Cellar Craft Argentinian Malbec

[starsfan]

I see 1.106 from here.

thanks Dave! So...assuming 1.106, then this should not turn into rocket fuel if I let it go completely dry....correct?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Tnuscan]

It'll be a little warm, but I think I could handle it. Before you drink it just turn up the AC.

 

[starsfan]

It'll be a little warm, but I think I could handle it. Before you drink it just turn up the AC.

LOL


so, I am guessing at the time I transfer this to a carboy, I can pull of a little bit and replace with a good quality Malbec and cut the ABV back a little bit? I could be ok with this being about 13 to 14%...but I certainly do not want it 15...even 20% LOL

So I have to get that cut back a little bit. I have learned a very valuable lesson tonight!

Seriously, I did read (and I believe it was on this site somewhere) an interview with like...4 different frequent medal winners and one of them specifically said he uses high end kits, and cuts the water additions down to make it a 5 gallon batch and that it makes a richer, fuller, more well-rounded wine. granted, he wasn't saying he was adding 3 cups of sugar! LOL

oh well, lesson learned. Now, I just need to correct my mistake and get this down around 13 to 14% abv. LOL

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Boatboy24]

I agree with @Tnuscan. The long line under the "1.100" is the mark. Each short line underneath that represents another .002. You're pretty much right on that third line, so I'd say 1.106. If you ferment down to 0.996, you're nearing 14.5%. Much more reasonable then you would have been @ 1.120.

 

[sour_grapes]

Yeah, I'd call it 1.106, and this is what my CC Showcase Argentinian Malbec started out at, too. I think you are now okay. (And I think you were wise to correct the water situation.)

 

[Johnd]

@Starsfan:

I agree with the folks above, you're at 1.106, it'll be warm, but probably OK.

Some basic facts about tweaking kits to consider. Kits, by their nature, are not fermented on the skins the juice came from, even with a grape pack there are only a small percentage of the skins that would exist in a wine from grapes. Skins and pulp contribute a great deal to the body of the wine. Therefore, the challenge is to increase the body in the kits, and shorting water is one way to do that, same amount of dissolved solids in a lesser quantity of water, more body. This action also increases the sugar concentration, and ultimately the ABV.

Kit makers have created the kit, added concentrates and made acid adjustments to the starting juice to yield a wine with Ph and TA in the right ranges for that wine, you can monkey that up a bit shorting 16.67% (1 gallon) of the water. Understanding and measuring what that does to your Ph and TA is important in the final product, although the effect may not be dramatic.

Remember that grape packs will also increase your SG, and consequently, your final ABV, I've seen increases in the .16 - .25 range in mine.

Presumably, in a mid to upper level kit with skins, the desired ABV of the kit maker is in balance with the body that kit will produce, so boosting the ABV beyond the intended ABV can get your kit out of balance. Notice in the tweaking threads you've been reading that the body of wine is boosted with things like homemade grape packs, currants, raisins, etc.. The body boost is paired with the ABV boost. Bigger bodied wines can handle higher ABV's.

And yes, he does win medals with his wines and tweaking kits can be fun and make them better, try first to understand the reasoning behind the actions before taking them, there's some science behind the methods. The kits he tweaks are typically lower end kits with lower ABV's and can handle his additions without getting too far afield.

 

[Tnuscan]

LOL


so, I am guessing at the time I transfer this to a carboy, I can pull of a little bit and replace with a good quality Malbec and cut the ABV back a little bit? I could be ok with this being about 13 to 14%...but I certainly do not want it 15...even 20% LOL

So I have to get that cut back a little bit. I have learned a very valuable lesson tonight!

Seriously, I did read (and I believe it was on this site somewhere) an interview with like...4 different frequent medal winners and one of them specifically said he uses high end kits, and cuts the water additions down to make it a 5 gallon batch and that it makes a richer, fuller, more well-rounded wine. granted, he wasn't saying he was adding 3 cups of sugar! LOL

oh well, lesson learned. Now, I just need to correct my mistake and get this down around 13 to 14% abv. LOL

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Steve

Me, I'd just carry on with normal process, I've been tweeking the cheaper kits, following @joeswine . I really like the Malbec with the added abv , extra tannin and oak. It's all about balance and your taste. You were headed for a disappointment, but your ok now. Time in bulk aging, maybe a very small amount of tannin,? a little oak,?, before the bottle. Time in the bottle should bring it all together for you.

 

[starsfan]

Thanks guys! I am feeling better about things now. Certainly learned a lesson, and im glad I learned it before it was too late! ;-)

Thanks,
Steve

 

[kevinlfifer]

This will be a wine that puts my wife under the table. I once bought a Tanant with a 16.5 ABV. It was very good. If the body and tannins are there the high ABV may be OK.

 

[thruhike00]

LOL


so, I am guessing at the time I transfer this to a carboy, I can pull of a little bit and replace with a good quality Malbec and cut the ABV back a little bit? I could be ok with this being about 13 to 14%...but I certainly do not want it 15...even 20% LOL

So I have to get that cut back a little bit. I have learned a very valuable lesson tonight!

