Cellar Craft CC 12l old vine zin with grape pack 5 wk

[gird123]

I just picked up the 12L old vine zin with grape pack. The owner of the LHBS is going to trade me 6 bottles of the zin for 6 of the pinot. I also sampled the tempranillo.

I bottled the Barbara 2 months ago, had a bottle last night and it is great. The 6th kit i buy is half price.

Anyone have a favorite CC 12L with grape pack?

 

[MN-winer]

I can't tell you its my favorite yet but I did the CC Sterling OVZ. Its about 6 months old now and still not ready. I've heard these turn the corner at 12 months and get better.

 

[gird123]

Ok. So try and be patient. Not my strong suit.

Thank you

 

[gird123]

Do you ever need to adjust the acid or sg on this kit. I started the kit yesterday and the SG was 1.069. I added the skins and a 1/2 tsp of pectic emzyme and this morning the sg is 1.080 still seems a little low?

 

[PurpleToes]

Do you ever need to adjust the acid or sg on this kit. I started the kit yesterday and the SG was 1.069. I added the skins and a 1/2 tsp of pectic emzyme and this morning the sg is 1.080 still seems a little low?

I wouldn't worry too much - there's a lot of sugars that are available for fermentation from the grape pack that probably haven't made it into solution yet. I would suggest you take a sanitized spoon or something and squish the grapes against the side of the bucket to release more sugars into solution. As fermentation progresses, you should "dunk" the grapes once or twice a day to keep them wet, and further squishing is just fine so long as you don't squeeze too much.

Hope that helps.

 

[gird123]

I squished it with my spoon after i read your post. Is it ok that i added pectin? Thank you.

 

[PurpleToes]

I squished it with my spoon after i read your post. Is it ok that i added pectin? Thank you.

Funny you should ask that... Cellar Craft is now including a small packet of powdered enzymes with all their grape pack kits to help do just that.... to aid in breaking down the grape pack and hopefully lessen the number of times you need to rack in order to get rid of all the sediment.

The instructions tell you to add it at day 7 (or whenever you first rack off the gross lees) and proceed as normal.