WineXpert Eclipse Sonoma Dry Creek Chardonnay, to tweak or not to tweak

[LoneStarLori]

I just saw a commercial for this last night:

The Ronco combination fermentation cooler and food defroster. Is slices, dices, and boy does it catch fish!

How did the brisket turn out? The Chard looks lovely.

Lol, i wish there was an appliance that does all that.
The brisket turned out great. Since we were going fishing we couldn't smoke it. So I threw some rub on it, a few choice marinade ingredients and threw it in the oven at 270º for 7 hours. Then went fishing. Good thing it turned out because we caught nothing else to eat. However, the bbq sandwiches were superb.

 

[SouthernChemist]

What are these? I ferment at room temp about 73 degrees.

Sorry I wasn't able to reply sooner, but Mike posted a picture of the one I have. It works pretty well in keeping the temperature down, and it's also waterproof. I brewed a porter earlier this summer (beginning of July) and was able to keep the air temperature in the low 60's without much fuss - and the air temperature in my place is closer to 80 during the summer. In theory, you could fill it with water too for even more effective temperature control, but I haven't tried that. The bag is more than large enough for a 6 gallon carboy or fermentation bucket.

 

[tonyt]

Got it. Thanks.

 

[dsm1212]

Just started one of these Eclipse Chardonnay kits. Currently fermenting and it's the most active I've ever seen. 48 hours in and it's a constant bubble. About my 10th kit and I haven't seen one before quite so active. I hope I don't need to wait 18months for this because our willpower is not good. I'm was trying to get ahead by keeping two kits going at once but friends have found out how good things are coming out and I'm losing ground so I'm going to switch to 3 at once :-(.

Any update on to oak or not to oak this?

steve

 

[GeoS]

I would not oak it. Those kits are already balanced and pretty good. The only thing I do to a kit is adjust the sugar pre ferment to about sg of 1.075 to 1.080 some of the kits are only 6% ABV so I tweek it to around 11%.

However, it's a matter of personal taste. I find the oak cubes, medium toast, american, to be way too strong. The 3 oz package says min oak time of 8 weeks. I did this to a chardonnay and after a year still couldn't drink it. all I could taste was the oak.

maybe try a light oak, 1oz, for two weeks and see what happens. Then, if not happy, add some more cubes.

 

[GeoS]

BTW, it was a year after taking it off the oak.

 

[dsm1212]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll just make it stock then. The last eclipse kit I made was the pinot noir and it came out great with no changes. My fermentation is already started, would it be too late to add sugar? How much to add? Is there a formula for impact on ABV?

steve

 

[sour_grapes]

My fermentation is already started, would it be too late to add sugar? How much to add? Is there a formula for impact on ABV?

No, it is not too late to add sugar.

Fermcalc is pretty useful for figuring out how much: http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermcalc/fermcalc_applet.html

 

[dsm1212]

No, it is not too late to add sugar.

Fermcalc is pretty useful for figuring out how much: http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermcalc/fermcalc_applet.html

Thanks, but I'm having trouble understanding how to use this calculator. I went to the h20+sugar calculator. I've already added water to 6 gals. I set before and after volume to 6 gal. Before and after SG to 1.100 and 1.06 respectively. I would expect some value for this combo, but it tells me to increase target vol or reduce before vol. I don't see anything that determines the sugar impact on alcohol directly. Any tips ?

thanks again

 

[sour_grapes]

The reason that this combination gives you an error is that it is impossible to add sugar without increasing the volume.

For your purposes, perhaps rules of thumb may be more useful to you than exact figures.

Let's start with ABV vs. specific gravity. A good approximation is that your ABV = (initial SG - present SG)*131. Thus, for each 0.008 that you raise your SG, you will gain about another 1% ABV. (That value comes from 1/131.)

Now, how much sugar do you need to add to a gallon of must to raise the SG by 0.008? Fermcalc tells us that you would need to add 0.175 pounds of sugar to each gallon of must to raise the SG from 1.000 to 1.008. Thus, the rule of thumb (often cited by Julie, I believe) is to add 0.18 lbs of sugar per gallon to raise ABV by 1%.

Is this clear now?

 

[dsm1212]

Awesome. And with that I managed to get the tool to work. Quite a bit of sugar just to raise it 1%. Regular table sugar or the organic slightly brown kind? I actually have both on hand...

Thanks!!

steve

 

[sour_grapes]

Awesome. And with that I managed to get the tool to work. Quite a bit of sugar just to raise it 1%. Regular table sugar or the organic slightly brown kind? I actually have both on hand...

Thanks!!

steve

WHITE SUGAR! The brown kind will alter your wine flavors. (It is really just table sugar + some molasses, I believe.)

 

[dsm1212]

WHITE SUGAR! The brown kind will alter your wine flavors. (It is really just table sugar + some molasses, I believe.)

Thanks, sorry wasn't "brown sugar", but organic. If white is OK though I'll use that because it's cheaper. I wasn't sure if there was something in white sugar that was a problem . Thanks again. I'm just going for 1% to get my feet wet.

steve

 

[GeoS]

Or check your sg and add sugar until it increases by 0.008 per 1% ABV you want to increase it by.
Use caution though. The yeast can only tolerate so much alcohol. Assume you will ferment down to 0.996. Take your original sg and the expected sg of 0.996 and calculate your expected ABV then decide if you want to bring it up.

 

[LoneStarLori]

Thanks, sorry wasn't "brown sugar", but organic. If white is OK though I'll use that because it's cheaper. I wasn't sure if there was something in white sugar that was a problem . Thanks again. I'm just going for 1% to get my feet wet.

steve

SInce I like to bake as well as make wine, I have used organic on occasion in my wine. I have never noticed a nutty or molasses flavor. Organic sugar can still be white sugar, it's just not as refined and grown without pesticides. Molasses it not added. To the contrary, the natural molasses is removed in white sugar during the refining process. I have used Demerara in some fruit wines, but haven't tried it in a white.

 

[dsm1212]

Cool, I put in 1.2 pounds of white last night and was glad I didn't add more. It was so active when I fed it that I thought it was going to overflow my fermenter . This eclipse chardonnay is lively.

steve

 

[GeoS]

I use plain white sugar all of the time. Good old dominos. Some say to make invert sugar by boiling it in a couple cups of water but I just pour it straight in and mix it up.