Seriously, I did read (and I believe it was on this site somewhere) an interview with like...4 different frequent medal winners and one of them specifically said he uses high end kits, and cuts the water additions down to make it a 5 gallon batch and that it makes a richer, fuller, more well-rounded wine. granted, he wasn't saying he was adding 3 cups of sugar! LOL

oh well, lesson learned. Now, I just need to correct my mistake and get this down around 13 to 14% abv. LOL

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Steve

I think you read that article linked below that someone referenced on winemakingtalk.com in one of the forum posts. I read it as well and thought it was odd that someone was making a premium kit at 5gal instead of 6gal. If you look at Fraco's winning wines, he is using a mix of premium and mid tier wine kits. He is probably making the 5gal kits out of the mid tier as they do not have the body, finish, ect. of a premium kit with skins. Don't know this for a fact, but it would make more sense.
https://winemakermag.com/1532-award-winning-kit-winemakers-roundtable

From the article:
"Franco Costa: Don’t make your kits to full volume. For example, I hold back approximately 1.5 liters (0.4 gal.) of water from a 23-liter (6-gallon) kit. In some cases I make those kits to 19 liters (5 gal.), which gives the wine more body, flavor, and a higher alcohol content. I also enjoy wines that are heavy in oak so I will leave an oak stave in the carboy for approximately two months." end quote.
His award winning grand cru kit has only 10L of juice and the cru select I believe has 16L with no skins.

 

[jgmann67]

Got home yesterday and checked in on the Malbec. SG is slightly higher that 1.000. So, we'll pull the bag, squeeze, let the wind settle a bit, and then rack to a glass carboy. (And taste it of course... Must taste)

 

[starsfan]

Got home yesterday and checked in on the Malbec. SG is slightly higher that 1.000. So, we'll pull the bag, squeeze, let the wind settle a bit, and then rack to a glass carboy. (And taste it of course... Must taste)

so......did you taste?

 

[starsfan]

So I made yet another mistake in this batch. Apparently there were 4 bags of oak and I managed to somehow fail to put one in the primary. I think im just going to add it to the carboy when I transfer to secondary.

 

[jgmann67]

so......did you taste?

Indeed! The Mal was a lot softer and rounder than I anticipated (was expecting less fruit and more tannin). It's almost Pinot-ish. We're at 0.990 this morning. So, this will go to clearing this weekend.

 

[jgmann67]

Moving day for the Malbec. Time to rack, and add oak and tannin...

 

[sour_grapes]

Okay, HERE is the thread I was looking for! I am just quoting myself from the info I posted on a different thread:

First bottle of my CC Showcase Argentinian Malbec! It is still 3 weeks shy of my self-imposed 18 mo. initial aging, but, what the heck!? Life is about the journey.

Pretty happy with this one. It is spicy, good backbone, pleasant mouthfeel. The color is a bit light, like a Cali Pinot, but the nose is better than most kit wines. It has an appealing earthiness.

Almost forgot to mention any tweaks: I used ICV-D254 yeast, and I chaptalized. I overshot a bit, and goosed the ABV to north of 15%. I had forgotten about this before tasting and forming my impressions, and am pleased that the wine is taking this in stride.

 

[jgmann67]

Racked, oak (30g), tannin complex (1.8 g), topped and tucked this one in for a 3 month nap.

 

[jgmann67]

Okay, HERE is the thread I was looking for! I am just quoting myself from the info I posted on a different thread:

Why did you chapitalize?

 

[sour_grapes]

Why did you chapitalize?

I am going to blame it on Joe (joeswine)! It is all his fault! We need an emoticon for throwing someone under the bus!

No, seriously, the SG was a little slow coming up. It was 1.082 before adding the grape pack, and only 1.092 about 12 hrs after adding grape pack. This would have been ~13%, and I wanted a slightly stronger big red wine than that.
I guess I was impatient on getting the sugars out of the grape pack. I added 20 oz. of sugar, which should have brought me up to 1.100, or about 14% ABV. It overshot to 1.106 (as the sugars came out of the pack, I suppose), and I also fermented down to 0.991, which is the lowest I have ever gotten. Nominally, this puts me at 15.1%.

If I had to do it again, I would have left it as designed! Mine is fine, but it is certainly a bit boozy. But it is hearty and robust -- it does not seem out of balance.

 

[starsfan]

OK I have a question. I got a little busy and forgot about this wine for a minute. Everything was going great, and I was going to (I am) bulk aging it in the carboy. However....

I never added the stabilizer/chitocrapstuff....

I have not even opened to theif a sample yet because I wanted to make sure it was safe. I am making the assumption, that as long as it was sealed up in the carboy it is probably fine and I can add the stabilizer before I bottle. But I want to make sure I have not ruined this wine by not doing this on schedule.

Thanks,
Steve