WineXpert My first wine batch, picking the right kit?

[cerberus]

whoa. overwhelmed with the responses, thank you!

finally some downtime here and I get to try this.. I will be heading to my local brew store tomorrow to pick up the kit.

I read somewhere that while the wine is in its primary, it is important to keep the temperature around 73 and some people use heat belts to accommodate this. Since the only space I got is in the garage i'll probably need to pick up some kind of heat belt and make sure when i place the primary in the garage to keep it off the cement floor so its not cold under.

I am really excited for this. I plan to follow the kit instructions exactly, will read the fine print tomorrow when I pick it up and if anything is unclear I know where to come for advice hehe

 

[Pittsburgh127]

You really should figure out a way to get your primary off the floor, at least 3 feet. That way it wont get the chill from the floor and you can rack it into your secondary without having to lift it.

 

[cerberus]

I've got my fine in the first stage Had a few delays but finally got around to do it.

I went with the Winexperts GSM kit, it was not a high end kit but also not a low end kit.

Right off the bat (2 day in) have a few concerns, first is the kit manual instructed to use good quality drinking water, I have a Kangen water filter that I used to get the water from, it is pH9.5 (the kangen filter is an alkaline ionized water) and I am now just rethinking this and maybe I made a mistake utilizing a water filter... though isn't filtered water kind of the same thing?

Secondly, it is about 48 hours in and whoa I can smell the fumes of grapes infused with a deep alcohol smell (smells really good!)... the instruction kit says to keep the wine at 22-24 degrees and when i touch the outside plastic tub it is pretty warm, warmer than the area the wine is located in (does fermentation produce heat??).. should I try to cool it? It feels like 26 degrees on the edges...

Finally, can I wrap the plastic tub in a black plastic bag? So to control the fumes coming out? I have it tucked away in my closet and all my clothes are about to smell like grapes and alcohol lol...

Thanks for your help !!

 

[calvin]

Don't worry to much. I'm sure everything is fine.

Yes fermentation produces heat. Get a thermometer to be sure of your temp. I wouldn't be too concerned unless it way off. A few degrees off shouldn't hurt anything. Warmer will ferment faster and cooler will ferment slower

 

[richmke]

Finally, can I wrap the plastic tub in a black plastic bag? So to control the fumes coming out? I have it tucked away in my closet and all my clothes are about to smell like grapes and alcohol lol...

Sounds like you have a space problem.

The CO2 has to go somewhere. You could use a deflated bag, but you have to release the gas on a regular basis.

 

[cerberus]

I need better space, I have an empty garage but it is cold there so i'll need to do something about that before I can relocate this project.

May option out to get one of those heat belts i've seen for wine making, perhaps they work to keep the tub worm in a cold environment.

 

[tanddc]

The heat belts will only get you 5 to 10 degrees F