WineXpert Making First Red Wine

[wolfman]

Yes I do have wine thief. If I taste from the carboy do I have to top off.



I didn't realize the tannin aspect of the bulk aging vs bottle, so in
that case I will most likely bulk age for more than 6 months.



I better order more carboys!!!!

 

[Wade E]

Excellent plan!

 

[OilnH2O]

Wolfman, we're proud of you!

You're coming to this conclusion a lot earlier than most -- some of us woke up one day, realized we had5 or 6 carboys and said, "... I wonder where allthese carboys came from?!!"

You're smart enough to realize early on, you NEED more carboys!

 

[Wade E]

I need more myself!

 

[Mharris335]

Ok ready to bottle now. Does anyone put camden
tabs into their wine before you bottle. Plus do I need a bottle
tree or can I put the bottles back into a box upside down after they
are sanitized. Just bought my new corker and can't wait to try it
out. </font>

 

[masta]

Campden tabs...NEVER but if you plan to age more than 6 months you should add 1/4 tsp of K-meta.
You can use the box but make sure it is clean were the top of the bottle touches the box...you could pull out the divider and line the bottom with a clean paper towel.

 

[Mharris335]

Masta....thank you very much for the help. What is K-Meta?

 

[grapeman]

MHarris 335
K-Meta is Potassium Metabisulfite- the stuff the campden tablets are made of. It is a powdered form and goes into suspension better than the Campden tablets do. They tend to give white flakes in the bottles is why Masta recommends the K-Meta over them. Buy a pound of it. It goes fast mixing up sanitizing solutions and is cheap.

 

[Mharris335]

Ok...appleman....I think I have some of that. How much do you use
mixing in sanitizing solution? I have three batches going right
now and am getting tired of mixing sanitizing solutions every day to
clean everything I am using to check SG or mix the Must. How does
everyone else do it? The home brew place here in town, told me
to use this brown liquid to sanitize my equipment. It smells like
bleach but is not bleach.

 

[masta]

2 oz or 3 tablespoons of K-meta (potassium metabisulfite) or Na-meta (sodium metabisulfute) mixed with 1 gallon of water will give you a 1.25% sulfite solution for sanitizing.


The brown liquid is Iodophor which is used mainly by beer brewers and this releases iodine gasto help sanitize compare to K-meta/Na-meta which releases sulfur dioxide gas.


This post will explain sanitizers in great detail:
http://www.finevinewines.com/Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2538

 

[Mharris335]

Thank you Masta. It's as clear as mud. I think I get
it. I think I will start using k-meta instead of the
Iodophor. I don't like the way the the Iodophor browns the tools
I use.

 

[masta]

I use Na-meta for sanitizing since it is 40% cheaper and I go through lots of it and use K-meta for additions to wine.

 

[Mharris335]

Masta...I am sorry but what is Na-meta?

 

[grapeman]

Na-Meta is Sodium Metabisulfite which uses Sodium instead of Potasium(K). They are both about the same, but like Masta says the Na-meta is cheaper. He, like myself and others use the K-Meta as an additive to the wine instead because it doesn't add any Sodium to the wine(the stuff in salt which can raise blood pressure).

 

[Dean]

I use both k-meta and Idophor. I get my idophor almost as cheap as k-meta, so if I want to cough, I use k-meta (the gasses kill me!), and other times I use idophor. I acutally use k-meta after i use c-brite (the pink cleaning stuff) to neutralize the chlorine. I also use it in my cork humidors.

I use idophor for most other stuff since it kills in less than 1 minute, while k-meta requires about 3 minutes or so, to kill bacteria.

I also use separate spray bottles for idophor and k-meta. My idophor bottles are stained brown, and the others aren't.

 

[OilnH2O]

As Dean says above, use a spray bottle -- like you might use for misting plants -- filled with the sodium or potassium metabisulfite for those daily, quick sanitizing needs.




You mentioned your were "tired" of mixing the sanitizing solution each day -- if you mix it up as Masta mentions, a gallon at a time, you can store that and use it when you need it. And a great place to "store" it is in a spray bottle -- it's easy to grab and use it whenever you need it, even if to spray on your hands to sanitize them when you handle previously sanitized items!

Just remember, the percentage solution is not the same for cleaning as for when you may be addingk-metato the must. Isn't learning all this fun!!!

(By the way, in case this is still "clear as mud" the "Na" and "K" are the chemical symbols for sodium and potassium -- that old Periodic Table from high school chemistry is back to haunt us all!)

 

[Mharris335]

Now it's not clear as mud...now just clear. Thank you all.
I will go buy a spray bottle this weekend to use. How long
will the K-Meta last in a spray bottle?

 

[Lodi Wino]

Also, the three piece wine thief is cheap, easy to clean-works better for me than a turkey baster.......I buy 1 gal jugs of bottled water and add my na-meta, keep it in my outside fridge - I was told that if you open it and it still has a sulphur smell then it's good- no smell, no good - as far as sanitizing goes.


Speaking of good mid to low range Zins - you can't go wrong with Ravenswood or a local Zin - now national 7 Deadly Zins Also, look for anything Primitivo - A rarer member of the Zin Family Alot of winerys use the Primitivo grape and bottle it as Zin .....food for thoughtEdited by: Lodi Wino

 

[Mharris335]

Lodi....i buy alot of Ravenswood and also love 7 deadly Zins.
Rosenblum, Artizen is also nice and I did not know about
Primitivo. I will have to try the wine thief, because the turkey
baster is a pain to clean.

 

[wolfman]

I just tried a bottle of zin called "Earth, Zin and Fire" from Jessie Groves vineyard. ~ 13 dollars a bottle, a very nice wine. Sobon Estates has a very nice Primatovo for about 25 bucks. Also if you ever get the chance try any wines from Titus vineyards. They are a bit pricey but off the hook. They have a cab that sells for $40 that is unbelievable and is rated 90 by wine advocate.