RJ Spagnols mystery silver packets

[sremick]

I just opened my first En Primeur wine kit (Italian Rosso Grande Eccelente). Among the ingredients are 3 unlabeled silver packets that feel like they have some sort of powder in them. Since the directions are generic, I'm not clear what they are to know what steps they apply to. Hopefully someone on here can shed some insight.

 

[crushday]

I’m certain that those are packages of oak dust. To be used in primary fermentation.

 

[sremick]

Interesting. So they include oak chips and oak powder. That's a lot of oak.

 

[sremick]

Interesting. So they include oak chips and oak powder. That's a lot of oak.

 

[ras2018]

Regardless of what they are, they should be labeled. I have never come upon a packet in a kit that was NOT labeled.

 

[sremick]

Lucky me? I checked over them many times... definitely not labeled at all (I'll include photos when I get home). And since you can't see through them, it makes it even harder. I checked their website and there was mention of silver packets that were oak powder, but they mentioned labeling. And since there was already a bag of oak chips, I assumed it must be something else...

 

[ras2018]

Crazy. Oak and oak powder are easy to distinguish. Sulfite looks like salt. Sorbate looks like really big grains of salt. Bentonite is brownish tinted and grainy. Not sure this is helpful at all but can’t believe you have random unlabeled packets.

 

[winojoe]

I have never seen the packets not labeled. Sometimes the printing is very light on the packages.

The different types of oak are there to give the wine a certain flavor profile. One thing to think about is the time it takes to extract oak. With the kits, contact time with oak is only for a week or so. This is a short period of time. Oak powder will give the fastest result. Oak shavings are quick. Oak chips are slower than shavings. Oak cubes will take longer.

 

[bstnh1]

One way to find out - open the packets and take a look!

 

[Trevor7]

Hold the packets at an angle to the light - they're labeled, but the printing is very light.

 

[sremick]

Hold the packets at an angle to the light - they're labeled, but the printing is very light.

This was it. All the packets were printed on the crimped seal, which meant that the faint-white-on-silver printing was even harder to read or even notice. They were oak powder.