WineXpert Island Mist Hard Pink Lemonade

[Boatboy24]

Racked and stabilized the BPL this morning. Still at 0.992 and pH of 2.89. Both should rise significantly once I add the remaining half f-pack. I'll be curious to see how this tastes after carbonation.

 

[geek]

Racked and stabilized the BPL this morning. Still at 0.992 and pH of 2.89. Both should rise significantly once I add the remaining half f-pack. I'll be curious to see how this tastes after carbonation.

Can you post a pic of this wine please.

 

[Boatboy24]

Can you post a pic of this wine please.

Looks like Grabo's, maybe a tad darker.

 

[Frenche]

I'm a bit concerned. Like Grabo I added sugar to both of my lemonades (pink and Blueberry starting SG 1.80) maybe a bit too much. I'm hoping I didn't ruin them. Just tried my Kiwi Pear that I did the same thing to and it has no taste...not bad, but kind of tasteless and its not clearing. What can I do to help it clear. This is my first time using my fast ferment conical.

 

[Grabo]

I'm a bit concerned. Like Grabo I added sugar to both of my lemonades (pink and Blueberry starting SG 1.80) maybe a bit too much. I'm hoping I didn't ruin them. Just tried my Kiwi Pear that I did the same thing to and it has no taste...not bad, but kind of tasteless and its not clearing. What can I do to help it clear. This is my first time using my fast ferment conical.

If you are still waiting for it to clear, I assume you haven't added your F-pack yet. These Island Mist kits don't taste like much until the F-pack is added, and then the F-pack becomes your primary flavor in the final product.

For your SG, I assume you mean 1.080, so you would end up with 12%-ish ABV if it goes completely dry. That wouldn't be an issue, so you didn't ruin the kit.

If you already added your clearing agents, just give them time to work. Proper degassing and time will get you there. Slightly less than proper degassing just requires more time

 

[Frenche]

Sorry, yes, 1.080 and F-pack was added almost 2 weeks ago. I'm very good about degassing and fining, but this new conical has me worried that it won't clear the same. I will leave it another week, but not sure I can do anything about the tastelessness at this point.

 

[Higuchem]

Just started my Pink lemonade and Blueberry lemonade kits today which I added white grape concentrate like Grabo and 4 cups of pure sugar to each. The pink kit SG is 1.083 and the Blueberry kit SG 1.083.

 

[Grabo]

Just started my Pink lemonade and Blueberry lemonade kits today which I added white grape concentrate like Grabo and 4 cups of pure sugar to each. The pink kit SG is 1.083 and the Blueberry kit SG 1.083.

I was considering doing both as well, but I ended up doing a Pink Lemonade and a Pomegranate Zinfandel instead. Does it seem like the base juice is the same between the Pink Lemonade and the Blueberry Lemonade? I suspect that the only difference is the F-pack, but you never know.

Also, just to avoid confusion, I didn't add extra grape concentrate to my kit. I only added Domino sugar to the primary.

 

[Frenche]

If you are still waiting for it to clear, I assume you haven't added your F-pack yet. These Island Mist kits don't taste like much until the F-pack is added, and then the F-pack becomes your primary flavor in the final product.

For your SG, I assume you mean 1.080, so you would end up with 12%-ish ABV if it goes completely dry. That wouldn't be an issue, so you didn't ruin the kit.

If you already added your clearing agents, just give them time to work. Proper degassing and time will get you there. Slightly less than proper degassing just requires more time

Any way to add flavor back into the wine at this point? I'm completely new to making wine.

 

[Grabo]

Any way to add flavor back into the wine at this point? I'm completely new to making wine.

I don't have a ton of experience making wine yet, and the wine I've made has been by following kit instructions with slight to moderate tweaks.

It sounds like you might have deviated from the instructions, so you are a little beyond my experience, but we can run down the basics. What have you done so far and what ingredients do you have left? Do you have a current SG reading?

