Other Riesling kit recommendations

[wbhutchins]

I'm pretty new to this, but I have about 6 batches completed or in progress and am pleased with the outcome of my meads, dragon blood and skeeter Pee variations. But my wife enjoys Riesling wine, and I have no experience with making wine from grapes. I don't have a grape vine and know it will take years for a vine to mature and bear enough fruit to make a batch.

That being said, I see kits from brewsey and a couple others. To make sure I have the correct equipment, I have one or more of the following: 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket, lid with airlock, 5 and 6 gallon glass and PET carboys, vacuum degasser, and all associated utensils. I assume that covers everything to make a fine wine kit. Anything special required?

Now that I have everything, anyone have recommendations for a good Riesling wine kit? Are there other options to buy all the ingredients or better to just buy a kit with all you need?

TIA!

 

[Khristyjeff]

Glad you're having some winemaking success.
As to your question, I don't think you could go wrong with a Riesling from the major kit manufacturers like RJS or WineXpert. I've even had good success with some of the budget friendly companies like Wine Lovers and Fontana. Usually with the cheaper kits I will tweak them a little by following some of the tips on the thread "Tweaking Cheap Kits." Some on here like the Finer Wines kits but I haven't tried any of their whites.

 

[heatherd]

Love the Finer Wine Kits! I have made four batches of their Sauvignon Blanc with good luck. They're sold by Label Peelers.

 

[winemaker81]

Don't worry about making a kit -- since you have other experience, it's easy. I concur that RJS, WE, and FWK are good choices.

Note that kits typically state you can bottle in 4 to 8 weeks, depending on the kit. This is true, as you can bottle in that time frame.

I suggest bulk aging 3 months after clearing the wine, then consider bottling it. Wine goes through a lot of changes in the first months, and this enables the wine to undergo those changes as a single unit, so you are far less likely to get significant bottle variation.

 

[wineview]

Riesling is a very easy wine to make from a kit. In fact I have found that any white variety produces an excellent glass of wine. The reds from my experience are a bit more finicky.

 

[JB1956]

With the experience you have I’d suggest finding a local brew/wine shop and getting a 6-gallon bucket of Riesling juice. You might still be able to find some fresh Chilean juice from this Spring‘s harvest. It’s really pretty easy to make a decent Riesling from juice. I usually do a bucket in the Spring and Fall using the following recipe.

• Start with a 6 Gallon bucket of Riesling juice.
• Pull off and freeze about half a gallon of juice for back sweetening.
• Ferment with Lalvin EC-1118 yeast until dry.
• I ferment in the bucket at the temperature in my basement, usually in the sixties.
• I stir daily and rack to a carboy when the specific gravity drops to 0.994 to 0.996.
• After racking to the carboy thaw the frozen juice and back sweeten to taste. I find that bringing the specific gravity back to the range of 1.002 - 1.004 results in a nice semi-dry Riesling.
• Added a heaping ¼ tsp of potassium metabisulphite.
• Added 3 tsp of fresh Potassium Sorbate to prevent fermentation.
• If you want to speed up the clearing process treat with DualFine (Kieselsol & Chitosan)
• Top up the carboy with a similar Riesling and let it clear.
• When it has cleared rack and degas.
• Add another dose of ¼ tsp of potassium metabisulphite and bottle.

 

[wbhutchins]

With the experience you have I’d suggest finding a local brew/wine shop and getting a 6-gallon bucket of Riesling juice. You might still be able to find some fresh Chilean juice from this Spring‘s harvest. It’s really pretty easy to make a decent Riesling from juice. I usually do a bucket in the Spring and Fall using the following recipe.

• Start with a 6 Gallon bucket of Riesling juice.
• Pull off and freeze about half a gallon of juice for back sweetening.
• Ferment with Lalvin EC-1118 yeast until dry.
• I ferment in the bucket at the temperature in my basement, usually in the sixties.
• I stir daily and rack to a carboy when the specific gravity drops to 0.994 to 0.996.
• After racking to the carboy thaw the frozen juice and back sweeten to taste. I find that bringing the specific gravity back to the range of 1.002 - 1.004 results in a nice semi-dry Riesling.
• Added a heaping ¼ tsp of potassium metabisulphite.
• Added 3 tsp of fresh Potassium Sorbate to prevent fermentation.
• If you want to speed up the clearing process treat with DualFine (Kieselsol & Chitosan)
• Top up the carboy with a similar Riesling and let it clear.
• When it has cleared rack and degas.
• Add another dose of ¼ tsp of potassium metabisulphite and bottle.

That's awesome. I'll see if I can find the juice. That sounds like what I've been doing already!