Done with kit wines!

[Elmer]

Racked Pinot noir & Brunello.
Both were started at the end of 2014.
I have alternated them between oak barrel and car boy.
After many racking and oakings they still have a weird chemical KIT flavor.
I have struggled with this since I began making wine and have been able to reconcile this.
I can buy any beer kit and it tastes like commercial beer.
I can make fruit wine and it is drinkable.
Kit wine just has a weird taste

So from this day, I am done with kits.

Fruit wines and beer from here on out!

 

[bkisel]

Thankfully I've not a clue what "kit taste" tastes like and hope never to find out.

Please understand that I'm not suggesting there is no such thing as "kit Taste". I realize that my pallet is likely not as sensitive or discriminating as most folks here on WMT.

 

[Tnuscan]

I have trouble understanding this theory too. I would have to share the same bottle as you, or one from the kit to compare what you describe as "kit taste".

Please describe in detail the taste your experiencing. Plastic container, metallic,
sulfites, etc. Or just send me a bottle and we'll get to the bottom of it.

My palate is so sensitive I can tell a solid rubber bung(gray), from a drilled tapered bung(whitish) in my wines.

 

[DoctorCAD]

If you got any leftovers, I'll take them off your hands.

 

[Daisy317]

I don't doubt you... but I can tell my 3 yr old that broccoli are "magic trees" and they go from "Yuck, I'll never eat that" to "WOW! I want MORE magic trees"... I suggest a blind taste test. You supply all board members with samples of your wine

 

[sampvt]

The kit taste sensation you refer to is an indescribable taste that tends to linger after wine is made. It has that type of plastic/rubbery taste and can be quite bad. Over the years I have found that there are 3 ways to get ride of this aftertaste and you end up with neutral taste pertaining to the wine alone.

1. the first is to degass the product very well.If the mix isn't degassed properly, there are certain sections of the lees that will be held in suspension with the remaining CO2 and they take for ever to dissipate.

2. Make sure the mix has been fully stopped and no more fermentation is present. The sachets the kit wines sometimes are not enough to kill off the working yeast cells, so the addition of your own shop bought stabilisers are a good idea.

3. The final hurdle is time and filters. Making sure the mix has been fully filtered and even polished is a must as it removes all the unwanteds. If you don't believe me, try filtering any wine and then remove the filter pad and smell or even lick the residule that's been removed from the pad, it tastes like the aftertaste you are trying to avoid, the kit wine taste. You can however bulk age for several months, usually 6 to 12 and the mix will degass and clear naturally.

If you follow these steps and go by the golden rule that no wine, however much it cost, should be tasted before 3 months, drank vigorously after 6 months but if left 12 months, you will never get that taste.

 

[FTC Wines]

Sampvt, we have never experienced kit taste. We basically use your golden rules so that may be why. I also vacuum degas which helps. Time heals. Roy

 

[salcoco]

some people are sensitive to the taste of the potassium sorbate. try a kit without using the sorbate and see if this is the culprit.

 

[ibglowin]

Exactly why I gave up on kits for reds at least, whites do not seem to have the issue of KT to me. Out of the ~25 red kits I made over 2 years only 2-3 was I happy with. All the rest had the funky aroma, funky taste even at two years and this was after pulling out all the stops by using small barrels, extra tannins, yeast swaps, and of course no sorbate as it was not needed.

My first attempt at fresh grapes I messed up in so many ways since I really didn't know what I was doing but the result turned out a product that was far superior than any kit I had made as far as bouquet and flavor. The quality of my wines have only gone up from exponentially from that first attempt.

My $0.02 here. Kits have their place and purpose and if the winemaker is happy with the outcome of the product that is really all that matters. If your not happy, then it is time to move on to the real deal.

 

[wineh]

Racked Pinot noir & Brunello.
Both were started at the end of 2014.
I have alternated them between oak barrel and car boy.
After many racking and oakings they still have a weird chemical KIT flavor.
I have struggled with this since I began making wine and have been able to reconcile this.
I can buy any beer kit and it tastes like commercial beer.
I can make fruit wine and it is drinkable.
Kit wine just has a weird taste

So from this day, I am done with kits.

Fruit wines and beer from here on out!

So many possible answers, it's hard to pick one. I'd start with you likely over-oaked, particularly the Pinot Noir, and you may have racked too many times bringing on early oxidization, What size of kit did you make? Smaller volume kits have more concentrate, and generally taste less like their liquor store counterparts. Larger volume kits take longer to age, and after your year in barrels/carboys haven't actually been under a cork for a while, so you may in fact need more time. Did you make your kit to the correct volume? Some kit winemakers mistakenly believe using less water makes a more powerful wine, but in fact it just makes them taste off.
Lastly, I not you state your fruit wines are "drinkable", which is not a ringing endorsement of them either.
PS: I'd leave the sorbate out, if you used it.

 

[bkisel]

I don't doubt you... but I can tell my 3 yr old that broccoli are "magic trees" and they go from "Yuck, I'll never eat that" to "WOW! I want MORE magic trees"... I suggest a blind taste test. You supply all board members with samples of your wine

LOL. Going back to somewhere near the late 40's to early 50's my Mom would struggle to get us three boys to eat fish which she served every Friday night... Don't know if she came up with the idea herself or someone gave it to her but she laid off the fish for a couple of weeks and then re-introduced it one Friday night as... drum roll please... PIRATE STEAK! We loved it from that day forward! [So said my Mom and Dad. An oft told family story of which I have no distinct remembrance.]

 

[jgmann67]

So, Elmer, are you going to try your hand at 'grape-to-wine' winemaking?

 

[Elmer]

So, Elmer, are you going to try your hand at 'grape-to-wine' winemaking?

I may try in the future. However my wine consumption is not nearly enough to necessitate anything more than 1 gallon of wine.
I am brewing beer atleast once ever 2 months.
And I have to get some berry/fruit wine going.
I am goin to bottle some of my wine and probably send it off to a wino friend

 

[sour_grapes]

I am goin to bottle some of my wine and probably send it off to a wino friend

Oooh, pick me! Pick me!