Other Questions on bottle flavor variation.

jw73 · Dec 7, 2023

Just made an Island Mist raspberry peach kit and added 1 box of white grape concentrate and 1 lb extra sugar. Made per instructions otherwise and bottled at 4 weeks, due to space issues for Thanksgiving. I cold crashed the last quart from the carboy after bottling and sampled the wine from that. I found it is syrup sweet. I thought about it for a bit and have now taken samples from a couple of the bottles and found I have very dry bottles and over sweet bottles. I have concluded, that I did not mix the flavor pack well enough when adding to the carboy resulting in the fpack settling to the bottom of the carboy. I bottled from the carboy with syphon from top, lowering it as fluid level dropped which I think has caused the bottles to range from dry to over sweet. I think I want to open and rebottle and have a couple questions on best practices.
Should I-----
1- just open bottles pour into bottling bucket, stir and rebottle.
2-just open bottles pour into bottling bucket, stir add stabilizers again to help prevent oxidation and rebottle.
3-open bottles into carboy, stir add stabilizers again to help prevent oxidation, top off and let sit in bulk a bit longer and the rebottle.
Looking for ideas on best practices to complete this process. Thanks in advance

sour_grapes · Dec 7, 2023

Welcome to WMT!

I think I would put into a bottling bucket, stir, and measure the SG. Then, depending on the result, I think you are safe to just rebottle. It's not like you are going to shelf-age Island Mist kits for 5 years!

They'll be gone before they get oxidized, I will wager.

Rocky · Dec 7, 2023

jw73 said:
1- just open bottles pour into bottling bucket, stir, sample and rebottle.

winemaker81 · Dec 7, 2023

Welcome to WMT!

I agree with both Paul & Rocky. Also, DO NOT add more sorbate. Too much sorbate can produce off flavors and aroma, and you want to follow the package instructions. Since it's a kit, the packet included is the correct dosage.

In this situation you had to bottle early, but when possible, don't bottle before 4 months. In addition to the inconsistent sweetness you encountered, you can also got a lot of bottle variation which more time in bulk solves.

I also suggest not bottling from the carboy -- regardless of how careful you've been, it's likely a fine layer of sediment is on the bottom. I use a clip that holds the end of the racking cane off the bottom, and rack nearly to the bottom, leaving a bottle behind, then bottle the last bottle separately. For a 23 liter carboy, this gives me 29 clear bottles and 1 that may be a bit muddy, which doesn't affect quality but is unsightly.

Another tip on K-meta, sorbate, F-packs, and sweetening: Once I start the siphon, I add whatever needs adding in thin streams so nothing clumps. Several times during the rack I stir the receiving bucket, and when done I stir again for at least 30 seconds. This will do a much better job of mixing in thick components such as F-packs and conditioner packs.