WineXpert New Forza Kit

[crushday]

Starting to see some airlock activity 12 hours after pitching the yeast. It smells yeasty and wonderful.

Once you get to secondary ferm, don't get in a super hurry. Take your time and double the timelines (at least) in the instructions. You'll be glad you did. I often leave the skins on the wine for 9 weeks before racking. You could easily be 12-16 weeks before bulk aging for 12-18 months. Then, bottle...

 

[dmguptill]

I'm not sure what price point "cheaper" kits is but look at it this way. Vintner's Reserve = bottom shelf and $9-11 a bottle. Eclipse = top shelf and $25 a bottle. The price difference in making Eclipse over VR is about $2 a bottle or less. Seems like a great deal to always make Eclipse (or any premium) when you look at it that way. You'll simply have better wine!

Yeah, I hear you. It's sound reasoning! There are a few reasons I still make cheap kits. We like to drink a lot of wine and with our budget, making only premium kits would require us to either spend more than we want, or drink less wine than we want! Plus my wife enjoys the cheap kits, and I enjoy tinkering with them. Finally, I've only been making my own wine for a couple years, so I'm still working on a cellar of ageable wine. In the meantime, we need some early drinkers! I suspect I'll slowly wean out more and more of the cheap kits as the above things change.

 

[dmguptill]

Once you get to secondary ferm, don't get in a super hurry. Take your time and double the timelines (at least) in the instructions. You'll be glad you did. I often leave the skins on the wine for 9 weeks before racking. You could easily be 12-16 weeks before bulk aging for 12-18 months. Then, bottle...

I'm doing this one as an extended maceration, so the time lines won't look anything like the kit instructions!

 

[dmguptill]

This kit is really going like gangbusters Or, as a former colleague used to say about his chemical reactions in the lab: "This one really plows!"

3 days in and already at 1.045

 

[Keith5]

Any updates? Are you leaving th skins in the secondary for weeks? How many?

 

[dmguptill]

In two days, it will be 8 weeks from the day I pitched the yeast. The wine is still in the primary bucket, on the skins. The airlock water still shows there is extra pressure in the bucket, so I'm not at all worried about oxygen.

Maybe next weekend I'll crack it open and see what's happening!

 

[dmguptill]

Took this wine out of the EM bucket on Monday. SG apparently finished at 0.996, which was a little disappointing, though I only used the 212 without the 1118.

I let the skins float and by mistake I forgot the bentonite, so I got a bunch of sediment coming over when I squeezed out the skins. Oh well. Seems to have settled now, and I just racked it again. Looking for something to top this up, but I don't want to spend too much. Any suggestions?

Taste was insane, though! Very young, bright, acidy, and chewey. Needs much time, but I'm expecting great things...

 

[jgmann67]

Took this wine out of the EM bucket on Monday. SG apparently finished at 0.996, which was a little disappointing, though I only used the 212 without the 1118.

I let the skins float and by mistake I forgot the bentonite, so I got a bunch of sediment coming over when I squeezed out the skins. Oh well. Seems to have settled now, and I just racked it again. Looking for something to top this up, but I don't want to spend too much. Any suggestions?

Taste was insane, though! Very young, bright, acidy, and chewey. Needs much time, but I'm expecting great things...

This is good to see. I did the old high octane Forza and loved it. I think Mrs Mann wants another SLD Merlot. But, the last three wines were her call. This one is mine.

The fact that it’s not a monster ABV is a plus in my book.

I’ll also do an EM. But I do wet skins in the bag for ease of wine recovery. Will likely do this pretty much by the book - except sans clarifiers and sorbate, and plus a bit o’Tannin in the finish.

 

[dmguptill]

This is good to see. I did the old high octane Forza and loved it. I think Mrs Mann wants another SLD Merlot. But, the last three wines were her call. This one is mine.

The fact that it’s not a monster ABV is a plus in my book.

