add more body).
We racked this down to a carboy but it is pretty gassy. I’m going to let this settle out for a few days and degas some on its own. Over the weekend, I will force-gas it (If I have to) by giving it a good old-fashioned stir. Once I feel that it’s de-gassed enough, I will stabilize it with the potassium sorbate packet, K-Met Packet, and packet of Chitosan (clearing agent).

UPDATE:​

WE HAVE JUST RE-RACKED AND WILL BOTTLE NEXT THURSDAY OR SO,THIS ENXPENSIVE KIT WITH GOOD TWEAKS AND A EVEN BETTER OUT COME CANE OUT OF KNOWING AND PLANNING, DON'T BE AFRAID TO WORK THE KIT , THAT IS WHAT IT'S THERE FOR .BUT YOU FIRST MUST KNOW WHAT YOUR BASE WINES TASTING PROFILE IS AND THEN YOU CAN WORK A PLAN TO MATCH THAT AND MAKE IT A BETTER FINISHED PRODUCT .THIS IS WHAT GOOD WINERIES DO ALL THE TIME YEAR IN AND YEAR OUT ,WE CAN DO THE SAME ONLY ON A MUCH SMALLER SCALE. ​

​

 

[geek]

Joe, I will make some simple syrup tonight and would like to know how much sugar/water you use to fill one of those jars?
I know the ratio is 1 cup of water to 2 cups of sugar but want to know how many to get a full jar.

 

[zalai]

I sure wish I could find some of those, fresh. I would really like to try that tweak.

Why not use California wine grapes ? This time of the year you could buy a lug of grapes and freeze your leftovers for your next kit .
There are many postings about people buying a juice bucket and they add some grapes to the juice . They admit that the juice bucket is like a mid grade kit . Why not use grapes with a mid grade kit ? I think you would have a great wine and would be ready to drink faster than a juice bucket .
( I used more than 1 lb )

 

[ibglowin]

Believe it or not not everybody has easy access to California Wine Grapes this time of year. Outside of the folks in the Med-East area you have to look hard to find them. If you do find them a 36lb lug is about the minimum you can order. I did see some California Wine Grapes one time years ago now in Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck). The price was ridiculous. I don't think they sold any and hence that is why I have never seen them since.