 

[Frenche]

I'm at my final stage before bottling which is supposed to be this week, but it isn't clear yet. The only thing I did differently was the addition of corn sugar during primary fermentation. I'm wondering if because I'm using a conical this time when it called to stir up sediment during degassing and fining (before the f-pack addition) it's difficult due to the collection ball. Maybe it restarted the fermention again which is why there's no taste? I'll take a reading tonight

 

[Grabo]

The timing doesn't always work out perfectly to the instructions, which can be caused by a number of factors. What's important is to follow your hydrometer and the overall process, and think of the timing on the instructions as guidelines.

It's possible the fermentation restarted, but let's see what the hydrometer says. Since the wine was still cloudy when you added the F-pack, it might have rushed the potassium sorbate from having enough time to stop fermentation completely.

 

[Frenche]

My final reading is 1.008

 

[Higuchem]

I was considering doing both as well, but I ended up doing a Pink Lemonade and a Pomegranate Zinfandel instead. Does it seem like the base juice is the same between the Pink Lemonade and the Blueberry Lemonade? I suspect that the only difference is the F-pack, but you never know.

Also, just to avoid confusion, I didn't add extra grape concentrate to my kit. I only added Domino sugar to the primary.

Sorry I meant Boatboy24. The Pink and Blueberry base juice looks and taste the same. I did not attempt to look at the bags to see if they have any similar markings or numbers. The juice itself was not remarkable so I agree it's the Fpack that did what gives its actual unique flavor.

 

[Grabo]

My final reading is 1.008

That's pretty close to where my kit finished, and not too far off from where the instructions say you should end up (between 1.010 and 1.020). Check the SG again in 48 hours and we can see if there is still activity.

 

[geek]

Updates on these ......pics

 

[Grabo]

Mine is sitting in its carboy, happily bulk aging. I probably won't bottle it for another month.

 

[Smok1]

I use to use half the f-pack up front with some sugar to boost abv, but i read the ingredients of the f-pack and it contains potassium sorbate so i stopped using the f-packs and started using grape concentrate and sugar to boost abv. Although it says on the ingredients of the fpack that it contains pottassium sorbate ive never had any issues fermenting them dry, i also noticed 2 packages of potasium sorbate in the kits so i emailed RJS to ask them if the ingredients were misleading. It says F-pack: sugar, flavor, potassium sorbate. I asked them if they ment the second sorbate package in the box was part of the f-pack and they just replied that i shouldnt use the fpack in the primary as it voids the warranty. Again that being said ive never had any issues fermenting adding fpack up front but lately i havent taken that chance. I just use sugar/grape juice concentrate and it works out just fine. And now i have a bunch of spare fpacks i use to backsweeten up my real fruit wines.

Ps: welches white grape juice also contains pottasium sorbate. The welches red grape juice does not.

 

[geek]

Ordered the BB lemonade and getting it tomorrow.

 

[Grabo]

I use to use half the f-pack up front with some sugar to boost abv, but i read the ingredients of the f-pack and it contains potassium sorbate so i stopped using the f-packs and started using grape concentrate and sugar to boost abv. Although it says on the ingredients of the fpack that it contains pottassium sorbate ive never had any issues fermenting them dry, i also noticed 2 packages of potasium sorbate in the kits so i emailed RJS to ask them if the ingredients were misleading. It says F-pack: sugar, flavor, potassium sorbate. I asked them if they ment the second sorbate package in the box was part of the f-pack and they just replied that i shouldnt use the fpack in the primary as it voids the warranty. Again that being said ive never had any issues fermenting adding fpack up front but lately i havent taken that chance. I just use sugar/grape juice concentrate and it works out just fine. And now i have a bunch of spare fpacks i use to backsweeten up my real fruit wines.

Ps: welches white grape juice also contains pottasium sorbate. The welches red grape juice does not.

That is an interesting way to do the kit. I figure there would be sorbate in the F-pack to prevent fermentation from starting up while in the package. I've added 1/2 the F-pack up front and then 1/2 the F-pack after adding the sorbate on the Green Apply Riesling kit, and it turned out really well.

For the lemonade kits, it seems to me that a lot of the "lemonade" flavor is from the F-pack. Do you still get that lemony, tart punch of flavor in your brew? I'm curious how the taste has changed by using grape juice concentrate to back sweeten instead of the other half of the F-pack.