I’ll also do an EM. But I do wet skins in the bag for ease of wine recovery. Will likely do this pretty much by the book - except sans clarifiers and sorbate, and plus a bit o’Tannin in the finish.

By my calculations, this will be 15% ABV. What was yours the first time around!?

 

[jgmann67]

By my calculations, this will be 15% ABV. What was yours the first time around!?

16% ABV. Too much for Mrs Mann.

 

[Bplewniak]

I just bottled this kit at 1 year. It still has an off smell to it. When does this or does it ever go away? 18 months , 2 years, more.

Mine also turned out with a rusty color.

 

[joeswine]

Sounds like oxidation.but I'm not 100%sure

 

[Bplewniak]

Sounds like oxidation.but I'm not 100%sure

It could very well be. It has the same off flavor and smell at one year than it did at 3 months per my notes. I was hoping it would go away.

 

[dmguptill]

Mine has been out of the 8 week EM for two weeks. Pic below shows the color of a little bit in a glass. Sort of a dusty, bricky red color. Little bit of orange/yellow around the edge, which had me worried about oxidation at first. But I don't really taste any "off" flavors. The wine isn't "good" but it definitely has a bit of gas left, and some other flavors I expect to fade with time.

Maybe others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect if oxidation was a problem I would be able to clearly taste it. Also, I wonder if some of the odd color might go away as the wine clears.

 

[opus345]

Just started a new Forza kit today.

The previous batch was a new Forza that I started 10/14/2018. Bentonite. BM 4x4 (GoFerm) + Fermaid K. Skins and Oak chips free floating. Starting SG = 1.110, Ending SG = .995. I usually like to keep my reds in glass for a year with a quarterly racking + Kmeta schedule. A life event caused me to miss two of the rackings. I racked in August 2019 and bottled end of November. Interestingly, the wine did not seem to suffer much from the neglect. Samples during the August racking and November bottling were fantastic. Color and nose were spot on.

Current batch was started today with BM 4x4 (GoFerm). Skins and Oak chips (45 g) are free floating. Starting SG = 1.1.06.

 

[opus345]

Quick update. Used Fermaid K at the 1/3 sugar break. Last night, SG was .998 and I decided to move the wine to a carboy where I could add an airlock. The transfer was much better this time. Used a separate 10 gal bucket with a large nylon mesh bag liner. Used a 1 gal pitcher to transfer most of the must to the bucket and then poured the rest in. Unhooked the mesh bag and started twisting an squeezing it. Need to go slow and watch the spray coming out of the bag. A fruit press would be a welcome addition to the process, but I think I was able to extract ~90% of the trapped must. I added the oak cubes. For my red kits, I no longer use the included Sorbate or the clearing agents. The schedule will be to rack every three months with a Kmeta dose at racking. May think about some Tannin Complex

 

[jbo_c]

Best part about winemaking: wine loves neglect once it’s in storage.

I should neglect mine more.

I bottled 89 bottles yesterday and moved them to the cellar. Hope I can neglect them until at least this time next year.

Jbo

 

[Bplewniak]

Bottle this kit 11 months ago after aging for 12 months. At the time of bottling, I was completely disgusted (check out post right above here 4 posts up). It had a very odd look, smell and hardly drinkable. I was so upset I just bottled all 30 and forgot about them. Last night, I opened one at dinner and was very much surprised. The color was no longer a ugly orange and the off smell has turned into a nice noise.

Very happy. Give it time.

 

[joeswine]

just bottled this and it is WOW.

 

[Brian55]

Bottle this kit 11 months ago after aging for 12 months. At the time of bottling, I was completely disgusted (check out post right above here 4 posts up). It had a very odd look, smell and hardly drinkable. I was so upset I just bottled all 30 and forgot about them. Last night, I opened one at dinner and was very much surprised. The color was no longer a ugly orange and the off smell has turned into a nice noise.

Very happy. Give it time.

You know there's magic happening when an off smell turns to noise.